Adventures in Art

Cartoons, colorful paintings and construction paper cut-outs. All are tickets to a journey of imagination for young artists. Twentieth-century American painter Mark Rothko said, “Art is an adventure into an unknown world.” This world uses a special language that communicates through colors, images, textures and styles. You can learn to speak this language by looking at other artworks and by creating works of your own. To start you on your journey into art, try these links on The Times Launch Point Web site: https://www.latimes.com/launchpoint/

Here are the best sites for getting your schoolwork done or for just having fun.

Level 1

Metropolitan Museum Art Game: What Is It? Can you guess what an artwork is by looking closely at a single detail? Use your imagination to solve the mysteries behind four artworks. See how artists can create textures from materials that you would never expect possible, like how hard metal can appear to be smooth, flowing cloth.

https://www.metmuseum.org/htmlfile/education/artgame1.html

The Children’s Art Gallery: This online museum features art and stories of children from around the world. Meet some of the artists and view a variety of exhibitions.

https://redfrog.norconnect.no/~cag/

Art Room: What would it be like to draw like a cat? Learn how to think like an artist through many fun projects that help you learn how to make the ordinary extraordinary. Read about famous artists, view special children’s exhibitions, and do some visual push-ups.

https://www.arts.ufl.edu/art/rt_room/@rtroom_doorway.html

Level 2

Inside Art: Imagine that you’re looking so closely at a painting that you fall right in! Explore a painting by Vincent van Gogh from inside the frame, floating down a painted river. You’ll need to look closely and think carefully in order to find your way back out.

https://www.eduweb.com/insideart/tour2.html

Art Journey: Travel through the history of art by talking with important artists, from prehistoric man and the cave painters of Lascaux to more recent artists like Georgia O’Keefe and Andy Warhol. Find out about their techniques for creating art as well as what inspired them.

https://library.advanced.org/3059/

Art Studio: Ever wonder how cartoonists can use just a few lines to bring a character to life? Find out how you can make your own cartoon characters more expressive through these step-by-step instructions. Learn about different types of cartoons and try some drawing games that stretch your imagination.

https://www.cartooncorner.com/artspage.html

Level 3

Looking at Art: Learning how to look at art can help you unravel its mysteries. Try some exercises that introduce you to the concepts of composition, symbolism and theme. View some fascinating portraits from Egypt, Nigeria, Spain and Italy and find out how artists choose to represent people in different ways to express specific meanings.

https://www.metmuseum.org/htmlfile/education/look.html

A. Pintura: The Case of Grandpa’s Painting: Peer over the shoulder of Ace Pintura, art detective, as he figures out who really created Grandpa’s Painting. You’ll learn how to tell the styles of such artists as Raphael, Picasso and Millet by analyzing color, composition and subject matter.

https://www.eduweb.com/pintura/a1.html

Creative Nexus: The Center for Creative Expression: Get inspired by experiencing impressive works of art created by high school students. You can submit your own creative works for inclusion in this online exhibition, which features a variety of media.

https://library.advanced.org/3089/art/art.html

Launch Point is produced by the UC Irvine department of education, which reviews each site for appropriateness and quality. Even so, parents should supervise their children’s use of the Internet. This week’s column was designed by Anna Nguyen, Eva Pok, Stan Woo-Sam and Anna Manring.

EXPLORER’S QUEST

QUESTION: What is the secret to cartooning?

CLUE: See Art Studio, How to Draw Cartoons

Find What You Need to Know: Have a project on California history? Need help doing a math problem? Launch Point now covers more than 40 topics for getting your schoolwork done. Go to https://www.latimes.com/launchpoint/ for the full list of subjects and direct links to the best Internet sites.

ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S QUEST: The difference is in how fast the matter’s atoms move.