Designer Camouflage

This year 6 class was tasked with designing and painting their own camouflage print for a real or imagined environment — something to make them inconspicuous while traipsing through a Lego landscape, lolly shop or a far away planet etc.

The students dreamed up a location and suitable colourway, then quickly planned their shapes in pencil before setting about painting. Tints and shades were encouraged and I suggested a limit of 3 or 4 colours. Most students went for fairly typical interlocking organic shapes. Their environment/print titles were great, a few were: Pink Pop, Mercury Lake, City Summer Night, Swirly Sweets, Wacky Waves and even Sponge Bob!

Since this lesson occurred I've discovered Andy Warhol's camouflage prints from the 1980s. I wish I knew of them beforehand as they would have been great to show the class. You can see a collection of his prints and read some interesting commentary at this LA Times art review. It even includes a quote from Picasso, who on first seeing actual camouflage print during WWI reportedly declared "It is we who created that". I think this lesson has the potential to be even richer in the future.