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Learning Objectives
Materials
Ink, brushes, bamboo pens, brown rolled paper, paper towel, drawing paper, project example, examples of emakimono images, katakana name work sheets
Vocabulary
Emakimono, manga, ink wash
Artists
Murasaki Shikibu, Tokiwa Mitsunaga
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Lesson
Show project example to give class an idea of what we’ll be doing for the rest of the lesson. Gather class to front of the room to look at scrolls. Introduce the topic of emakimono (picture scrolls), discuss the different types; how it’s the original manga (comic book), how it can be a narrative, a battle, a procession of characters, a single scene, multiple scenes over a length of time, the blown roof in architecture to let one see inside, clouds used to divide scenes, etc. Also mention famous ones, such as Tale of Genji, Frolicking Animals, etc.
But before we get to the main project, we’re going to play with the ink and get a feeling for it. Squares of the brown paper we’ll be using will be handed out for students to experiment with line and wash, and the use of different parts of the brush and pen. After they seem to be a bit more comfortable with the materials, will hand out katakana name worksheets as a second warm up.
Students are to create their own emakimono. Pre-rolled scrolls will be picked up from the front of the classroom so as to allow the student a choice. They will be asked to paint from right to left, and leave spaces for where they might want to write out thoughts, a story, a description, summary, title, etc. (all written words in English will be done in bamboo pen, all katakana names to be done in brush).
They will be allowed to paint any sort of scene they want, whether it is a battle, a procession of caricatures, a single scene from a larger story, a longer scene that has the characters move throughout exhibiting a move through time, a day in their life, etc., exhibiting a passing of time within a day. They should create their own wash by adding ink from their ink cups to the water, and make sure they have the right tone by experimenting on the scrap squares. Pieces of drawing paper will also be on hand for those that want to ink out ideas before making permanent marks on the brown paper. Paper towel will be provided to dab brushes on. Students, if expressing difficulty with ink, will be asked to create basic shapes first in wash, and to create detail with pure ink and the tip of the brush, adding more wash as necessary. [Mention that Japanese perspective is different from western perspective, as objects go back in space they go further up on the page]
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