We had every intention of jumping head first into Christmas crafts this week, but then we saw Cassie Stephens’ “Greg Mike Loud Mouth-Inspired Lesson,” and we just had to drop everything! Our daughter’s eyes lit right up when we caught our first glimpse of the vibrant and colorful loud mouths featured on Cassie’s Instagram feed. She was fully engaged as we watched the amazing tutorial video, and she hopped right up to the table to start sketching out her very own loud mouth designs. I loved watching her creativity pour out onto the sheet of paper. And if I’m being completely honest, I myself thoroughly enjoyed participating in this Lively Loud Mouth Art Project!
First and foremost, if you do not know who Cassie Stephens is…you most definitely should! She is an amazingly fun art teacher, hailing from Nashville, Tennessee. She is brilliant, hilarious, colorful, and creative. My list of adjectives could truly run on forever. Simply put…she’s fantastic! And she shares the most remarkable ideas. I only wish that I had an art teacher like her when I was growing up. Her students are incredibly lucky.
For this particular lesson, Cassie was inspired by the Atlanta-based (and Connecticut born) artist, Greg Mike. According to his website, Greg Mike has always been “obsessed with the boundless energy and crisp line work of iconic American mid-century cartoons. Mixing the take-no-prisoners bombast of classic NYC street art with the eagle-eyed precision of mass market illustration and animation has been his goal from the beginning. Further inspired by his deep involvement with skate culture and his intersections with the design world, he has become known for pieces that incorporate vivid explosions of incandescent color filtered through a Surrealist Pop Art perspective. Populated by gleefully twisted characters, his world is unsettling, mischievous and uniquely captivating.” One of Greg’s iconic characters is Larry LOUDMOUF!
Greg typically incorporates Larry LOUDMOUF into his street art/murals that he creates using spray paint. Since spray paint is not very conducive to our youngest artists, Cassie chose to turn her lesson into one about collage. Collage, as Cassie puts it, is just a “fancy-pants way of saying ‘cuttin’ and gluin.'” Since the project is centered on collage, that means that each and every component of the loud mouths (sans the words in their speech bubbles) must be cut from paper and glued on. This idea was a bit difficult for my marker-obsessed 4-year-old to fully support, but she enjoyed the fantastic scissor-skills and gluing practice!
Our little nugget loved watching her loud mouths come to life! She loved their bright colors, silly expressions, and carefully chosen accessories. But I think her absolute favorite part might have been designing/sketching her various loud mouths in the very beginning…and then comparing her life-size loud mouths to her original sketch at the very end.
Lively Loud Mouth Art Project
Supplies:
- Construction Paper or Card Stock (Black, White, Red/Pink…and background colors of your choosing)
- Scissors
- Glue/Glue Stick
- Pencil (for your design sketches)
- Marker (to give your loud mouths a voice)
Instructions:
Feel free to watch Cassie’sΒ excellent tutorial video! Our little nugget loved watching the video – she was very engaged and receptive to Cassie’s instructions.Β
- As I mentioned above, the very first step for this art project is to sketch out your loud mouth designs. We used a sheet of white paper and a pencil. We each created three different loud mouth designs. From our three designs, we chose two to bring to life.
- We selected our loud mouth colors from some square (12″x 12″) card stock that we had on-hand. You could just as easily cut a regular sheet of paper into a square.
- Next, you want to cut out a black rectangle for the mouth, a white rectangle (of the same size) for the teeth, and a red or pink rectangle (of the same length) for the tongue – that is, if you want your loud mouth to have a tongue.
- Glue the black rectangle mouth onto the lower part of your square. If you want your loud mouth to have a tongue, place your red or pink rectangle on the bottom portion of your black mouth. Draw two bumps spanning the entire length of the red or pink rectangle. Cut out the tongue. Place glue on the pencil-drawn side of the paper, and glue the tongue in place on the bottom of the mouth. Place the white rectangle on top of the black rectangle and draw your loud mouth’s teeth. Cut the teeth out. Place glue on the pencil-drawn side of the paper, and glue the teeth onto the mouth.
- Now it’s time for some eyes! Draw your desired eye-shape onto a white piece of paper. Fold the paper in two, so that you cut out two identical eyes at once. Place glue on the pencil-drawn side of the eyes, and glue the eyes into place toward the top of your colored square. Next, add a colorful iris and a black pupil to each eyeball. If you so desire, you can add a small piece of white paper to each pupil, as a highlight.
- Your loud mouth is pretty much complete at this point, but the fun is just beginning. Next, you want to think about accessorizing your loud mouth – think eyelashes, eyebrows, a nose, mustache, bow tie, hair bow, etc. Get creative and let your imagination run wild. Create each accessory out of paper and glue it onto your loud mouth.
- Once your loud mouth is complete, cut a speech bubble out of a piece of white paper and glue it to the side of your loud mouth’s mouth. Using a marker (it’s the only time you’re allowed to use one) give your loud mouth a voice. What does your loud mouth have to say? What do they want to share with the world? As you can see from the photos, one of our little nugget’s loud mouths felt like saying, “Pat! Pat! Pat!” while the other wanted to shout out her admiration for snow. π
- Feel free to repeat the above steps to create as many loud mouths as your heart desires. Make sure to hang them all up on display for everyone to see…your entire household is sure to be smiling!
I can’t even express how much fun we both had with this Lively Loud Mouth Art Project! And we are just tickled with the end results. Every time we walk into the dining room, we chuckle at our silly loud mouths hanging on the wall. And every once in awhile, our little nugget decides to show off her own personal loud mouth…complete with silly faces. π
This creative art lesson, by Cassie Stephens, is definitely a winner and I have a feeling that there will be even more loud mouths in our future. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m popping back over to peruse Cassie’s blog and Instagram feed for even more fantastic ideas!
