by Carrie Nethery T his series of five portraits are a perfect project for adolescent students and their somewhat fragile egos. Creating a portrait using classic, standard proportions is an appropriate challenge for middle-school students. The measurements and guidelines allow them to make their portraits “look right.” And, the guidelines facilitate a level of sophistication and polish that adolescents are eager to bring to their work. This approach also levels the playing field for students who are at a very self-conscious stage in their lives, and risktaking in art class is sometimes too frightening. Using these standard proportion guidelines, windows as light tables, a photocopier, famous portraits for inspiration and chalk pastels, any class can create high-quality portraits. line at the halfway point for the tip of the nose. They then added another line halfway between that and the chin for the mouth. The egg was also vertically divided, creating a line of symmetry for each side of the face. We then completed a generic portrait of a face using standard techniques. The students were not satisfied, however. They wanted portraits that looked like them, weren’t full of erased lines and had some color. The recurring problems of phantom measurement guidelines and other trial-and-error eraser marks would still exist if we repeated the process for self-portraits. Also, the fear of ruining a satisfying black-and-white piece by adding color was another stumbling block. These frustrations finally have solutions! PORTRAIT 2: The students taped their generic portraits to PORTRAIT 1: A sixth/seventh-grade split class was learning to use the standard guidelines, with which they created their first drawing—the base for the rest of the project. On 12" x 18" white drawing paper, the class drew an inverted egg shape, a good size for the page. They measured the egg from top to bottom and placed a curved horizontal line at the halfway point. Next, they measured from that line to the chin and added another curved horizontal the windows and lightly traced features they would reuse or personalize in their self-portraits. The facial features were all in the appropriate places, but much to the students’ satisfaction—no pencil lines. With the help of hand mirrors, students changed the shape and size of their head, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and other features. They were now ver y finished-looking Anupa’s first “base” portrait. More realistic, second portrait. Portrait 3: Warhol inspired. Final (fifth) portrait, in pastel. Anupa’s fourth self-portrait, Picasso-style. www.ar tsandactivities.com x 81 YEARS • march 2014 13
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