Silhouettes

There are so many methods for making a cool silhouette project.  I decided to work on drawing skills while creating a very cool silhouette of a tree.  I taught 4th graders how to draw a leafless tree using the "y" method.  The idea is that each branch splits into a y.  Drawing a realistic tree is not simple or easy, but students did well if they remembered that:
1.  trees grow up and out
2.  each branch drawn must be thinner that the one from which it grew
3.  each branch is unique
4. branches taper to a point and can't end abruptly
We drew a practice tree in pencil the first art class. Then we drew a big black tree with oil pastel the next week.  On the third week we looked at sunsets and painted a color wash over the silhouette of our tree, making sure to blend our colors so no lines were visible.