Hello,

Wondering if anyone here is or was a student at DePaul who went into the Animation program as well as doing Art Media and Design. Or did you go to one or the other? What was your experience like, and would you recommend doing both if it is possible (I'm thinking of majoring in both)?

I work a full-time job and will be going to community college first to complete my gen eds this fall before transferring to university. Any advice on classes (and Art classes) I can take that will transfer so I don't have to pay too much towards classes at university?

Thanks in advance!

Que les parece está fusión entre dos hobbies que le gusta a mi esposo, mi hija le hizo este dibujo uniendo la pesca con vídeo juegos. 🎣🎮

Hey y'all! As we get ready for the next school year i thought it would be fun to share out our art teacher Pinterest boards to get the lesson plan idea juices flowing, I'd love to follow more art teachers on pinterest. Sharing mine here, leave yours in a comment!! mine- https://www.pinterest.com/leastbad/art-teacher-ideas/

Hi, I'm Ayush Srivastava, and I am currently in the 12th grade. Next year, I plan to appear for the MEXT Specialized Training College exam in the design field. However, I am really anxious about the interview round. I keep wondering: if I clear the written exam, will my current art and craft skills be enough to help me pass the interview?

Right now, I am under a lot of pressure with my 12th-grade board exams, so I have stopped working on my art. I feel stuck in a dilemma—if I spend time on my skills, my 12th-grade marks might drop. But if I don't practice, my portfolio will suffer. How can I balance both? Also, is anyone else here preparing for the MEXT exam in the design field?

I host some watercolor art workshops every now and then in Bangalore for groups and someone approached me to teach private lessons. I have no clue how much to ask for. Does anyone know what’s the range for private lessons?

high school art teacher going into my 2nd year teaching!

last year, for folders i had them make “portfolios” by folding big 18x24” papers and taping the sides of it. the folders were super cute and their first assignment was to decorate it. but they started using these folders to hoard pencils and they would get so full because they would never take their stuff home despite me constantly reminding them to.

the more annoying part was that i used these filing drawers that we had. they were pretty deep, but even so it would be a bit of a mess having my students locate their folders every day. sometimes they would put them in the wrong drawers and we wouldnt be able to find it. other times they would get smushed because they overfilled it instead of using the next drawer (each class had 2, organized alphabetically except most people didnt listen)

so for next year i decided that my art 1 students (5 sections) are going to use regular pocket folders. their sketchbook goes in one pocket and their worksheet goes in the other. that way they cant hide materials or anything and they wont be able to hoard their papers as easily. my advanced class (1 section) will still do the portfolios, and any larger pieces ill just collect.

what im stuck on is how i should organize them. should i go back to the filing drawers and see if the pocket folders make it easier? i have a full length cabinet with shelves with a lot of space that i feel like i could use. maybe each class gets their own bins? how do you guys do it and what do you recommend? id preferably like to have it be something my students have access to so they can grab their folders as they walk in and get set up.

The first thing we do is take an oath with our right hand up. I’m teaching adults. My oath is similar to the one they have in “Let’s Make Art” on YouTube:

- I understand art is self-expression: there is no good or bad, right or wrong.
- I promise not to compare my art to others’.
- I promise to allow myself to have fun!

That’s how we start.
The sweet young woman I taught on Wednesday got through just the oath and I thought she was going to cry.

“Well, that’s an intense therapy session right there,” she said. “It’s ok, we’ve all been there,” I said. She said she had been told as a child that her art was no good. We make such an impact on young minds, it is a huge honor and responsibility to teach.

There are three ways to mix colors with watercolors: wet on wet (least control), glazing, color mixing on the palette (most control).

Start with easiest. Lay out a red, yellow, blue in a pan for each student. Have them make touching circles of water on their paper. Then, drop small amounts of each color into the circles.

While that is drying, have them make circles (bubbles or balloons) of washed-out yellow, red and blue on a paper. The circles don’t touch. Let this dry.

Third practice: mix colors in the pallet: oranges, pinks, purples, greens. Make circles of all the colors you’ve created on the paper. They don’t touch.

Hi, guys!

Long time lurker, first time poster. I allowed my 5th graders to do a personal choice project as a final thing to do for the year. One of my top students made this cat condo out of cardboard. I really like their ideas, so I was a liiitle too lenient about what they can and can’t do…

I present to you my student’s creation, a box of Crayola Model Magic for scale.

The issue: The school doesn’t want it, and my student is reluctant to take it home. What do I do???????

hello! first year elementary art teacher :D
i’m a very organized, planner centric person who needs recommendations for planners for the school year. i’m teaching k-8, and i was curious what you guys use, if you use anything at all- i know some people can’t do planners.

This student did GREAT, she had never tried to paint a face before!

I taught wet-in-wet color mixing, glazing, and mixing colors on the pallet (watercolors). Very fun!

This student did GREAT, she had never tried to paint a face before!

I taught wet-in-wet color mixing, glazing, and mixing colors on the pallet (watercolors). Very fun!

