MODERN ART LESSONS · STUDENT WORKSHEET
Garden Robot: Build a Cartoon Character
Make an original character design page featuring a robot with a seedling. The character wants to help a plant grow, but keeps moving it to different windows. One possible ending: it chooses one suitable sunny place and makes a care chart. Invent a different kind ending if you prefer.
Character reference shared across ten skill lessons—not a picture of the completed assignment. Study the example for possibilities, then close or cover it. Your work should make different choices.
Story starter and example
The character wants to help a plant grow, but keeps moving it to different windows. One possible ending: it chooses one suitable sunny place and makes a care chart. Invent a different kind ending if you prefer. Two different body proportions can suggest the same character. Choose one, retain its identifying prop, and avoid tracing the reference.
What to do
- Your finished project is an original character design page featuring a robot with a seedling. Read the story seed: The character wants to help a plant grow, but keeps moving it to different windows. One possible ending: it chooses one suitable sunny place and makes a care chart. Invent a different kind ending if you prefer.
- Start with box torso, jointed limbs, and a small plant pot. These are helpful shapes, not a tracing template.
- Try a rounded version and an angular version of the same character using large simple shapes.
- Choose the shape arrangement that best fits the personality. Add the identifying feature and one useful prop.
- Draw a larger final version; simplify tiny details that disappear when viewed from an arm’s length.
- View the drawing from an arm’s length. Name the first three shapes you see and simplify an unclear detail. Plan for an unfamiliar reader; compare alternatives and revise pacing, emphasis, or consistency using feedback.
My project: an original character design page featuring a robot with a seedling. My chosen ending is…
Try rounded shapes here. Try angular shapes here.
Circle your choice and explain its personality.
Draw the final design and mark its three identifying features.
Story clue: How will I show that the character keeps moving it to different windows?
Before feedback, I wanted the reader to notice… The reader actually noticed…
Revision: I changed… because…
Use browser Print / Save as PDF