Painting II's Biggest Challenge Yet

The Painting II class represents the most experienced artists at NCHS, having completed the prerequisites of Drawing I, Drawing II, and Painting I. I often refer to them as the "Varsity Starting Lineup" because of their dedication, skill, and artistic growth.

For this project, they faced their most ambitious challenge yet: creating an "epic", "large-scale", "museum-quality" painting of personal significance. No small feat, but they rose to the occasion, producing the masterworks you see here. Each piece reflects not only their refined technical abilities but also deep personal meaning. These paintings, measuring up to 18" x 24", are statement pieces—worthy of a future place of honor in their homes, whether in an entryway, foyer, or gallery wall! Their work speaks for itself—bold, expressive, and undeniably Varsity-level!


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Drawing II: Dictionary Design Drawing

In Drawing II, students are challenged to create a cohesive artwork based on four words that share the same letter. This exercise encourages students to explore creative ways of combining different visual elements into a single piece of art. By focusing on a specific set of words, students are required to think outside the box and stretch their imagination to produce an artwork that tells a story or conveys a particular emotion or message.

Through this exercise, students practice their skills in composition, color theory, and drawing techniques while also developing their ability to convey complex ideas through visual art. This exercise serves as valuable practice for students pursuing AP Studio Art, where they will be challenged to produce a portfolio of artworks that demonstrates their mastery of various mediums and techniques.


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Cereal Box Design Project, Computer Graphics Class

Students in the Computer Graphics class recently put their typography and design skills to the test with a fun and engaging product design project—creating their own cereal boxes! Each student randomly selected a fictitious cereal name from a hat and brought it to life by designing a unique mascot, crafting custom typography, and carefully considering the color scheme, layout, and spacing between visual elements. Every detail, from the front and back panels to the sides, top, and bottom, was thoughtfully designed to create a unified and visually compelling package. As you can see from the results below, the students’ creativity truly shined, and they had a fantastic time bringing their cereal brands to life!


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Inaugural LTC Art Show!

Congratulations to Jaxon Collins, Scarlett Hopkins, Easton Kempiak, Jacob Seyller, Hannah Severson, Evan Sittler, Sophia Solis, Kaden Stanford, Daniel Venegas, and Rylie Young for participating in the inaugural Little Ten Art Show, held on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, at Somonauk High School.

The event featured over eighty works of art from eight high schools in the Little Ten Conference. This non-juried exhibition coincided with the Little Ten Band Festival, culminating in an evening band performance.

Stay tuned, as this event is sure to grow in the coming years! Next year’s host will be Serena High School.

Special Thank you to Mr. Ulrich, Mrs. Gummerson, Mr. Langhoff, Mr. Benson (Somonauk), LTC Principals, Ms. Kempiak (Somonauk), and Ms. Symoniak (IMSA) for making this show possible!

View selections from the show through this Google Drive Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1G450X3GRXBEBsc7fb-H6Y7K8tOorYN2v?usp=sharing

Computer Graphics Class Update

Students in Computer Graphics class have been busy this semester exploring advanced digital techniques, including AI-powered tools, within a photo editing program. From restoring old photos to designing surreal landscapes in the Field of Dreams project and experimenting with digital typography, students enjoyed pushing their creative boundaries through healthy class competitions. The projects displayed here represent a selection of their efforts. Read more about our class here!
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Art I Portrait Gallery

In Art I, students took on the challenge of painting self-portraits using a six-step color value scale, exploring the lightness and darkness of a single color. Working exclusively with primary colors, black, and white tempera paint, they carefully mixed their own value steps to create depth and contrast. The final portraits resulted in stunning, dynamic likenesses that demonstrate students' mastery of value, contrast, and precision. This project not only strengthened their painting skills but also encouraged a deeper understanding of color relationships. Well done to all our talented artists!

Drawing II: Mixed Media Grid Drawing

In Drawing II, students were challenged to create a cohesive artwork using a variety of art materials. This exercise expanded students' skills in the use of graphite, colored pencil, ink, scratchboard, paint marker, watercolor, and acrylic paint.

Through this exercise, students practiced their skills in composition, color theory, and drawing techniques while developing their ability to convey a single image. This exercise serves as valuable practice for students pursuing AP Studio Art, where they will be challenged to produce a portfolio of artworks that demonstrate their mastery of various mediums and techniques.


