Art Merit Badge

Hello, everyone. My name is Barry Eitel, and I will be taking over this section on Boy Scouts from the previous editor, Nicholas Bittner. I will focus on merit badges, rank advancement, and scouting skills (such as cooking, fishing, ect.).

My first article will be on Art MB. This is a very good first merit badge for incoming scouts. It has very few requirements, and these are very easily completed. In my opinion, it is probably the easiest merit badge to earn. Art MB is also very fun.

Let's take a look at the requirements. You can find a copy at meritbadge.com.

The first requirement states that you need to tell a story with a picture or pictures. This can be done by doing a comic strip or book. I choose to recreate the Greek myth of Pandora. Try to focus more on the art then on the words, or your counselor may not except your story.

The next req. wants you to promote an idea or product with a picture or pictures. This requirement introduces you to the world of commercial art. First, choose an easy product to draw, like a tent or soda. You can get some ideas by looking at the ads in the newspaper or even the ones in pop-ups and SPAM.

The 3rd requirement tells you to record in an art medium something you have done or seen. You can try drawing or painting something outside, like flowers or fields (that's what Van Gogh did). I took a photo of a lighthouse (remember that photography is an art medium). If you do choose to take a photo instead of drawing or painting, make sure it is a very skillfully taken photograph, not just a simple and cheesy one of you and a few of your buddies.

After you do that, you are supposed to put a design on something. Remember that it has to be original. You probably want to do this on older or broken things that are not in use anymore. Your design could be very simple, like a system of lines and dots, or it could be very elaborate, like little tropical landscapes.

The next req. tells you to design something useful. This is pretty easy. You could design a building, a piece of funiture, or a type of box. This is up to your imagination.

The 6th requirement is the hardest one. This req. has you render a subject of your choice in four of six ways. These ways include pencil, pen & ink, watercolor, pastel, oil, tempera, or acylic. This requirement introduces you the fine arts. The easiest ways to do this are probably pencil, pen & ink, watercolor, and tempera or acylic. Pencil is pretty self-explanatory. For pen & ink, you can use a quill pen, or a normal BIC pen. Most likely you've used watercolor before, and they are also pretty simple. Pastels are easy to use, but you need to apply a fixative to your art after you're done so the colors don't smear. Oil is very difficult to use, and you should do this only if you have help and the necessary products and tools. Tempera is poster paint, and you have probably use this before, too. Acylic paint is basically like tempera, and the use is the same. Most, if not all, of these pictures you've done in art class.

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