Design Foundation
Assignment 2
Animalitos/Alebrijes with opaque color, direction and invented texture
Introduction: The first Alebrijes, where created by Pedro Linares of Oaxaca, Mexico. After dreaming about the
creatures while sick in the 1930s, he began to create what he saw in cardboard and papier-mâché. The Oaxaca
valley area already had a history of carving animal and other types of figures from wood, and Linares’ designs were
adapted to the carving of a local wood called copal. Many rural households in the Mexican state of Oaxaca have
prospered through the sale of brightly painted, whimsical wood carvings they call Alebrijes to international tourists
and the owners of ethnic arts shops in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The Alebrijes in Oaxaca is a marriage
of native woodcarving traditions and influence from the work of Pedro Linares.
Alebrijes: These imaginative creatures are called Alebrijes (ali-bre-haze). In Mexico (Oaxaca) they are made from
Copal wood which is native to Oaxaca, Mexico. In Mexico, they are creatively carved by the artist’s hand, and often
painted by family members - no two pieces will ever be exactly alike. These fanciful creations were made by
assembling wood scraps and taking the same care in painting the details.
Materials per Student:
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A variety of cut wood scraps
Hot glue gun with glue sticks
Wood glue
White gesso
A variety of acrylic paint (opaque)
Paint brushes
Water containers
Assignment:
You will create an Animalitos/Alebrijes fantastic creature using wood scraps, glue, gesso and acrylic paint. Pick out
scraps of wood to create your Animalitos. Be creative and try different shapes (abstract and geometric) and
directions (horizontal, vertical and diagonal) to create a sense of movement and balance. The
sculpture/construction can include body, legs, head, antenna, antlers, wings, feet etc. Glue the wood pieces together
using wood glue and hot glue. Use acrylic paint on your Animalitos in the style of Oaxaca artists with solid opaque
under colors and pattern in the surface.
Emphasize the use of bright colors and patterns (alternative mark making).
un-painted
Key Vocabulary:
Alebrijes
Animalitos
Armature
brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical creatures
little animals
a form usually wire to begin a papier-mâché sculpture
Construction
CONSTRUCTING = BUILDING and JOINING TOGETHER – such as through
welding, nailing, gluing, etc. – separate objects (but NOT necessarily utilizing FOUND
objects such as in ASSEMBLING).
Copal
Manuel Jiménez
the wood most commonly used by the woodcarvers in Oaxaca, Mexico. The
master woodcarver recognized as the founder of folk art woodcarving in Oaxaca,
Mexico http://www.tilcajete.org/article.htm
Alebrijes are decorated with bright patterns in complimentary colors
was a Mexican artist and creator of the paper Mache figurines named Alebrijes
Pattern
Pedro Linares
Folk art
Art made by people who have had little or no formal schooling in art. Folk artists usually
make works of art with traditional techniques and content, in styles handed down through
many generations, and often of a particular region. Paintings, sculptures, ceramics,
metalwork, costume, tools, and other everyday objects all may be folk art.
Color is the most exciting design element color has three distinct properties: hue, value and saturation. To
understand color you must understand how these three properties relate to each other.
HUE
The traditional color name of a specific wavelength of light is a hue. Another description is spectral color. All of
the colors of the spectrum are hues. There are only limited hue names: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet.
Magenta and cyan are also hues.
VALUE
Value is concerned with the light and dark properties of color. All colors exhibit these properties. The hues have a
natural value where they look the purest. Some colors, like yellow, are naturally light. Some, like violet, are darker.
All hues can be made in all values. Adding white paint will make any pigment lighter. Adding black paint will make
most pigments darker, but will cause yellow paint to shift in hue to green.
Value can exist without hue (see achromatic). Black, white and gray are values without color. Since these values are
used extensively in art, it is important to understand their relationship to one another.
SATURATION
Saturation is concerned with the intensity, or the brightness and dullness of color. A saturated color is high in
intensity -- it is bright. A color that is dull is unsaturated or low in intensity. Another term for saturation is chroma.
A color without any brightness (no hue) is achromatic (black, white and/or gray.
Saturation is the most difficult aspect of color to understand since value and saturation are often confused. The color
wheel above shows the relationship between hues (around the outside) and saturation (center to outside). It is the
territory in the center of the color wheel that must be understood in order to be able to control the brightness of
colors.
Intensity- the saturation or strength of a color determined by the quality of light reflected from it. A vivid color is of
high intensity; a dull color, of low intensity.
Density- the degree of opacity or transparency of color
Opaque color- light is block out or does not pass through
Transparent color- light passes through
VISUAL TEXTURE
Visual texture refers to the illusion of the surface's texture. It is what tactile texture looks like (on a 2D surface). The
textures you see in a photograph are visual textures. No matter how rough objects in the photograph look, the
surface of the photograph is smooth and flat. Both types are important to the designer, but in 2D art, the illusion of
texture is used more than tactile texture.
Visual texture is always a factor in a composition because everything has a surface and hence a texture. The
construction paper you have used has a boring texture that is only slightly different from the sketchbook's paper.
Some other colored papers are more visually interesting. This is because of their color, but also their texture. Look
around the house to see what interestingly textured papers (both visual and tactile) you can find (start with wrapping
paper).
Invented texture is a texture whose only source is the imagination of the artist. It generally produces a decorative
pattern.
Direction: Artists use the elements of art to generate visual forces that will control the movement of our eyes as we
view their work. Pathways are devised to provide transition from one pictorial area to another. The element of
direction can have a powerful influence on the mood of a painting. It is something often overlooked, but making a
conscience decision about the dominant direction in a painting can have a noticeable effect on the atmosphere of the
work. Sometimes the subject will dictate the dominant direction. The diagonal direction has no equal in visual
intensity. It suggests depth or movement. The periphery of the eye is very sensitive to movement or to any diagonal,
so it calls for complete attention from the viewer. That is why traffic signs designed to warn of hazards are diamond
shaped, using diagonals. Vertical and horizontal directions infer a static or decorative visual condition. Long
horizontal directional images are calm and restful, suggestive of peace, tranquility, infinity and serenity. Vertical
directional images convey a feeling of dignity, stateliness, stability and strength. Combining vertical and horizontal
elements produces a solid, confident, and orderly sense of structure similar architectural construction. Diagonal
direction images are dynamic, suggestive of action, and highly complementary to both horizontal and vertical
elements. Opposing diagonals create conflict and strife. Diagonal compositions are generally more forceful and
disturbing than those based on a vertical and horizontal organization.
Student examples: