Highlighter Lesson Plan and Artwork by John Anderson, Sax Art Consultant, Michigan Letters Grades 3-12

Description: Create quick and easy letters with highlighters and Sharpie Markers for posters, envelopes, bookmarks, greeting cards and journals. Have fun experimenting with different lettering styles and designs as well as choosing a wide variety of surfaces to work on. It is exciting to select a variety of colors and media that can be used to create embellishments. All age groups will have fun developing their own alphabets and putting them into practice using this interesting design concept for lettering.

Objectives: • To create quick, easy letters for many applications. • To have students develop a sense of style and design.

Materials: Sharpie Accent Markers, 10-Color Set (409254-705) Sharpie Twin Tip Markers, Dozen, Black (246139-705) Sharpie Metallic Marker, 2-Color Set (405864-705) Painters Paint Markers, Bright Colors, 5-Color Set (411072-705) Painters Paint Markers, Craft Colors, 5-Color Set (411073-705) Calligraphy Practice Pad, 50-Sheet, 9" x 12" (437174-705) Resources: Speedball Lettering Textbook (380192-705) How to Draw Lettering, Book (220233-705)

Directions: 1. Sketch out a general design for the letter design on scratch paper. Use this as a template for the final piece. 2. Use a large Sharpie marker with permanent black ink to outline the letter shapes. Neuland Capitals work well, but a version of Bookhand (lower case) is another possibility. 3. Break up the letter shape by drawing straight, curved or zigzag lines on them with a fine tip black pen. Add a little yellow marker color using a highlighter pen. It's OK if some of the color extends beyond the black outline. 4. Use a blue highlighter to color in new areas on the letterform, overlapping onto some of the yellow areas to create green. 5. Use a red marker to color in new areas, overlapping onto some of the yellow to create orange and blue areas to create purple. These colors can be intensifiesd by going over them with orange, green and purple markers. 6. To make the letters seem to dance, use a fine-tip black pen to add quick strokes around them. 7. Squiggle lines will tie the letters together. Add large dots to some of the lines and background.

National Standards: Content Standard #1: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes. Grades 5-8: Students intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of their experiences and ideas.

Content Standard #2: Using knowledge of structures and functions. Grades 5-8: Students employ organizational structures and analyze what makes them effective or not effective in the communication of ideas.