5th Grade Interactive Self-Portraits

I had an exceptional bunch of fourth and fifth graders last year, so when they came back from their winter vacation in January I had a challenge for them, make a proportionally correct self-portrait. I used the lesson Who's Behind That Mask? as a starting point.

Finished project

Self-portrait revealed

I liked the idea of a mask to cover the face, it would give the project a pop of color. This lesson is pretty complex. It took me two weeks, in between classes and lunch duty, to get all the materials prepped. Then it took the students six lessons to complete the project. In the end, I'd say, it was well worth it. 

I made a "face proportion" guide book for each student. This was time consuming since I made most of the resources.

I printed out face templates on cardstock and laminated them. Weeks in advanced I started cutting them out ( I have 34 students to a group) some earlly finishes helped too.

I made face templates and guides for the students weeks in advanced. Some teachers might object to templates, but the way I saw it it was just a tool. These kiddos had never had art before and certainly never tried to make a proportionate self-portraits before. It also forced them to draw big since the templates are as big as a real head.

Fifth grade student works on her project using her sketch as reference.

Before the students drew their self-portraits and masks we saw some artists' self-portraits, like Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo and Picasso. Then I used a picture of a face and showed them the proportions over it, so they saw that the eyes are really in the center of the head, that the eyes are one eye apart, etc. and I pretty much drew the standard lines for face proportions over it. I had them practice on a sheet of manila paper before they got the “big” papers they were really going to work on. Students used the mirrors to get the right proportions and details on their faces. A lot of them discovered new things about their faces, and hairs. Some were embarrassed at looking at their faces in a mirror.

Student working on his self-portrait

I also did a self-portrait lesson with the lower grades. As a warm up and practice I had them fold the paper in half "hamburger style". Then I gave them 10 minutes to draw their faces from their memory on one half of their papers, and no further instructions or explanations on how to draw facial features. Some finished, others are stumped and didn't get very far. I showed them how to draw a face, how to use guide lines, how to draw an eye, nose and mouth. I let them have a mirror and they did another face on the other half. They were shocked at the difference between the two drawings. I also did this with fourth grade.

Fourth and fifth grade students spent the next couple of classes working on their self portraits. I found that my hands outs helped them a lot. Some asked for demonstrations of the examples and then they were able to continue on their own. When they finished with the pencils I gave them Sharpie markers to outline and then they erased their pencil lines.

Awesome fifth grade student working on his self-portrait.

5th grade student's self-portrait in progress.

Fourth grade student's self-portrait that left me speechless.

After they had finished the self-portrait I gave them another big piece of paper. I told them to place it over their portrait and trace where they wanted their mask to be. They could do a full face mask or a half mask. Some asked for the face templates while others said they didn't needed them. We talked about possible designs and doing something that represented their personalities.

Amazing self-portrait by a very talented fifth grader. Mask in progress.

Vampire girl mask.

They also traced the masks with Sharpie markers one they were satisfied. Then they painted them with tempera cakes. Once dry, they cut the mask out and I made two cuts using a knife, one on each paper. Then they attached the brayer and, voila! Done!

Student works:

4th-5th Grade or Middle School

2- 6 45 min. lessons

Lesson objectives:

$  Become familiar with self-portraits.

$  Learn the proper portions of facial features to create a portrait.

$  Draw self-portrait using the correct facial proportions.

Design a mask that reflects their personality, to be an interactive part of their self-portrait.

Vocabulary:
Self-portrait, proportions, symmetry

Student materials:

• 2 sheets of paper 
• Mirror
• Pencil
• Black Marker
• Face shape template
• Ruler
• Tempera cakes or watercolor
• Booklet explaining facial proportions and how to draw each face feature

Lesson Sequence:

Students will become familiar with self-portraits by learning about various artists who created self-portraits. They will learn about correct facial proportions and they will demonstrate understanding by making a self-portrait using the correct proportions.  On a separate paper they will design a mask that shows their individual personalities and they will place him on top of their self-portrait to create an interactive work of art.