Four Creative Approaches to the Self-Portrait

Four Creative Approaches to the Self-Portrait in a K-12 Art Program
Presented by Julia Healy
January 31, 2012

All four of these lessons are applicable to all ages. Kindergartners will, of course, need some assistance with assembly and will do the lesson at a more basic level than middle school or high school students.

It may be possible to integrate other subjects with these lessons and use the vocabulary of science (nostrils, philtrum, skull, iris, pupil, eye socket, etc.) or subjects such as self-esteem or storytelling through illustrative narrative. Adapt them any way you wish. You may even want to combine two of them into one project.

Watercolor Self-Portraits With Meaningful Backgrounds

When you want to have your students do more than just a self-portrait, a meaningful background might be the way to go.

Grades: K-12

Time Frame: 2-4 art periods

Aims/Goals:

To observe and learn about the human face and its characteristics

To tell a story through background clues

To explore watercolor techniques and learn how to use the medium successfully

Standards: 1, 2, & 3

Materials & Tools:

Heavy White Drawing Paper or Watercolor Paper 12 x 18” or larger
Individual Mirrors
Pencils, Erasers
Sharpie Markers (fine point)
Watercolors (I like Crayola 16-pan, NON-Washable watercolors)--Two students can share (With caveats!)
Watercolor brush/brushes
Coffee Cans filled with water almost to the top--Two students can share one can.

Motivation:

Examples of Portraits with Backgrounds such as the Da VInci’s Mona Lisa, Gauguin’s Self-Portrait with Yellow Christ, Grant Wood’s Portrait of Parson Weems and/or Frieda Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with a Bonito

Vocabulary (Will vary with age taught):

foreground, background, composition, story, narrative, proportion, symmetry, expression, eyes, eyelid, eyebrow, forehead, chin, cheek, nose, nostril, philtrim, lips, dimple, cleft, ear, lobs, skull, illusion,neck, shoulder, etc.

Rubrics:

You can use whatever rubrics might apply to your situation. For example, a simple 4-rubric chart works for younger grades. It might look like the following:

To get a 1, you must draw and paint a self-portrait with a background.
To get a 2, you must draw and paint a self-portrait and put in a background that tells a story.
To get a 3, you must draw and paint a self-portrait that has details such as an expression, eyelids and eyelashes, texture, etc.; and put in a background that tells a story.
To get a 4, you must draw and paint a self-portrait with good control that has details such as an expression, eyelids, eyelashes, etc.; put in a background that tells an interesting story and has details such as pattern, textures, and a sense of space.

Art History (if applicable):
See motivation above.

Procedure:

How you proceed will depend on what grade level you are teaching.

Period 1:

Make sure students know what a portrait is and what a self-portrait is. You could give them a quickie smartboard lesson and show a few examples and see if they can guess which are which. Show examples of portraits with backgrounds that tell a story. Create a discussion about what they can tell you just based on what they see in the background. What time of year is it? What time of day? Where does the picture take place? What is going on in it?

Next, explain to the students that they are going to make self-portraits and tell a story (real or imagined) in the background. Go over how one observes oneself in a mirror and do a quick demonstration. Teach them to work lightly (sketch), so they can erase and change their minds as they go. Show them your story idea for the background, and then let them work.

If they finish before the period is up, they can go over their lines with a fine (not ultrafine or extra fine) sharpie marker.

Period 2:

Note: This project may take longer, depending on the time management in your class and students’ attention spans.

Gather the students and tell them that once they have drawn their self-portraits and backgrounds, they should go over all their lines with a fine point sharpie marker. (No shading or coloring in--just lines.) Then demonstrate watercolor technique, being as dramatic as you need to be for your age-group. Make sure students understand how to get good skin color and how not to have fuzzy lips and such (wet on wet begets fur).

Have students paint the entire picture, using good watercolor technique, changing the water when necessary and keeping the paint pads clean.

Reflection/Assessment/Display:
As always, you want to have students self-assess and share their work. Use whatever instrument you normally employ for group and/or self assessment. The make sure the work is seen by the class in some way. Putting the self-portraits on display is, of course, good for sharing the work with the larger school community.








Acrylic Outlined Self-Portraits

These portraits are very bold and display well.

