Aliens, Monoliths & The Pyramids of Giza

As we approach our final week and a half of our semester, we have arrived at our very last project. As we cover the remaining parts of our curriculum, our final project will cover not only colour theory, perspective drawing and of course, a bit of art history!

In Grade 9 art, one cannot talk about art history without covering the art of ancient Egypt. Watch the video below to get more insight into this historic era of human antiquity.

Project Specs

For your final project, you are tasked to create a landscape composition using perspective and watercolour.

Project Scope

This is where the fun starts.

For context, you the artist are a member of an unknown civilization from another universe. While travelling through time, you stumble upon Planet Earth and spent a month here exploring its surroundings.

Before leaving, it is customary in your culture to leave a monument behind – a marker if you will, that indicated your presence.

Your job is to design this monument in a sample landscape (pick only one – see samples below) of your choosing.

Landscape 1 (Click here to get full size version)

Landscape 2 (Click here to get full size version)

Landscape 3 (Click here to get full size version)

Landscape 4 (Click here to get full size version)

The structure you design must use the 2-point perspective technique. You must establish the horizon line and lightly re-draw the lines in your landscape. The watercolour video will explain the steps on how to start.

Task 1 – Sketch out your landscape and monument design

Before you start painting, you must have an idea of what your monument should look like. Sketch your ideas lightly in your sketchbook (3-5 times and then pick the best one). This sketch need not be submitted. You can make it as elaborate and complex as you want. It can be a tall or wide structure. Your design doesn’t need to be functional and it can be any shape. Leave the design of your mysterious monument to your imagination!

You mark will depend on how imaginative your monument appears in your landscape painting!

Task 2 – Watercolour Tutorial

This is a rather long-ish video and is meant to be consumed over a period of time. Please note that this is only a demo and you most certainly can do more to enhance your artwork. Please click on image to view full size.