Texture and Composition

Overview

This is lesson 2 of 3 in Exploring Visual Narratives. Students build on their initial theme and narrative ideas by experimenting with texture, material qualities, and compositional arrangements. They will develop thumbnail sketches that test how visual choices can communicate mood, meaning, and narrative.

Learning intentions

• We are learning to experiment with textures, materials, and techniques.
• We are learning to organise visual elements using compositional strategies.
• We are learning to develop thumbnail sketches that communicate a chosen narrative.
• We are learning to explain how material and compositional choices support our art-making intention.

Success criteria

• I can create and compare several different textures using appropriate materials.
• I can use thumbnail sketches to test scale, focal point, balance, and space.
• I can select compositional choices that strengthen my theme or narrative.
• I can annotate my ideas using specific visual arts language and identify a clear next step.

Curriculum links

• Explore Visual Arts processes and conventions to inform own art making through experimentation with materials, techniques, drawing conventions, and compositional structures.
• Create a sustained body of related artworks in response to an art-making proposition by developing connected ideas for a future series.
• Produce a significant resolved artwork appropriate to established art-making conventions by considering how media, technique, scale, and finish may support the intended outcome.
• New Zealand Curriculum: thinking; managing self; participating and contributing; using language, symbols, and texts.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–7 min · Reconnect and hook. Teacher opens the opening narrative image and lesson question and briefly revisits each student’s theme from lesson 1, asking, “How could texture make this story feel more convincing or emotionally powerful?” Students review their intention and write one mood or idea they want their artwork to communicate.

2. 7–17 min · Demonstrate texture and composition. Teacher uses the texture and composition teaching slides to demonstrate rubbing, layering, scraping, tearing, mark-making, and combining found or art materials; model three thumbnail compositions showing focal point, cropping, balance, contrast, and negative space. Students identify which textures and compositional decisions might suit their own narrative, recording at least two possibilities.

3. 17–30 min · Texture experiments. Teacher sets out a controlled selection of paper, card, fabric, thread, foil, leaves, mesh, paint, charcoal, pastel, and glue, reminding students to test materials safely and avoid using culturally significant patterns or materials without appropriate knowledge and permission. Students make a small texture sampler or material test sheet, creating at least six contrasting textures and annotating each with the material, technique, and possible narrative effect.

4. 30–45 min · Thumbnail development. Teacher directs students to the texture and composition development worksheet and conferences with students who are unsure how to translate their experiments into imagery. Students produce four to six small thumbnail sketches based on their theme, varying the focal point, viewpoint, scale, cropping, arrangement, and amount of negative space; each sketch includes a brief note about mood, texture, and intended meaning.

5. 45–53 min · Peer feedback and selection. Teacher displays the peer-feedback prompts and selection criteria and pairs students for a focused feedback exchange. Students explain two thumbnails and receive feedback using the prompts: “I notice…”, “The strongest narrative effect is…”, and “You could test…”. They select one composition to develop and circle the material experiment that best supports it.

6. 53–60 min · Reflection and close. Teacher returns to the plenary reflection slide and asks students to photograph or safely store their work for lesson 3. Students complete the final section of the texture and composition development worksheet by identifying their chosen composition, explaining one texture decision, and writing one practical next step for developing the artwork.

Resources

• the texture and composition lesson slide deck
• the texture and composition development worksheet
• A3 or A4 mixed-media paper and sketchbooks
• Pencils, fine-liners, charcoal, coloured pencils, pastels, and paint
• Textured and found materials: paper, card, fabric, thread, foil, leaves, and mesh
• Scissors, glue sticks, masking tape, paintbrushes, palettes, and water containers
• Drying rack or labelled storage area
• Timer and exemplar thumbnail sketches

Assessment

• During texture testing, check that students are experimenting with a range of processes and recording the material, technique, and possible effect.
• Review thumbnail sketches for evidence of purposeful variation in focal point, scale, balance, contrast, cropping, and negative space.
• Use the completed worksheet reflection as an exit check: students must name their selected composition, justify one texture choice, and state a specific next step. Collect or photograph the worksheet and thumbnail page.

Differentiation

• Provide a visual bank of compositional options, a teacher-modelled example, and sentence starters such as “This texture suggests…” and “I placed the focal point here because…”.
• Students requiring support may begin with three thumbnails rather than six, use a limited material set, or work from a simplified grid showing foreground, middle ground, and background.
• Offer pre-cut materials, larger drawing paper, pencil grips, and additional processing time for students with fine-motor, sensory, or executive-function needs. Allow verbal annotation or speech-to-text where appropriate.
• EAL learners can use illustrated material and mood prompts, discuss ideas with a partner before writing, and label experiments with single words before developing full explanations.
• Students ready for greater challenge can combine two contrasting texture systems, deliberately disrupt balance or scale, and explain how this choice creates ambiguity or directs the viewer’s reading of the narrative.