Using Colour Magic to Modify and Repeat Images.

A Year Four class were learning about the artist Andy Warhol, they had looked at his screen prints of Campbell?s Soup and noticed the impact that repeated images have and the subtle differences between each can. The pupils had also looked at his prints of Marilyn Monroe and were interested in the effects of colour change on a single image. We decided to incorporate the colour change into a series of repeated images. Initially the children used Colour Magic to draw a picture of a single can using the brush and fill tools. They saved this image. The children then used the select tool in freehand mode to select the image and saved it as a stamp. They decided on the size of stamp they wanted to use and on a new screen stamped their image in a grid pattern. Some pupils used the symmetry tool but quickly realised that 4 way version turned some cans upside down. It was also tricky to arrange the spacing. Most children were happy to stamp their patterns freehand.

Having arranged their cans the pupils used the fill tool to change the colours and fill in the background. This was quite straightforward, the pupils found the most difficulty with using the select tool ? it can be difficult to get out of and by trial and error they discovered that pressing escape lets you try again. It is important that the work is saved at the initial drawing stage and again as a stamp. Use Colour Magic in Red Level so they have access to Save As.

We developed a more realistic image by using digital photographs. The pupils each took a photo of their can and saved it on the hard drive of their computer. They then used the freehand select tool as before and then cut it out of their background.

They pasted the cut out into a new page. I explained that the fill tool could change areas of exactly the same colour and that photographs contained many shades and tones of a colour that were difficult to see with the naked eye. We looked at a photo enlarged many times through the data projector to make this more apparent. To get round this using Colour Image we posterised the photos by clicking on Image, then Colour effects. This rather crudely reduces the number of colours in the image so that the fill tool can be used. One able and perfectionist boy preferred to use Paint Shop Pro so that he could adjust the tolerance of the colour match to his own requirements. The pupils posterised their photos and saved them as stamps. . They could then arrange the stamps and use the fill tool to change the colours as they had done in their previous work.

P.S.Look at the Warhol Museum http://www.warhol.org/default.asp education pages for some templates of shoes your pupils can modify and repeat.

Sally Limmer
ICT Co-ordinator Damers First School
www.damers.dorset.sch.uk