There are so many ways to approach self-portraits with children: observation, inspired by a particular artist, symbols of interests and activities, the list goes on. This time, I wanted to create an engaging, multi media

This easy Pop art portrait for kids is a fun printmaking project that incorporates the colors and style of Pop art!

Kids Learn about Andy Warhol and Pop Art by recreating his art using this fun and simple activity. Add to your child's knowledge of Art History in a fun way!

Collages are things of joy and fun since they tend to be not just one piece of art but a mix of several. And the best part is that while like other art, it

Middle Schoolers are awkward. I think that's one of the reasons that anytime a self-portrait is mentioned they groan obnoxiously and throw t...

Split face self portrait art is a wonderful all-about-me activity that can be done with kids of all ages (preschool, kindergarten and up).

Using 8” by 10” photographs, each student traced a simplified contour drawing of their face. They transferred the drawings onto colored paper and “fractured” them by dividing the picture into smal…

Your students will learn how media connects with subject in 7 portraits using non traditional art materials. Download a free worksheet to analyze the art!

Split face self portrait art is a wonderful all-about-me activity that can be done with kids of all ages (preschool, kindergarten and up).

Materials: - Student Photographs - Pencil - Eraser - Fine Point Sharpie - Extra Fine Point Sharpie - White Drawing Paper

These self-portrait drawings by 5th graders were on display at the elementary school at the end of the school year, a nice tribute to the 5t...

The paper portrait is fun and easy way to create portraits for your students.This project for 3rd or 4th grade usually takes three, 45-minute class periods.

Here is just a small selection of the mixed media self portraits produced by last years Year 7 in the Summer Term. The theme was 'Split Personality' and the pupils produced a portrait consisting of four different mediums (acrylic, pencil, fine-liner and collage). They also wrote in the background of two of the sections. The writing in pencil was that students' dislikes, whilst the writing in fine-liner was their loves. Ginny Lawrence Guy Mitchell India Case Zara Verschoyle

Free art education resources and free art lessons are available to download for subscribers of Art With Trista.

Inside you'll find a Leonardo da Vinci Art Lesson that includes having fun with patterns. Stop by and download your tutorial for free.

Fourth graders made these neat Heather Galler self-portraits. We learned about Etsy, a website were artists can sell their artwork and keep a better percentage of the profits than selling some of the same art in an art gallery. Buying art on Etsy is a great way to support artists directly. Here is Heather Galler's popular Etsy page! We talked about the characteristics and subject matter that Galler uses. Here is some of her art: In order to create our own Galler style self-portraits, we first traced the outlines of our facial features onto a photograph with colored pencil. We talked about more realistic ways to draw facial features. Next, we sharpied the outlines onto a plastic transparency. Finally, students were encouraged to color their artwork in the style of Galler including many colors and shapes. Students used a color scheme of warm colors and cool colors. In order to create contrast, students planned were to put groups of warm or cool colors. Enjoy! Goals: I can... - Explain what Etsy is - Tell about Heather Galler's artwork - Create a self-portrait in the style of Heather Galler - Explain what a self-portrait is

Step by step digital drawing tutorial of how to draw a half cartoon portrait, includes video tutorial and step by step photos with instructions to work at your own pace

Ready, set, POSE! I use my iPhone to take photos of my students. I usually do this on a day during which they are intently engaged with another lesson, and pull one or two students at a time into t…

I love, love, love silhouettes! I remember when my little guy was in preschool and his teachers traced his silhouette. I still have it to this day, framed, and on display. I think a silhouette is like frozen time. You can see the chubbiness in their cheeks, their hairstyle, their serious faces. They are timeless. So, I am doing a silhouette project again this year with my 5th graders. These are different and more artistic than a typical cameo. The objective for my students was to create a collage of things that represent them at this point in their lives. So, some are doing shopping, sports, food, etc. I also told them to add text- words that represent them (ie. kind, athletic, smart, funny, reliable) to get them thinking of some traits that are unique to them personally. Here are some photos that I found on Google Images that I am using for my powerpoint (not my student work, just samples for inspiration): This one is from princetonol.com This one is from artismessy.com I will post some of my students' creations when they start to come together next week :)

I haven’t posted about my 6th grade and up class in a while. They have been working hard on their Chuck Close grid portraits. This project takes a lot of time but provides a lot of learning…

 In third grade at Brimfield, we are trying soooo hard to finish these cool mixed media portraits before school is over. It's defi...