Grades: K-2 (Modified with Tempera Paint); 3-12

Time Frame: 2-4 art periods

Aims/Goals:

To understand the rich tradition of self-portraiture
To learn how to use strong and bold lines to delineate features
To understand ways of working with paint

Standards: 1, 2, 3 & 4

Materials & Tools:

Individual Mirrors
Large sheets of heavy paper (18 x 24” is good)
Pencils, erasers
Acrylic Paint
palettes (official ones or disposable plates)
Brushes of different sizes (rounds and brights)
Coffee cans filled almost to the brim with water
Paper towels, dampened for “Insurance Purposes”

Motivation:

Examples of painted self-portraits and portraits--especially ones using strong outlines, such as Rouault (Old King, Clowns, Pierrot), Beckmann (Acrobat), and/or Matisse (Self-Portrait-1918 or Woman in a Blue Blouse--1939).

Vocabulary (Will vary with age taught):

foreground, background, composition, story, narrative, proportion, symmetry, expression, eyes, eyelid, eyebrow, forehead, chin, cheek, nose, nostril, philtrim, lips, dimple, cleft, ear, lobs, skull, illusion,neck, shoulder, etc.

Rubrics:

You can use whatever rubrics might apply to your situation. For example, a simple 4-rubric chart works for younger grades. It might look like the following:

To get a 1, you must draw and then paint a self-portrait.
To get a 2, you must draw and paint a self-portrait and add bold, clean outlines around all the shapes.
To get a 3, you must draw and paint a self-portrait that has details such as an expression, eyelids and eyelashes, texture, etc.; and paint in bold, clean outlines around all the shapes.
To get a 4, you must draw and paint a self-portrait with good control that has details such as an expression, eyelids, eyelashes, etc.; paint in bold, clean outlines around all the shapes and add details such as patterns and textures.

Art History (if applicable):
See motivation above.

Procedure:

Begin by discussing the difference between a self-portrait and a portrait. Perhaps make a connection to the concepts of autobiography and biography.

You may want to show the students examples of art where line is very important. Line, while often used in drawing, can also be an effective tool in painting. Many paintings just use edge, others rely heavily on outline and still others are a combination of the two.
Introduce the idea of observation and go over what the students should look for when they observe themselves. This will, of course, depend on their age and abilities. Add a cultural dimension to your discussion to cover Standard 4, if you want. (Example: you could show a Matisse portrait and a Salon portrait and discuss the differences and the art revolution that took place in Europe in the early 20th Century.)

Gather your students around for a demonstration and use a pencil (lightly!) to draw your own face. Make sure to work large and to erase as necessary. Don’t complete the portrait, just get it started so they can see how to begin. Be sure to use a mirror, so they will parrot your behavior. I talk about ways to see one’s face in steps, but that doesn’t mean you have to follow suit. I like to try to avoid the pig and hook noses, the googly eyes and toothy mouths that come from schematic drawing.

For most classes, this will take one art period.

Period 2 (and possibly 3):

Have paint and associated equipment ready. Gather your students and demonstrate color mixing and paint application. If you are using acrylic, make sure they know a) it will not wash out of clothes and b) that is dries darker, so they have to plan accordingly.

Skin should be the first area of concern. If you are afraid students will completely go over their lines and obfuscate the lines, have them sharpie them first, so they will bleed through the paint.

When I taught elementary, I was always sensitive to the issue of skin colors. This is a good time to introduce acceptance and teach how great it is that we are a diverse society!

As for the nuts and bolts, I use burnt sienna, white and then whatever other colors are needed to create skin tones. Remember, complimentary colors will “dull” a color and that can be useful here, especially if you want shadows. (You don’t need black to do this.) Add burnt or raw umber for darker tones; raw sienna for yellow tones and cadmium red for pink tones.

Apply the paint and make sure they don’t forget the neck and any appendages that show. It’s much easier to do it all at once.

If you have already taught your students color mixing, it should be easy for them to paint hair color, their clothes, the background, etc. Save the eyes and mouth for last.

For tempera paint, you will use simpler colors--white, orange and brown mostly--to make the skin tones. There are many ways to set up paint for children. I usually have two children sharing a paint set-up, and I make sure I have the right brushes, an “insurance policy” (damp sponges or damp paper towels), and large water cans, filled almost to the top. Make sure you teach all students the importance or washing the brushes well between colors.

