Exploring Self Portraits in Art

We just wrapped up a mini unit on,”selfies” and so much fun exploring and creating. Portraits tend to be intimidating as students are sure that they don’t know how to draw eyes and noses, so collage is a nice way to allow them to explore, but remove some of the fear of drawing. We explored and discussed, how our outward appearance is only small part of who we are, moving through a series of warm up exercises as students explored proportion, signature style, and collage techniques.

Students decided if they wanted to use realistic colors and if wanted to pick colors that they felt represented them. They also decided if they wanted to create their skin tone by collaging many small pieces together or use one large piece.

Students also explored and decided if they wanted to create their hair by gluing all strips down, sticking with 2D, or explore curling their hair and allowing it to POP off of the page.

 

Students were allowed to make choices that reflected their personality and what they liked, while still learning a lot of art techniques. You can get the whole lesson, including warm up activities and National Core Art Standards here.   ( This class met every day, for 5 days, an hour each, for a total of 5 hours)