Wild Side/Calm Side Self-Portraits

This lesson starts with a discussion about how lines and colors can show emotion. A great book to read first is "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" which shows a lot of emotion with simple line drawings.

1. Give the students a head and shoulder cardboard template to trace in pencil on a sheet of paper. Ask them to draw a line down the middle of the head.
2. After a discussion about...

Read more »

Day of the Dead Drawing

Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) is a holiday celebrated in Mexico in which family and friends pray for and remember friends and family members who have passed away. It occurs every November 2nd in connection with All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day celebrations.

1. Starting with black construction paper, show the students how to draw in pencil a large skeleton head, which looks a lot like an upside down pear. Circles are added for the eyes, a triangle for the nose, and rectangle with lines for the mouth. A skinny neck and shoulders are added.
2. After the pencil drawing is complete, the students are to take white glue and trace all the lines. Let dry for at least 24 hours.
3. Oil pastels are used to color in all the shapes made with glue.

Read more »

Back To School Portraits

I'd been looking for a different approach to self-portraits for a back-to-school project. I wanted something that would ask the students to see themselves in a new way, and create a colorful display that I knew the teachers would appreciate for their classrooms. Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser has an amazing life story, along with a very appealing style of abstract drawing. Click here to read more about him.

1. Start with a 9" x 12" paper, and trace the width of a ruler around the outside edges in pencil. Add another line about 1/4" away to make a narrow inner border.
2. Draw a very large circle that almost touches the top border and does touch the left and right. Wobbly circles are welcome! Shoulders may be straight or angled. Eyes are drawn by starting with a center dot, and then the football shapes that extend and touch the outside edge. Hair must be simple, simple, simple, using as few lines as possible. Names are drawn in block letters in the bottom border.
3. When the drawing is done, all lines are traced with a thin black marker.
4. Everything is colored in heavily with some good colored pencils. This sample is down Prismacolors.

Read more »

A Kinder Portrait

Sometimes when a student gets to use a new media for the first time, like oil pastels, a visible excitement can be seen the results.

These kinders traced a head and shoulder template and then drew a line down the middle. They were supposed to draw and color a “calm” and a “wild” side. But this young boy instead just had a blast coloring with as many colors as possible, watching how they would blend together. Not the directions, but I love the results!

Read more »

My Summer Self Portrait

I'd been exploring ideas for a back-to-school project combining art with story telling much like a popular art journal technique, in larger scale. This project which combines a self portrait with a composition about the students summer experience has become wildly popular with the kids and their teachers as a great kick-off to the school year.
1. Click HERE to download a blank letter-size body template. If you can Xerox on tabloid paper, copy the template at 125%.

The larger sized paper is always easier for students to work with.

2. Have the students add all of their personal details including facial features, hair and clothing and their names, in pencil. When complete they're to trace over all pencil lines in black Sharpie marker.
3. Next, have the students use ballpoint pens to write their compositions in the background. In the interest of time, advise the students that neatness is not essential and to cross out or overwrite any errors.
4. Lastly, give the students liquid watercolors to complete their pictures.

Read more »

Fauve Portraits

The primary mission of Fauve artists in the late 1800's was to work with vibrant and unnatural color. Van Gogh, Gauguin and other artists wanted their art to be new and modern, much like the technology that was developing around them.
1. If your budget permits, give each student a canvas panel to work with – they really add to the professional look of the artwork. If not, a very thick paper is needed to support the paint. Students should first draw with pencil a very simple portrait. Round face, simple eyes, nose and mouth and hair. No small details.
2. Distribute very bright acrylic paint and brushes. Starting with the skin, the students are to choose a color that they think is the opposite of what it should be. Fill all the skin in with paint, leaving the eyes, nose and mouth empty (layering dulls the colors). Continue with the rest of the portrait, always choosing unusual colors.
3. After the paint has dryed, pass out small brushes and black acrylic paint. The students are to paint a thin black line where all their pencil lines use to be, to finish off the painting.

Read more »

Self-Portrait Painting

Years ago I taught my first self-portrait project in my son's 2nd grade classroom. They've since become a favorite of students and their parents and have served

as great fundraising tools. 1. I started with 5" x 7" canvas panels and an assortment of acrylic paint. It helps if you include lots of skin tones, as well as other bright colors when purchasing your paint. During the first class session, I had the students just choose one color and paint the entire background. Let dry for at least one day.
2. Distribute small brushes and paint. Ask the students to paint in an oval face and then a neck. A simple shirt is painted below and the hair is added around the face. Let canvases dry for at least another day.
3. Here's where I learned that it's too hard to paint lines on the face with a brush. You're better off passing out Sharpie markers for the features and signature on the chest when complete.
4. You can then attach all your 5" x 7" canvases to one surface, or as in my case, scan them to computer, make a collage and a nice glossy print for everyone in the class.

Read more »

Chuck Close Self Portrait

Chuck Close is an American painter and photographer who first achieved fame as a photorealist. This project, which imitates his style, takes a bit of planning, but the results can be spectacular.

1. Take digital photos of the students. With my computer graphics software, I cropped the faces in Photoshop and printed them out (black & white) to fill an 8" x 10" box. Cut out all the photos.
2. Create and print an 8" x 10" grid sheet filled with a 1" lines for each student. Cut out all the grids. Cut sheets of carbon paper that are 8" x 10" square. Stack the photo on the carbon on the grid paper. Tape together. The students are to trace all the edges of their faces on the photo, which will transfer to the grid.
3. Once the face edge lines are on the grid paper, instruct the students to pick a pair of pencil crayons each for the face, neck, background and hair. Each square in these areas is to be filled with any kind of shapes and patterns, but only with the chosen pair of colors. Repeat until all the areas are filled. The eyes look best just colored normally without any patterns.