I realized yesterday that I didn't give much explanation of our class and why we are doing it. So here it is--I love kids and I love art. It makes me sad how little art instruction kids are getting in school right now and I truly feel like I, personally, have to do something about it. So I open my house to kids and we make art together and we talk about art together and I LOVE IT!! and I hope they do too. And then I put explanations and class re-caps on my blog for my students, their parents and anyone else who may end up here. Okay... Day 2 – Proportions We began today with Blind Continuous Contour Drawings. This is done with one continuous line, and no peeking! Look at the person across from you. Draw them without picking up your pen/pencil and don't look at your paper. We did several in our sketchbooks. Why Blind Continuous Contour Drawings?? Here's a great explanation from Drawing with Children by Mona Brookes: One of the best ways to get over the fear of drawing people is to draw without looking at the paper. It removes the artist from the responsibility of result, and allows him to study the subject more closely. Yes! I love this idea. I also really like to start each class with a sort of warm up/loosen up type exercise. I did a few samples last night to show the kids. I honestly find these drawing so fun and relaxing. You never know what you might get!! (Try some!) Here are some the students' drawings: We found it very interesting that everyone's drawings had their own distinct style. Drawing the Face Drawing people is best done from observation, but there are a few guidelines that help you get started. These simple guidelines will help improve your drawings immensely! There are 4 basic face shapes – round, heart shaped, oval, square. Today we used an egg shape as our inspiration. For this we used actual eggs. I had the kids draw the horizontal and vertical midline. Having an actual egg to hold in their hands seemed to help them get the concept of the shape better. We used some visuals to talk about common mistakes made in drawing people. Noticing these downfalls and avoiding them in your drawings can take your drawings from immature and childlike to more mature and realistic looking. I drew a face on a clear page protector. I drew many of the common mistakes people make. Eyes too high – remember to leave room for the brain No room for the hair – they look bald No eyebrows or “rainbow” eyebrows Outline of the nose is too dark “Pig” nostrils “Banana” lips Eyeballs too big Ears too small Stringy hair or, alternately, helmet hair I had all the labels covered with Post-It notes and the students named all of them. But for them to really SEE what was wrong with the drawing, I slipped in a photograph of a face. This seemed to really drive the concept home. "Oh yeah, I can see how the eyes are way too high and the hair is weird..." etc. Using the same picture (a copy of it, actually) we then talked about all the measurements that will help us draw more realistic faces. Here are the basics: When starting a drawing of the face, divide the "egg" in half vertically and horizontally. The horizontal line will be your eye line (#1 below). Now divide the top half in half. That midway point will be your hairline (#4 below). Divide the bottom half in half. That notch mark will be the bottom of the nose (#2 below). Now divide from nose to chin in half and that notch mark will be the mouth (#3 below). By simply doing these quick measurements, you'll get much better proportions and placement on your face. Do all these lines and notch marks very lightly as they will most likely be erased eventually. I love that by just making those few quick lines and tick marks, you already have the idea of a face. And voila, now you know where things need to go. Tomorrow we'll be working on the actual features. And then we practiced. We did a little with the full body too. Basically I tried to convince them that yes, really, people are about 7-1/2 heads tall. I don't think they were convinced. They'll need to do some observation on their own. Optional At Home Fun Playfulness (not homeWORK!): 1. Do more Blind Continuous Contour drawings 2. Collect pictures for you Art File 3. Take a magazine picture of a face (someone looking right at the camera--like our Nicole Kidman example), cut it in half vertically and draw the other half. This is a great exercise for practicing placement and proportion!

I haven’t posted about my 6th grade and up class in a while. They have been working hard on their Chuck Close grid portraits. This project takes a lot of time but provides a lot of learning…

Explore techniques and tips that will breathe life into your subjects, making your portraits come alive with character and expression.

 In third grade at Brimfield, we are trying soooo hard to finish these cool mixed media portraits before school is over. It's defi...

My dear friend Sarah posted this neat lesson to artsonia where she did contour line portraits with her 2nd graders and I thought... hey I c...

So proud of these artworks. A very big "WELL DONE" to the students of Year 5/6 B, Windsor Public School, NSW, Australia. Your art...

* Last Saturday our family attended the 2014 student art showcase at the California State University, Los Angeles. Our daughter Natalie has been taking art classes over there, as part of the Gifted/Talented Program that she is part of. Sponsored by LAUSD, his program is a wonderful opportunity for children in the public school system to be consistently exposed to […]