Glowing in Art

What could be more fun than creating art inspired by creatures in the popular Pixar movie, Coco?...Neon glowing art that is inspired by creatures in the popular Pixar movie, Coco!

3rd grade has been having fun learning about the history behind alebrijes, brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical creatures, like the alebrijes in the movie, Coco. Alebrijes often are a mixture of different animals, like the alebrije Pepita below who has Ram horns, lizard tail, eagle feet and wings plus a jaguar face and body. Alebrije's are also know for being cover in brightly colored complex patterns.

            *Scenes of Alebrije's from the Movie Coco.

     Third grade's challenge was to create their own Alebrije mixed animal. We practiced experimenting with different materials: crayons, neon oil pastels, and neon puff paint, in addition to experimenting with different pattern formations. And we checked out which colors and patterns look best under the black light.

Then, 3rd grade students created a couple practice designs of fantasy creatures made from a mixture of animals. They chose their favorite alebrije practice design and drew it on black paper with neon oil pastels and puff paint for their final copy. The finishing touch was seeing their alebrije under the black light glowing, like they do in the movie Coco. Their drawings weren't the only thing glowing; the students were also glowing from the happiness this project brought them :).