State Name Art: Ohio, Idaho, Montana, and Maine

It's no secret that I love name art. Over the years, I've shared 47 unique ideas for creative projects using my name (or yours, if you aren't named Cindy). Today's craft is a little different because it features the names of states inside their silhouettes. This would be such a fun project to do with a class of 4th graders studying their home state, or with fifth graders who are each working on a different state report.

For my samples, I chose four states with distinct shapes to see how well my idea would work. I started with what I thought would be the easiest (Ohio) and worked my way toward the most challenging (Maine). It took a bit of creativity to fit the names legibly, but figuring it out was so much fun! I'm really happy with how these turned out. Affiliate links below.  

 

State Name Art

Materials:

• Bristol vellum
• Flair pens
• colored pencils
• microtip scissors
• colored cardstock
• glue stick

Steps: 

Print or trace the outline of a state onto Bristol vellum, or the paper of your choice. (Bristol vellum is my favorite when working with colored pencils.) I made the outlines using PicMonkey graphics, but there are a lot of places to find outlines. You can also have students draw their own outlines or use pre-prepared tracers. 

Use a pencil to LIGHTLY sketch in the letters of the state. Make adjustments until you are happy with the letters. Don't be afraid to have missing parts of letters (like the M in Montana) or distorted letters (like the E in Maine) as long as the state name is legible. Outline the letters with a Flair pen, then color in all spaces that aren't part of the letters.  

LIGHTLY sketch a scene across the white space that represents the state. When you are happy with it, fill it in with colored pencils. I chose fields and a classic red barn for Ohio...

... forests and a mountain for Idaho...

... a sunset behind the mountains for Montana... 

... and a lighthouse on a rocky shore for Maine. 

When you are done coloring, cut out the state and glue it to colored construction paper. 

I had so much fun making these that I will definitely be doing more! I have no intention to do all 50; I learned just how much work it is when I colored in all 50 state quarters coloring pages. It took me eight months, working on four at a time. On the other hand, never say never!