We started off 8th grade visual arts with a candy bar project. We took something fun for kids, like candy, and turned it into a learning experience with art and design. Candy packaging is designed to catch your eye, so it made a strong first subject for illustration and a little product-based graphic design. This art project builds a base layer for graphic design: looking at how color, shape, and surface work together on a designed object, then learning to render that object with control. Students practiced looking closely at form, color, and surface so a drawing can start to work like a product image, not just a sketch. Our students laid down a first layer with an art marker for bold and full color saturation. Then they worked colored pencil over the top for tone, texture and the finer details. The pencil on top is what starts to build value, surface, and the little shifts that make the candy read as a three-dimensional object. We’re really proud of them. They did such a great job.