At some point, you may want to introduce the idea of pattern into the painting process, but don’t do it too soon. Get solid colors on the paper first. Make sure the entire paper is colored. If they want a white area, it should be painted so the sheen matches.

Last Class:

Have students take a small brush--I like medium brights--and paint their outlines around everything in the picture. It will add a lot of pizzazz and will make the pictures “pop.”

Reflection/Display:

As always, share the work. Have the students analyze their work and self-assess, if possible. Hang them up and make sure the names of the creators are visible.

Moving Eyeball Portraits

A variation on the well-worn self-portrait lesson. I developed this after I did a haunted house for my elementary school many years ago in which I made a painting of the principal and had her eyes move to scare the children.

Grades: 3 and Up. Note: Most high school students will enjoy this, too!

Time Frame: 2-3 art periods

Aims:

•To learn about the self-portrait genre
•To learn how to make a self-portrait
•To teach children that a portrait can be interactive

Standards: 1, 2, 3

Materials and Tools:

sheet of oak tag or bristol board
length of oak tag 8” longer than the width of the self-portrait
piece of oak tag about 4” high and same length as width of portrait
pencil, eraser
sharpie marker
watercolor
watercolor brush
water can
masking tape
pointed scissors
Optional: colored pencils and small mirrors

Motivation:

I don’t want to let the students know what is going to happen, so I don’t show them examples of completed work to motivate them. I just tell them a surprise is on the way once we get the self-portraits painted. I will go over some vocabulary, however, as I introduce the project, and you can show examples of self-portraits and regular portraits by various artists.

Vocabulary (Will vary with age taught):

foreground, background, composition, story, narrative, proportion, symmetry, animations, expression, eyes, eyelid, eyebrow, forehead, chin, cheek, nose, nostril, philtrim, lips, dimple, cleft, ear, lobs, skull, illusion,neck, shoulder, etc.

Rubrics:

You can use whatever rubrics might apply to your situation. For example, a simple 4-rubric chart works for younger grades. It might look like the following:

To get a 1, you must make a self-portrait and follow directions to animate it.

To get a 2, you must make a good self-portrait, add a background and follow directions to animate it.

To get a 3, you must make a wonderful self-portrait, add a background that interests the viewer and follow directions to animate it.

To get a 4, you must make a fabulous self-portrait, add an incredible background that interests the viewer and follow directions to animate it.


Art History (if applicable):

Whatever artists you would like to introduce.

Procedure:

Period 1:

You’ll want to explain the difference between portraits and self-portraits. It would be a good idea to have several examples of each to show your students. Next, explain that they are going to be creating self-portraits that will do something funny, but don’t tell them ahead of time. Let it be a surprise!

First, depending on the age of the student, you’ll want to make sure that the portrait is large enough to have the eyeballs cut out. Next explain the difference between what they might think a head looks like and what it actually looks like. If you have mirrors available, distribute them at this point. The head is not round, it is oval or egg-shaped. Your neck is not a lollipop stick; it is thicker. Eyes do not grow out of the top of one’s head; they’re just a tad above the middle. They are almond-shaped and you usually don’t see the whole of the iris; part of it is normally hidden. Be sure to put in eyelids and eyebrows, too. The nose is not a hook or a pig nose; use the steps I showed in class (parentheses, snake, shade in ends of snake, two light lights to create bridge of nose). When doing the lips, it’s easy to teach kids to draw the line where they meet when closed, which is usually wavy followed by a mountain range on top and a boat underneath. Remember to explain that everyone’s mountains, boats, snakes, etc. are different and it is important to observe what theirs looks like.

Have them add ears, hair and other details. The background can also be personalized with a place they love or something they love doing or friends, pets, etc.

Next they should go over their lines with sharpies.

Period 2-3:

Painting the portrait comes next. Skin colors are mixed on the palette part of the paint box, which is the open lid. First, “wake the colors up” by making a puddle in each paint pad. Then take orange and put it on the palette. Add some clean water. Then add a bit or brown, little by little until the color seems right. For darker skin, keep adding brown. The color will dry lighter on your paper, so plan accordingly. Avoid caterpillar lips and the like by not painting over another color until it is absolutely dry. I demonstrate what not to do and kids get the point quite quickly. Watercolor goes into paper like apple juice into a white shag carpet and if you add grape juice it will all mix around together.

