“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Self Portraits
For the past few weeks, all 5/6 art students have been working in self-portraits. Fifth grade artists have been learning to mix unique flesh tones and show shadows with darker complementary colors, usually blue and purple. Sixth grade artists have been learning to use charcoal pencils to draw themselves and have learned to use blending stomps and kneaded erasers to affect shadows and highlights on their drawings. Art students in both grades have been learning to SEE using dramatic light and “blurration”, which is the purposeful squinting of the eyes to blur sharp details and see light and dark.
In most cases, using dramatic light results in dramatic drawings. All drawings have been uploaded to our Artsonia gallery accompanied by Artist Statements.
Ashlyn S. –
I used a charcoal pencil and stomp to create this artwork. I used a mirror to capture the shadows and shade them on the paper. I like how it turned out.
Grace M. –
I first drew the shape of my head and then shaded the entire shape lightly. I created shadows by erasing areas where their was light, because I shaded the entire shape first. In the mirror I saw that the most light was at the top right of my head which is the part in my portrait with the most light. At the left side of my face they’re was the most shading because the light didn’t hit that side of my face exactly. I created shadows under and around my nose, eyes, and mouth. I left some light on my nose and on my cheeks. I really liked how my portrait came out and I liked the shading in my portrait. This project was difficult by figuring out where all the shading and light went and the tiny details in my piece.
Matthew P. –
This is my attempt to make a self portrait with charcoal, a blending stomper, and clay to erase with. I made shadows with the charcoal then I blended it with a stomp. It was hard to blend, but hard to draw shapes for me. I love my art and I love how it turned out. The only bad part was erasing and blending because it was challenging to get the right color. This is my art!
Aiden C –
I used a charcoal pencil to create the shadows, I also used a stomp to blend all the colors together, and the last item I used was an eraser to liten up the shadows. I used the side of the carcoal pencil to put in the shadows. I also used the earaser to liten up the shadows. I looked in the mirror and put dark where it was dark and put light where it was light on my skin. Yes it was challenging because you have to put dark shadows where it was dark and it was hard to draw my nose and eyes and a mouth. I like the shadows and the eyes but the only thing that I would differently is pay more attention to detail.
Eduarda M. –
I Sketched my face first and add the facial parts. Then I add the color crayons to shade and add the shading.
I shading lightly with the brown, purple, and different shades of blue. Under my eyes and side of my face and all.
I used brown and orange to create my skin color.
The shading was hard, but I liked shading.
Mirabella R. –
This is a portrait that I drew of myself using construction paper crayons. I used blues and purples for shadows. The skin tone I created by using a mixture of yellow, orange, peach, and brown. Finding a skin tone that matched mine was not too hard, but it still took some time. It was very challenging to get the features just right, such as the eyes and nose. It may have taken a lot of time and effort, but I am happy about how it came out in the end
Massimo G. –
I had a great time making this and I thought that it was super fun. I enjoyed drawing it and adding shadows. I used construction paper crayons to shadow. I also tested out colors to find a skin tone similar to mine. It was definitely a challenge but that’s what made it so much fun.
Colby D. –
I used a mirror a pencil and crayons. I squinted to see the darker shadows and used purple to make shadows. I used light brown and dark brown and shaded them. I think it was pretty time consuming but not to hard. I think it is pretty good but it could be better.