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Painting II Self-portrait Study

Students in Painting II recently completed a self-portrait study, focusing on painting individual facial features such as eyes, noses, mouths, and ears. Working from reference photographs, they began with precise drawings before carefully matching skin tones, light, and shadow to create life-like paintings. Each portrait fragment was then mounted on black matte board and elevated using foam core, adding an interesting three-dimensional effect. This project challenged students to closely observe and capture their own likenesses, and they rose to the occasion with incredible skill and dedication, as you can see in their impressive final pieces!

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Art I Complementary Target Paintings

Complementary colors, positioned opposite each other on the color wheel, create the strongest visual contrast. To explore this effect, Art I students reimagined the classic target design, incorporating their own creative twists. Each section was carefully painted with alternating tempera hues, requiring precision, layering, and smooth application. The works showcased here represent the "Top Targets" from each class, highlighting both technical skill and artistic vision.

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Scenes from The Art Room: Fall 2024

Thanks to Bella Dierzen’s photography first semester, we have preview photos for the yearbook that highlight our students’ efforts! Below: Design classes displays their 3-D projects, Art I students complete their final drawings, and painting students work on landscapes. Thank you, Bella!


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2024-2025 Ceramics I Class

The gallery showcases the creations of first-year ceramics students, pinch projects-iPhone speakers, wheel thrown projects, and coil building works. These initial projects serve as the building blocks for further skill development in Ceramics II, where students have the freedom to pursue more diverse projects.


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Drawing I Faces

Students in Drawing I class dove into the fundamentals of facial anatomy, studying the intricate details of eyes, noses, mouths, ears, and the basic proportions of the human face. The results, showcased here, reflect their hard work and observation skills. Each sketch demonstrates their phenomenal ability to capture the essence and proportions of the human head with remarkable precision. Well done to all our talented artists!
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Art I Final Drawings

The following pencil drawings are the end result of a unit by first-year art students. Many of these students explored shading for the first time, and with dedication and practice, they produced impressive work!

The class brought in their own photographic resources to work from, and utilizing the techniques they learned throughout the semester, they were able to contour draw and reproduce the highlights and shadows in their images. The end product is a collection of realistic drawings that showcase the progress and development of the students' new-found talent!


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Exploring Photocopy Transfer in Acrylic Painting

Painting students recently explored an innovative collage technique using photocopy transfer with acrylic paint. This method takes advantage of a unique property of photocopy ink, which adheres to acrylic surfaces.

The process began with students selecting and creating photocopies of imagery they wished to incorporate into their artwork. Using clear acrylic paint, they painted over the photocopies. Once the paint dried, the paper backing was carefully removed, leaving behind a thin, flexible ink layer reminiscent of a "window cling."

These delicate transfers were then integrated into vibrant background paintings that the students had prepared beforehand. The combination of transferred imagery and hand-painted elements resulted in mixed-media collages.

This project not only taught students about the interaction between different materials but also encouraged them to think creatively about layering and composition. Each piece tells its own story through this unique blend of photocopy transfer and acrylic painting techniques!


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2024 Art Student of the Semester

The Student of the Semester program honors students who exhibit strong character traits such as a positive attitude, respect for others, dependability, hard work, and self-discipline. The Visual Arts Department is proud to recognize Jacob Seyller as Student of the Semester for his exceptional performance and personal standard of excellence. Along with demonstrating extraordinary focus in class, which has resulted in award-winning artwork, Jacob undertakes art commissions outside of class and contributes photography to the Newark website. His dedication to supporting both his teacher and classmates makes him a truly deserving recipient of this honor. Congratulations, Jacob!

Drawing I Colored Pencil

Students in our Drawing I class recently wrapped up a unit focused on colored pencil techniques. As part of their exploration, they created detailed drawings of apples on toned paper.

This project emphasized the art of layering, with students carefully building up multiple layers of colored pencil to achieve smooth blends and realistic tones inspired by reference photographs. The classes hard work and attention to detail are evident in the examples below!


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Ceramics Class Animal Box Project

The Ceramics I Animal Box Project involved constructing slab boxes with lids featuring realistic animal sculptures. The sides of each box depicted the animal's environment through sculpting, texture, and form, with students drawing inspiration from photographs, 3D modeling software, or physical models. The finished boxes were painted using an antiquing method to enhance highlights and shadows, creating a natural, lifelike appearance. This project allowed students to refine their skills in sculpting, texture creation, color theory, and design while deepening their understanding of animals and their habitats. By combining creativity, craftsmanship, and an appreciation for nature, the Animal Box Project highlights the artistic talent and dedication of our students.


