Does your child continually have school assignments that involve artwork? This is great if you or your child is very artistic and creative. But I do feel very sorry for those children who absolutely fear any art project. They may know all about the actual subject matter, but when it comes to making the information into a poster, they have absolutely no clue. Here are a few basic concrete items that will make any poster better.
- Always use a little bit higher quality materials than are called for by the teacher. In other words, if the teacher says to put something on a large sheet of paper, or may even send that piece of paper home with your child (and its usually wrinkled and frayed by the time it gets to your house), use a better, heavier paper. I keep a spiral pad of at least #80lb water color paper around for that very purpose. And you can use an even heavier stock if you find some on sale — it cannot be too heavy.
- If the project calls for "poster board", you will find its really a very flimsy product. I recommend going to a fine arts store or frame shop and requesting a half sheet of "mat" board. These come in all different colors, and in different finishes. I prefer the linen finish
- And no matter how much your child has the color of fuschia in mind, suggest that this color may be too strong for the entire background — that it can be used as an accent color — then, taking your "color swatch" of fuschia ( a piece of colored paper will do fine), put it next to different mat board colors and find one that will not look badly with the fuschia. Keep in mind that if you pick a dark color, you will need to put light colors with it so that they may be seen. In general, working with a lighter hued background is easier, although once you get more comfortable with this plan, dark colars can be very dramatic.
- I also keep pads of colored construction paper available. No matter what you are putting on the poster, it always looks better if you first mount in on the colored paper, then glue it to you mat board. Pick only one, or possibly two colors for your mounting paper. More (unless you have a rainbow theme) looks cheesy. Since you are doing this to make your items stand out, if your background is light, usually mount in a darker color. And the reverse is true for a dark background.
- Pre-mount all your items first, then play with arranging them on your mat board. Try to put larger pictures closer to the bottom, and smaller pictures higher up. Vary your blank spaces. When you get a good arrangement, glue them down with a paper friendly cement or glue. Try to do the last of your glueing the night before the project is due, so that the attachments are all firm.
- Most of us have seen all those stickers and special papers that are available for "super scrap-booking". Peruse the local establishment and see if there are any stickers that pertain to the subject matter of the poster. Take these and place them strategically around the poster. Do not just put them out into space, but associate them with borders or pictures — like having animal stickers looking at real animal pictures — or sitting on the pictures. Using grouping of either the same sticker, or same types of stickers makes a real impact.
- Keep in mind that they have border stickers too, that you could use to separate different sections of the poster.
- These scrap-booking places also have a wonderful little tool called a "corner-punch". For example, if your child has cut out all sorts of pictures on their subject matter, before you pre-mount them, use the corner punch to give them all the same corner treatment. We usually use just a simple rounded corner with a small star in the middle. This is perfect for all sorts of projects, and it covers up all sorts of uneven cutting problems. Obviously, you can also "corner" your mounting paper.
- The titles may be done on a computer and cut out, or take some fine tipped paints like are used on tee-shirts, and (after a bit of practice) you can write directly on the mat board. Mixing up writing directly on the background with mounted pictures and word processed information, helps make the poster more interesting and pleasing to the eye.
- You can also use fine tipped pens for a little extra punch here and there.
- When the poster is complete, (and you have double checked the list of "must-be-on-the-poster" items WITH your child), and all painted surfaces are dry, place heavy objects, like phone books, on it to give some pressure to the glued areas as they dry.
- In the morning remove the books, check the poster over for any last minute needed repairs or fixes, place it in a large garbage bag, and send your child off to school with it.
- Amazingly, if the teacher's eye is caught by the neatness and pleasing mix of color, and shapes, AND all the items required are ON the poster, your child is guaranteed to get a better than average grade.
My daughter's teachers are always asking if they can keep her projects, which helps you from trying to figure out how to store another project at home. The other kids in her classes consistently groan when she takes her posters out of the garbage bag. She loves it!
-Kathy
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