Self Portraits and Art Journal Page

Don't you just love self portraits……it's got to be one of my favourite lessons.




I'll show you how to do this one….

……..and how to do an awesome journal page using your practice copy from the first project.

So this variation of my self portrait lesson was done with grade 4.

We put a bit of a math spin on it, discussing fractions when drawing the proportions of the face.  We also did patterns for the background.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- we used 12"x12" hardboards for our backgrounds, you could use paper or cardboard
- acrylic paint
- good quality drawing paper
- mirrors
- pencil and white drawing erasers (Staedtler or triangular drafting erasers).  I have a class set that travels with me and I tell the kids don't use your pink erasers or the one on the end of your pencil.
- coloured pencils or pencil crayons
- fine sharpies
- printmaking shapes, I use cut up pool noodles and these foam blocks I got from the Dollar Store (circles, triangles, squares, etc.), recycled corks from wine bottles, little cups
- scissors and glue
- Mod Podge or Duraclear for sealing, optional

PROCEDURE:

Self Portrait Board:

Now I do self portraits a lot so I have a full class set of mirrors. I got mine at the Dollar Store.  I added some hockey tape to any that did not seem too sturdy.  Kids can be a bit rough with them.

They are a worthwhile investment for any school as each class can do several portrait drawing projects throughout the year.

We start off doing a practice portrait using regular copier paper.  We go step by step as a class.

The hardest part is getting the kids to sketch lightly until they are ready to commit.


My directions for drawing a face can be found HERE and depending on the age of the students I'll also give them a handout or have large step by step pictures up on the board.

When the practice drawing is done I give them a piece of good quality drawing paper.

For this variation I had them do the face shape, ears, neck and shoulders, and outline of the hair.


They then used some flesh tone acrylic paint and painted in the face, ears, and neck.

I keep 3 main colours of skin tone premixed.  (light, medium, and dark).  The kids can usually find a good match but we can alter if we need too.

Let face dry.

While the face is drying paint the 12"x12" hardboard or background a solid colour.

Your face should be dry now.  Using a light hand with the pencil sketch in the rest of the proportions.

Add the eyes, nose and mouth.

When the features are drawn in pencil we added some white paint with a tiny brush for the eyeball.


Now add colour and shading with your coloured pencils.

Your background board will be dry now.  We added patterns to ours and I'll describe how we did this when we do the art journal page.



Cut out your portrait and glue on top of your background.



Art Journal Page:
This is a great project if your students are really self conscious about their drawings.  By painting it a different colour, almost like a fauvist portrait, it helps them loosen up a bit.  They won't expect it to be perfect.

Take your practice drawing.  This is one of my student's.

Go over the outline with a black sharpie.

Squeeze a little acrylic or tempera onto your palette.

Add water to make it inky.

Paint over your drawing.


Let dry.

Paint in the whites of the eyes.

Add detail and shading with your coloured pencils.

Paint a background colour on to your art journal page.

Now add some prints.  I'm using sequin waste paper, cut up pool noodles, corks, little cups, etc.


For the first project the Grade 4's chose 2 shapes and then made repeating patterns on their backgrounds.

While the paint is out do the opposite page so you have a background ready to go for next time.

I used the leftover blue paint as the main colour.

Add some stamps.

And then I added this ADMIT ONE ticket.




That's it, you just completed 2 great projects.


Take care everyone.
Gail

Self Portraits

I have been working with Grade 1 and 2 on self portraits.


Trying to get them to hit the landmarks, put features in roughly the right places, and to really look at the shapes of things.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- brown kraft paper
- gesso or white primer
- paint roller
- regular paper for draft drawing
- pencil and eraser
- re-positionable contact paper, optional
- tempera paint in skin tones
- crayons, pencil crayons
- disk tempera for hair, shirt, text
- glue
- fine sharpie

PROCEDURE:

I have a set of mirrors that I give out and ask that they look closely at their features.  We use the mirrors as we draw.

We started doing a practice drawing. If I had more time I would of had them do a drawing with no instruction first, this helps to show progress.


On regular paper we start talking about the shape of the head.

We drew in pencil but I'm using a sharpie so you can see it.

We aim for an oval or egg shape.


We add the neck and shoulders.  I point out that the shoulders go straight out or angle down a little.  We don't want them shaped like hills,  makes it look like we are hunching up our shoulders.

We then find the centre of the face and make a dot.

Make a dotted line across the oval.

If you ask the kids what will be on this line they will say "the nose".  I ask them to look in the mirror again and then I get "oh, the eyes!".

We then draw a second dotted line halfway between our first line and the chin (nose line) and then a third line halfway between the second line and the chin (mouth line).

I talk to the kids about the eye shapes.  How we are going for a football shape and not a soccer ball.

Eye spacing can be difficult so we talk about how it's like drawing 3 eyes except we erase the middle one.

We can then put in that upper lid, just a sliver.  I ask the kids to look at their eyes (iris,pupil) to see if there is any white showing above them.

We then draw in the iris touching the top of the eye and add the pupil.  With older kids we add the reflection.

We talk about eyelashes.



We leave the eyebrows out for now.

On to the nose.  On the nose line in the section between where the eyes are spaced we add a little "c", add another on the their side but backwards, and then a little hill between the two.

You can then add some lines for the sides of the nose.  If you look at those side lines , they go up above the eyes and then arch into the eyebrows. (have students look in the mirror)

On the mouth line we put in the mouth.  We start with the little dip in the centre of the upper lip. We we then extend this, curving up if we want a smile, we do the bottom of the upper lip.

Add the lower lip, thinner and shorter than the upper lip.

Add the neckline of the shirt.

Add the ears.

Then add the hair.  I ask the kids to look in the mirror to see that hair comes down on the forehead even if their hair is short.

I took kraft paper and cut it into squares.  I placed them on the ground and using a paint roller with a handle rolled primer onto them.  I wanted it to looked quick so the brown shows on the edges.

It dries quickly.

After our practice drawing we repeated what we did on the primed paper.

With crayon we add colour to our eyes, lips, and eyebrows.

Because I had a lot of young Grade 1's, I cut eye shape out of contact paper and we covered the eyes.  If you place the paper on top of the eye you can see the pencil thru it and then you can trace out the shape.
Cut, peel and stick.

Mix up a skin tone using white liquid tempera.  Add a drop or two of red and some brown.



Paint in the face and neck.

Paint in the hair and shirt.


Peel off eye stickers when the face paint has dried.

I cut the letters for 'self' using the cricut.  I printed the text for portrait.  For the kids it was printed on paper I created that had faces all over it.  We painted our 'portrait' paper.

Glue into place.

That's it.