nature

Highlights of Grades 5 to 7 students participating in our Fall 2021 “Drawn to Life: Animation in Nature” program hosted by the DSBN Living Campus at Woodend Conservation Area (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada). It was great to resume teaching these in-person workshops while safely adhering to and respecting all school COVID-19 protocols that were in effect at the time.Students enjoy a full day of learning about and exploring animation, taking taking inspiration from Nature in the beautiful natural environment of the DSBN Living Campus. We begin our day outside doing some pixilation (stop-motion) exercises that help us introduce some basic principles of animation (ex. squash and stretch) and technical terms (ex. persistence of vision, frames-per-second, cycles). Students then brainstorm ideas for their own hand-drawn animations inside our classroom, where they use traditional drawing tools (pencil & paper), animation peg bars and LED Light Pads. Each student’s background and animation drawings are then photographed at the computer using stop motion software and a webcam mounted on a camera stand.This arts education experience was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Ontario Arts Council’s “Artists in Communities & Schools Projects Grant” and the District School Board of Niagara’s Outdoor Education.Special thanks to the The National Cartoonists Society Foundation (NCSF) for the LED Light Pads used by the students who attended this workshop. (2018 Arts Education Grant)Music by Bensound.comVideo Production: http://copetoons.com© Copyright 2022 by Mike Cope. All Rights Reserved.#artsEducation #artsEd #Animation #Nature #OutdoorEducation