Ed Ruscha Shadow Words

Ed Ruscha is an American artist born into acclaim from the pop art movement. I've always enjoyed his work, but he holds a special place in my heart as he was a visiting artist to the University of Texas in Austin while I was attending, and gave an inspirational talk about perseverance as an artist. His word paintings are among his most pivotal pieces, and he did a series of words that resembled ribbons, with special attention to shading and highlights. Teaching value (AKA shading) is tough with middle school students, and this has been my most successful project thus far to tackle the technique.

First, they choose a word that is special to them in some way. Since this project is done at the beginning of the school year, I utilize this time to talk to them about their word selection and it really helps me get to know them. Next, they cut plain white paper into long strips that can be shaped into letters. They tape these letters onto white paper backing (note that the paper should be taped on its thin edge, but it's okay if it droops a bit as this helps create shadows). I use clip lamps to create light sources in the room and otherwise dim my overhead lights so that we achieve dramatic lighting. Then they go to town drawing their word exactly as they see it, using pencil to shade.

Click on the image below to cycle through examples: