An Op Art Heart is a fun year-round drawing lesson! This subject matter challenges your art students to apply color contrast and their craftsmanship skills as well as some basic perspective drawing and value shading.
Follow these easy steps to create this simple optical illusion!
STEP 1: Start with a symmetrical heart shape
- Draw a large heart in the middle of a 9×12 piece of drawing paper.
- Be sure to leave some space around the heart.
STEP 2: Use a ruler to draw a vertical line
. Draw a straight vertical line down the center of the heart.
STEP 3: Add more lines
- Add 2 slightly curved lines.
STEP 4: Add 2 more lines
- Add 2 more slightly curved lines.
STEP 5: Finally, add more lines near the center
- Add 2 more slightly curved lines on either side of the center line.
STEP 6: Next, draw curved horizontal lines
- Add 5 more curved horizontal lines.
STEP 7: Fill in the top of the heart with curved lines
- Add 2 more curved lines at the top on each side.
STEP 8: Use a ruler to draw a square around the heart
- .Use a pencil and ruler to draw a square around the heart.
- The square should not touch the heart or the edge of the paper
STEP 9: Add radiating lines
- Use a pencil and ruler to draw radiating lines from every line that touches the edge of the heart shape.
STEP 10: Finish with horizontal and vertical lines
- Use a pencil and ruler to draw horizontal or vertical lines from every line that touches the edge of the square as shown below.
STEP 11: Mark out the checkerboard patterns before coloring!
- Before coloring the design, use a pencil to mark out an alternating checkerboard pattern.
- TIP: If you end up with a design that has two squares with the same color touching, an extra line or two might need to be added or removed to make the pattern work out correctly.
STEP 12: Color with light and dark contrasting colors.
Apply value shading to open up this design for skills practice and color variations!
If you would rather have printable worksheets of this design CLICK HERE for your copies!
Take a look at the complete Value Shading Practice Lesson HERE! Great Sub Plan!
If you enjoy Optical Illusions… you might enjoy this Optical Illusion Packet with Step-by-Step Instructions!
Here’s a recent post about why starting the school year with optical illusions is a great idea!
I would love to see what your students create with this tutorial!! Visit me At SparkleGals Art Magic Facebook!
