1st Graders! Check out this awesome artist!

So, I know you don't have to do any art assignments but who wants to go a few weeks without any art?! Check out this artist and then let's create a project based off of his work. It'll be so much fun!

Chris Uphues is most well-known for his street art with his fun hearts, full of expressions. What do you notice about his artwork? How would you describe the colors he uses? What does his work remind you of?

About the artist

Chris Uphues is a painter, street artist, and designer living in Chicago, Illinois and is best known for his signature pop artwork. Cartoon-like faces adorn the work of artist Chris Uphue, animating simple shapes such and flowers and hearts. Working in a style of known as Pop Art, he uses bright colors, crisp lines and clean edges in his artwork. Check out the videos below to learn more about how he works and see some more art!

Take a look at this short interview with Chris where

we get to see how he starts

these giant murals

Want to see more of his artwork? Watch this short video below!

Let's make some artwork!

Want to create an artwork in the style of Chris Uphues? I'll show you how to get started!

Think back to when we were working on our landscapes. What were some of the different ways we created the idea of space in our pictures? Look back at the image at the top of the page. Do you see any ways that Chris Uphues created space?

Can you see how space was created in my example? Click on the image below to watch a video where I demonstrate how to get started and see if you got the right answer!

Getting Started

The first step to our drawing is to add the hearts to the page. The goal is a variety of sizes ( big, small, jumbo, mini ), and to create some overlapping! When creating your overlapping shapes, which heart should be in front? The bigger one or the smaller one? If you said the bigger one, you're right! Shapes closer to us appear larger, so try to keep that in mind as you draw your hearts. Also, hearts are symmetrical shapes, both sides are equal. Just try your best, they won't come out perfect, but it gives them character!

Take the time to practice first! Everyone feels more comfortable if after a little bit of practice. Grab some scratch paper and lets draw some hearts!

Remember to work in pencil and draw lightly as we start this so that you can always change something you're not happy with. Or, turn your mistake into something you like!

Adding their Faces!

Now comes the really fun part, turning theses hearts into cartoons. You can use the images below to help you as you work but feel free to get creative! Each heart should have a pair of eyes and a mouth. Don't forget to add a nose if you want one! Have fun making your hearts come to life! If you finish all of your faces and have time, you can go ahead and trace your hearts with a sharpie, dark marker, pen, whatever you have! Check out my inspiration pages below if you need help coming up with some silly faces!

Want to download these files to print? Find them in the files tab in the 1st Grade folder!

Creating a Background

Lets keep working on our overlapping by adding in some images to our background. In Chris Uphues's murals he sometimes adds big stripes of colors, clouds, flowers, and a couple of bugs! What do you want to add to yours? Start in pencil and begin adding to your piece. If you run into a heart, stop drawing! Your hearts will overlap everything you add so nothing can cover them up. Want to see what I did? Check out the video below!

Let's finish with some color!

To make these hearts into some really fun characters lets add our color. I used marker to help keep them bright and bold like Chris Uphues's artwork but you can use whatever you like! This where you really get to make the artwork feel like your own! Have fun! Check out my finished piece below and I'd love to see how you decided to finish yours!