Read more »

Paul Klee Portrait

Paul Klee was a Swiss artist from the early 1900's who liked to turn things he saw into simple geometric shapes. His “Head of A Man” is a classic example of his philosophy.

1. In the center of a 9" x 12" sheet of paper, have the students draw a 6" circle, using a cardboard template. Below that the neck and shoulders can be drawn, but only using straight lines and angles.
2. The face may be drawn in pencil, but again only using very simple lines. Trace all with a dark crayon, pressing firmly.
3. Cut up various sheets of tissue paper, in about 3" squares. With a cup of water and a paint brush, the students are to dampen the white paper, and place up pieces of tissue on top in a grid-like format. Once the paper is covered, the tissue may be picked up and thrown away. The student will find that the tissue color has bled to the paper in irregular shapes. It is wise to test tissue paper with water first as some bleed more than others.

Read more »

Archimboldo “Fruit Face”

Giuseppe Archimboldo was an Italian artist from the 1500s who spent years working as an official court painter. He developed a style of composing portraits from fruits, vegetables, etc., which was uniquely his own. There's a great book about him called "Fruit Face" which is what I used to introduce this lesson.
1. Find lots of large, colorful images of all kinds of fruits and vegetables from either magazines or stock photos online. I found that www.iStockPhoto.com has lots to choose from and are not too expensive.
2. Make color prints or color copies of all the images and distribute to the students, along with a scissors, glue stick and black construction paper. Show them how they can "build" a face by layering smaller, feature-like pieces on top of larger shapes. Careful cutting (removing all the background) will help make their face look nice and neat.
3. Lastly, the students will glue down all the shapes, starting with the background. Encourage lots of detail with clothes, accessories, etc.

Read more »

Hundertwasser Portraits

I’m still so hooked on the Vienna artist Hundertwasser, that I thought I would try combining his style with my popsicle portrait project. I think his art has a kind of layered marker look to it so it seemed like a good match.

1. It seems that Hundertwasser had a real aversion to straight lines, so I thought I would start with 8 un-straight jumbo popsicle stick glued to two back ones and let dry.
2. I traced the board onto dry wax paper just so I knew the size my drawing should be. Looking at Hundertwasser’s paintings, I tried his style of a very round head, large eyes that spread across the whole face, simple features and hair.
3. When the pencil drawing was done, I traced the lines with a gray marker, and then colored in all the shapes with Sharpie markers. In the past I have always tried to not smudge the color together, but this time I let them smear all they wanted to! When the coloring was done, I cut the drawing out very close to the edges.
4. I mixed 50/50 glue and water and brushed a layer all over the board and the back side of the drawing. I placed the drawing on the board and brushed another layer of glue over the front. Any wrinkles were spread out to smooth before the glue dried.
5. After the glue was dry, I went back with the markers and added those trademark Hundertwasser lines wherever it seemed fit. The marker colors show up much brighter over the dry glue so they give some added punch to the picture.

Read more »

Close Up Portrait

I've found that drawing a portrait of another person from a photo can sometimes help students see more details than usual.

1. Find closeup photos of different faces, male and female, preferably with strong features. Make sure the photos are all closely cropped, especially into the top forehead.
2. Give the students paper that is in the same proportion as their photo. With a pencil, follow the steps shown in the diagram to the right. I’ve found that starting with a large "U" shape seems to be easier than an oval. Review the basic facial proportions with students before they draw their own. One of the most common misconceptions is that eyes are located near the top of the head, when actually they sit in the center. The bottom of the nose is halfway between the eyes and the chin, and the mouth is halfway between the nose and the chin.
3. After the facial features and shoulders are added, have the students trace their lines with a black marker and color everything in with construction paper crayons. Encourage the addition of shadows, such as on the neck chin, etc.

CA Visual Art Standard: Grade Four
2.5 Use accurate proportions to create an expressive portrait or a figure drawing or painting.

Read more »

Recycle Mosaic Faces

I was wishing for some pretty colored paper to collage with when I realized my stash of recycled food boxes would do the trick. I save these boxes for their bright colors and enjoy finding new ways to recycle them.

1. I started with a black piece of paper, where I lightly sketched the outline of a head and neck.
2. My boxes came from food that held cereal, crackers, granola bars...anything that is clean and has lots of color to it. I began by choosing the eye shapes, then lips and nose. Then I found a skin color box and cut it into little “tiles”. All these shapes are glued down using a thick layer of glue stick glue. Any extra glue blobs are OK as they dry clear. More is better in this case to keep corners from popping up.
3. Finish the portrait with some interesting clothes and hair. It took some patience to try to fill in as many small pieces as I could, so I plan to encourage students to not rush through this project. The more detailed shapes they include, the more interesting their artwork will become.

Read more »

Masking Tape Portrait

This is another way of getting lots of irregular torn edges, without the fuss of gluing them down. I used blue painter’s tape to make this portrait on a piece of colored paper.
1. Each student will need a 9" x 12" piece of colored paper, and a roll of blue painter’s tape (sharing would work too). I used the 1.5" wide variety so I was forced to tear it a lot if I wanted narrow strips. I personally think the more torn edges there are, the better the art looks.
2. I started by laying down the oval shape, then the neck, and finally the face and hair. You could require the students to make their head touch the top and sides of the paper so their faces will be large. Small faces would be difficult to fill in.

Read more »