Giant Pop Art Portraits

Central Idea: A self portrait reflects both the characteristics and emotion of the person who creates it

Lines of Inquiry: how artists express emotion, the process of creating a portrait

It all started with a selfie.  After having a look at various portraits and the elements that make some more interesting to the viewer than others, the Grade 5's used iPads to take 3 or 4 selfies and uploaded them to our class Flickr account.  The next step was to digitally create a line drawing of that picture.  We used an online stencil maker program.  Once the children had a line drawing they were happy with, we uploaded that image to blockposters.com to create a large image using A4 pieces of paper.

Once the pdf files were printed (most of them were made up of 9 pages), piecing them together was the next challenge.  A large piece of paper was put on top of the line drawing and the tracing began.  Some children needed help choosing only the most essential details to create their face.  Once they had a drawing they were happy with, we outlined the pencil in black glue and let them dry.

The next lesson was looking in depth at how artists portray the light and shadows on faces.  Children practiced shading on blank face worksheets and decided on bright color combinations for their final piece.

Kids are thrilled with the results of their effort.