When dry, students can go over with more watercolor or add another media like colored pencils.

Next cut out the almond shape of the eyeballs. Place the 4” piece of oak tag on the back of the picture, just above the empty sockets. Tape on top and bottom to form a pocket. Then slide in the long piece of oak tag and center it with 4” on each side sticking out. Draw the irises in, not as circles, but as parentheses. Add the pupil. Pull out and finish the circles of the eyes and color in. When dry, slide back in and move back and forth and up and down to create funny looks.

Reflection/Display:

These are tons of fun to manipulate. Give your students ample time to play with them.
Share the work. Guess who the portraits are of, etc. Make sure to hang them somewhere.

Follow-up:

Student could do moving eyeball portraits of animals, monsters, family members, school personnel, etc.

Cubist Quilted Windows Into Your Very Being

Grades: 2 &3 (with help); 4-12

Time Frame: 3 art periods or so

Aims/Goals:

To make a profile or 3/4 self-portrait with secret aspects to them
To learn about the use of patterns in art and create new and exciting patterns of our own
To use symbols and/or words to share feelings, thoughts, likes and dislikes on the inside of parts of our drawings

Standards: 1, 2, 3

Materials & Tools:

white oak tag or bristol board--2 sheets per student
pencils and erasers
sharpie markers
optional: colored markers for the inside

Motivation:

Examples of cubist portraits, crazy quilts and black and white patterns and symbols (for the inside layer)

Vocabulary (Will vary with age taught):

shape, layer, pattern, 3/4 view, profile, background, symbols, Cubism, crazy quilt and any of the facial words above

Rubrics:

You can use whatever rubrics might apply to your situation. For example, a simple 4-rubric chart works for younger grades. It might look like the following:

To get a 1, you must draw a portrait of a friend and have them draw you, add “cubist” areas and make at least two doors that open into your mind.

To get a 2, you must draw a portrait of a friend and have them draw one of you, add “cubist” areas, make at least two doors that open into your mind and create patterns on your face and in the background.

To get a 3, you must draw a portrait of a friend and have them draw one of you, add “cubist” areas, make at least three doors that open into your mind, create patterns on your face and in the background and make interesting symbols, words or pictures inside your doors that tell use about your thoughts, dreams and more.

To get a 4,you must draw a portrait of a friend and have them draw one of you, add “cubist” areas, make at least three doors that open into your mind, create amazing patterns on your face and in the background and make interesting symbols, words or pictures inside your doors that tell us about your thoughts, dreams and more and create a well-crafted, exciting work of art.

Procedure:

Period 1:

Gather students around to show them how to go about drawing a simple profile portrait of a partner. (It is difficult to draw an accurate profile of yourself.) Demonstrate how to depict an eyeball in a profile, as well as how you need to be mindful of the chin, lips, nose, etc. Explain that once they have their faces drawn, they are going to jazz them up and make them cubistic and “quilty-looking”. Have them do the portraits first, however.

Period 2:

At this point, you may want to show them one or two images of Braque portraits and a crazy quilt or two to help them get the idea. This is a very free-form project, so approach it how you wish. You could also use some examples of Op Art, if it suits you.

Next the students will section off their faces and background. Explain that they should make some free-form doors on their profiles, which will become flaps. Make sure they understand how one side of the shape needs to be straight so it opens and closes.

Let them go wild with shapes and patterns, simply using black and white as their color palette. When the portraits are drawn, cut around the appointed shapes to make doors. Use an exacto knife yourself with younger students for a clean edge.
Period 3:

Next they glue another sheet of paper the same size behind the portraits. Be sure to glue only around the edges of the doors and the paper. Elmer’s regular glue (not Elmer’s School Glue or glue sticks) works best. Use a bone folder or the handle of scissors to score the folds of the doors.

At this point, I would suggest having students plan what they want to put inside on practice paper or in their sketchbook/journals. They could write or draw secrets (not too personal, of course), hopes, likes, dislikes, and “what makes them tick.”

Students then should draw their images and words inside the doors in pencil first, using sharpies to trace their lines, when they are sure they have what they want.

Reflection/Display:

As always, you want to share work and display it. This is the part of your lesson that helps children verbalize and analyze.