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.