First graders have been participating in Author & Illustrator Studies in Library class. Our most recent study was on Christian Robinson who is mainly an illustrator for authors but has also published two books of his own. We have read six books illustrated by Robinson and have watched multiple videos of him working in his art studio and listening to him speak about his art style and why he became a children’s book illustrator.
The style of art Robinson uses is mainly collage based but he also uses paints, markers, pencils, and other supplies to bring his pictures to life. First graders have been noticing his layered paper and mixed media work and in honor of all the discussing and watching of Christian Robinson’s art, students now get to actually experience what it is like to make collage illustration.
In Robinson’s wordless picture book,
Another, the character follows their pet cat through a portal where they find another one of themselves, much like a twin. Based on this story and Robinson’s art style, students made a self portrait, or a twin, of themselves using cut paper, markers, and colored pencils. Through this unit, students are able to take notice of detail and style when it comes to both art and storytelling, and they get to feel what it is like to be an artist and use materials to create their own character that could be in one of Christian Robinson’s stories.
