Pop Art Personalities

1. Roy Lichtenstein was born in New York on October 27, 1923. Lichtenstein worked as both a professor of art and an exhibiting artist. His artwork was exhibited at a World's Fair, the Paris Biennale, the Guggenheim Museum, and many other prestigious places.
2. Lichtenstein's most famous art resembles comic book illustrations in everything except its large scale. His subject matter was popular culture, earning his work the label of Pop Art. The images he drew were outlined and filled with flat color and textural dots, exactly as if they were comics. With a partner, compare his paintings In the Car and Takka Takka to pictures you might find in comic books. Identify several similarities and differences.
3. Invite students to investigate some of the techniques that comic book artists use to tell more about their characters and plots. Often, these artists include words or thought bubbles containing alternate images to explain the meaning of their drawings.
4. To begin a drawing in this comic book style, students use a black Crayola® Washable Marker to draw a portrait of a person who is thinking about something. Draw the person's face fairly large, and show the person's feelings by giving him or her the appropriate facial expression.
5. Draw a thought bubble in the space near the subject. In the thought bubble, draw whatever the person is thinking about.
6. Students cover their work areas with recycled newspaper. Use Crayola Watercolors and Watercolor Brushes to color in drawings. Dry.
7. On the back of the portraits, students write a short description of their characters' thoughts with Crayola Erasable Colored Pencils.
8. Post student artwork in a prominent place in the classroom. Allow time in the school day for students to view each other's work. Discuss how Lichtenstein's techniques were used in student work.

LA: Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band independently and proficiently.

LA: Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

SS: Describe ways in which language, stories, folktales, music, and artistic creations serve as expressions of culture and influence behavior of people living in a particular culture.

SS: Use appropriate resources, data sources, and geographic tools to generate, manipulate, and interpret information.

SS: Identify and describe ways family, groups, and community influence the individual's daily life and personal choices.

VA: Select media, techniques, an processes; analyze what makes them effective or not effective in communicating ideas; and reflect upon the effectiveness of choices.

VA: Intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of experiences and ideas.

Possible classroom resources include: Whaam! The Art and Life of Roy Lichtenstein by Susan Goldman Rubin; Roy Lichtenstein, 1923-1997 by Janis Hendrickson; Pop Art by Honneff Klaus

Students compare and contrast the work of Rob Lichtenstein with popular comic book imagery. Prepare a presentation for classmates. Students consider dressing up like a comic book character when presenting.

Students draw a second comic book illustration. Fill in the shaded areas with small dots; then finish it with watercolor as described in the lesson plan.

Encourage students to work in small groups or teams of two to create an original comic strip using Lichtenstein's techniques. Students write speech bubbles for the comic strip. Display in the classroom if possible.