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Design Class Logo Redesign Project

In this Design class project, students assumed the roles of professional Graphic Designers, each receiving a random company logo (picked from a hat) from their 'client' to redesign and update. Embracing current logo trends (eleven different trends are discussed), they transformed these logos while maintaining a balance between originality and respect for the original design. To showcase the scalability and visual impact of their new logos, students created digital mockups on various products. The redesigned logos were evaluated on neatness, adherence to the top eleven logo trends, and the ability to innovate without significantly deviating from the original design. This exercise provided students with a hands-on experience in modern logo design and application.


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Design Class: Personal Logo Project

In their recent design project, Design Class students explored the art of identity marks by creating personal logos. Following a unit on corporate design, which included an in-depth look at Lettermarks, Logos, and Combination Marks, students watched a documentary on Sender LLC, a renowned Chicago-based brand development firm. Inspired, they sketched multiple name variations for each logo type, eventually focusing on crafting a unique Combination Mark—blending their name with a symbolic image. Using ink and chalk, they added smooth gradients and artistic effects to bring their designs to life. The class’s creativity shines through in the impressive final pieces displayed below!


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Painting I: The Still Life

The following paintings are the result of the Painting Classes' still life unit, where students were challenged to paint from observation using personally chosen objects. By arranging their objects into a visually appealing composition and using a viewfinder to crop the scene, students developed skills in composition, color mixing, and capturing highlights, shadows, and object characteristics. The focus on observation, rather than photographs, pushed students to strengthen their artistic abilities and create compelling, realistic artwork.


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Painting I Update

The Painting class has been busy mastering the essentials of acrylic painting, starting with color blending exercises in vibrant “ribbons.” This foundation prepared students for a color-matching task, where they matched a palette of muted tones, refining their skills in creating subtle color variations.

With these techniques under their belt, students moved on to miniature still-life paintings, arranging flowers and shells into unique compositions. Using their new blending and color-matching skills, they created intricate, small-scale works as practice for the larger still-life project they’re now tackling. Observational painting from real life—rather than photographs—encourages them to deepen their perception of light, shadow, and color. Their hard work is evident in progress shown below!


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Top Pick Art I Apples

The following graphite apple drawings showcase the top apple selections from both Art I classes. The apple drawing was the last in a series of nine shading exercises. These drawings bring together skills developed over previous exercises into one final image, preparing students for their ultimate project—a drawing based on a photograph of their choice. The works featured here were chosen for their smooth transitions between values using three shading pencils, accurate value placement guided by a light source, and clean, crisp edges with careful detail. The students did tremendous work, as you can see below!


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Art I Pencil Drawings

The following pencil drawings created by Art I students represent a series of exercises that will culminate into a final drawing project. Each drawing in the series focuses on a specific shading skill, beginning with a “step scale”, and ending with the “apple” drawing. Using the skills learned in these exercises, students then create a final drawing based on their own photograph. A significant amount of time is dedicated to these drawings, as these techniques form a foundation for the art program. The important skills here are transferable to other materials such as colored pencil and painting.


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Drawing I: Local Architecture Project

The Local Architecture Project showcases Drawing I students' final ink compositions, inspired by their own photographs of local buildings. In this project, students applied intricate ink pen hatching techniques, skillfully layering lines to create value, contrast, and gradation. By mastering cross-hatching, they brought depth and dimension to their work, turning simple lines into compelling architectural studies. Their impressive results highlight both their technical growth and creative vision, as seen in the gallery below.


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Art Department Student of the Month

The NCHS Student of the Month program recognizes students who demonstrate strong character, including a good attitude, respect for others, dependability, hard work, and self-discipline. For October, the Art Department has selected Adrianna Larsen, a senior, for her leadership and dedication in Ceramics class. Adrianna goes above and beyond in her projects, assists others, and sets high standards for herself, often reworking her creations to achieve excellence. Her commitment to helping both her teacher and classmates makes her a deserving recipient of this honor. Congratulations, Adrianna!

Design Class: Color Wheel Project

The Color Wheel project served as an introduction to color theory for design students. Using only the primary colors—red, yellow, and blue—students mixed all twelve hues. They applied these colors with tempera paint and brushes onto Bristol board cards. Once painted, the cards were cut into the motif you see here. To enhance visual interest, students were encouraged to experiment by rotating the color wheel clockwise or counterclockwise for each layer of their design. The projects were evaluated on three criteria: color accuracy, creativity in design, and overall neatness.


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