Divers swim around a diving capsule. The figures are very small and they swim in the distance. This exercise encourages the use of a broad range of MS Paint Tools.

As you read MS Paint for Little Children imagine with the students other kinds of scenes that may be found under the water. Brainstorm the kinds of objects and situations you might find if you went diving as an underwater photographer.

This scene is a diving capsule with divers swimming around it. The divers have been kept very small and in are in the distance.

Discussion with the students will uncover the idea that

• the divers are still the subject matter of the painting no matter how small. Ask the students "what makes this so? " (they are doing something that makes the viewer curious, they have come out of an object that is out of context under the sea, )
• placement and size, shows them how to create depth, and distance
• they will be asked to think about proportion

Ask the students to divide the page with the Curvy Line Tool.

• Draw A Curved Line In MS Paint shows you how to play with this soft undulating line.
• It is an appropriate tool with which to manipulate the sea floor.
• Don’t forget the line will only bend twice.
• Make sure this line extends to the bottom of the page leaving a lot of area for the divers to swim.
• Remind the students that they must extend the lines totally closing both sides of the drawing stage so that the colour does not leak out when they fill with the Paint Bucket Tool

For the divers capsule use the idea of circles within circles described in MS Paint for Little Children

Draw the seaweed

• with the Freehand Line Tool
• or use the Bendy Line Tool and match the lines so that they are parallel
• encourage experimentation with both methods

Use the Polygon Tool to create the rocks. This is to

• encourage the students to practice using this tool
• and to draw their awareness to the idea that rocks can be jagged.
• don’t have them always using the Circle Shape Tool or Ellipse Tool as it is too mechanical.
• A class discussion about this could be timely.

Create the school of fish with the Circle Shape Tool or Ellipse Tool asking the students to

• maintain consistency of shape so that the fish all look the same.
• match the colours so that the fish look like they come from the same school.
• the tails are created by using the Polygon Line Tool.

Draw the bubbles and talk with the students about the placement of them -

• The placement is not random. Where they come from and go to, indicates the movement of breathing
• So that there is a spray like feel to the bubbles - intersperse and overlay them with the fine spray tool. (Select a shade of white)
• Talk to the children about how bubbles drift upwards to the top of the water.

The divers have been drawn with the Free Hand Line Tool. (Just the helmet has been the Ellipse Tool)

• Because the divers are so small this is the time to show the students the Magnifying Glass Tool.
• Have them hone in on the figures so that they can draw and enhance them on Enlarge and then Zoom back out .

Use the Spray Can Tool on Scatter and add sandy texture over the rocks

• Demonstrate this technique to the students or they may overdo this last embellishment – losing the drawing! If they do tell them to rescue their outlines.

Blend some shades of green over the seaweed so that it camoflages a little into the back ground and you have your under water scene.

Please post examples here and we will talk about them on the discussion boards.