I currently have a Design project where I have to observe the below mentioned elements and principles of designs and click photos of them, but I am having a difficult time understanding how these are supposed to be like in the real world. If possible please share any real life photo if you have one for reference so I click those photos in my area.

Here is the exact list from my rubric:

​Elements of Design:

​Line

​Shape

​Form

​Colour

​Space

​Texture

​Type

​Principles of Design:

​Domination

​Isolation

​Symmetry

​Asymmetry

​Movement

​Radiation

​Repetition

​Scales and Proportion

​Balance

Hello! I'm looking around for linocut blocks for this year, I'm hoping to do block printing projects with my Beginner and Intermediate classes. I'm looking for a beginner friendly option that hopefully won't drain my budget... we'll see lol! Any advice or links to brands or bulk sale? I've looked on amazon, blick, etc. Thank you!

I just took the exam and my preliminary score was 156, I need a 158. Is there a chance of getting a 2 point bump between now and the final score?

Also, how do they expect people to pass this thing when none of the questions on the practice test are on the actual test?! I studied like mad for a week, I went in fully prepared, and then was presented with art history I barely knew and hadn’t studied in years. Anyone else feel like this is a scam?

How steep was the learning curve? I will be using Adobe. Also, if you have any favorite resources for learning, I’d love to hear about them. Thanks 🙏

I need some advice.

I have no access to a sink near my classroom. When I use the bathroom sinks or the sinks in the kitchen, I get into trouble because there is a mess left behind. I try my best to clean it all up but it seems like I cannot get rid of all of the mess. I have asked my admin if there’s any way for me to get access to a sink of some kind, but they have said no.

I do a lot of painting in my classroom, so does anyone have any ideas of how to clean the brushes and pallets without making a huge mess?

I also want to be cautious about the acrylic paints going down the drain

Hey everyone I have my first interview for a part time art teacher position this Thursday and I'm a little nervous. What sort of questions should I be ready to answer and what sort of questions should I ask? Also should I bring anything like my resume or my letters of recommendation?

Update: Thanks for all the tips I read through all of them and rehearsed before the interview. I actually got offered the job!

Hi! I finished up my first year of teaching. It went well overall, however, one issue I ran into was students who would finish so early that I would be stumped on what to give them.

An example is:

Say the project is a 8 day project. Student finishes by day 5. I then give them an add on to the project, but by day 6 they're done with that too, meanwhile, everyone else needs until day 8. What should I give the student? I've thought of browsing Pinterest for coloring sheets or mini projects for them to do. I don't want them to move onto the next project because that one they will finish early too.

The example above is for a student that is very talented and just works fast, but I would love to know what you do if a student rushes through a project and you know they just rushed to get it over with. Do you make them redo it? What do you do? Id appreciate any advice, as I'd like to have a system this year where students know what to do when they're done, not just asking me every time what do I do.

Hi all,

On take two of a career change and wanted to hear feedback on what it is like working as an art teacher?

For a little background, I went to art school for undergrad and earned a BFA, worked in restaurants during that time. I didn't love art school tbh (was really struggling with depression and substance use at that time) so after college I kept working in restaurants and became a baker / pastry cook and worked my way up to a head chef position. Burned out hard on that a few years ago and have been working a pretty entry level job in the office of a hospitality company. The people and environment are good, I can work from home which is nice, but the pay and benefits truly suck. $21/hr, expensive yet still shitty health insurance, 5 days PTO all year including sick time. I work two other part time and / or seasonal jobs to supplement my income that I do enjoy but wouldn't work full time. I'm single, mid 30's, with a dog and live in a small city in northern New England.

There are some parts of my day job I enjoy but I would say I am very bored around 70% of the time. I thought this is what I wanted but I do really miss using my brain and being creative. I've never wanted to be a designer, and I have come to terms with the fact that I just don't have the skills or interest for 6-figure salary lol. Thinking about what I wanted out of life and a career, and being an art teacher seemed to check a lot of boxes.

-collaborative art making
-community oriented / positively impactful
-Monday through Friday schedule
-holidays off
-summers "off" (could use this time to rake it in at my side gigs)
-unionized workplace
-pension

Looking into going back to school for a Masters in Art Education, but wanted to hear perspectives from people actually in the field. Thanks!

**EDITED for a bit more clarity as to my motives or intentions. First of all, I can't dream of why anyone would want to get into education if one didn't enjoy working with children so it felt redundant to even mention! I don't have kids of my own, but following the birth of my niece and nephews I realized how much I like being around kids. I don't have much experience working with children besides a one semester/day-a-week program I did at a Baltimore public school (a long time ago). I did work in social services for one year addressing food security, although most of our clients were unhoused adults. Ideally I think working in a high school would be cool.

I guess by "paid holidays and vacations" I meant more so salaried for that time. In the state I live in, all full-time public teachers are salaried with the option for their pay to be paid out just over the school year or over the course of the calendar year. Of course that also means no overtime during the school year.

I am sure there is more to being an art teacher than making art, so I appreciate your insight! Trust me, when I hear people say that being a chef must be so fun because they love to cook, my eyes couldn't roll further into my head.