5th Grade Self-Portraits: Lichtenstein

So I'm thinking I'll never attempt this project again with 5th grade. Maybe 7th, or even 8th next time. It took much MUCH longer than I'd planned (about 7 classes, which is 7 weeks), but once we started, we couldn't just stop. I try to instill persistence and commitment in my young artists, so we had to see it through to the end. What took so long? All those DOTS! Combine the level of patience required for that task with the precision and attention to detail required to achieve successful results, and I'd have to say that this was not a lesson with a high success rate for all students.

Having said that, some students (those with a hefty dose of patience and excellent fine motor skills) turned out beautiful results. And for all my protesting, when I look at the results overall, they really are impressive. Maybe it's just this age. Some of them are ready for this level of concentration, and some just aren't.

Here's what we did:

Prior to beginning the drawing/painting:

1. We watched "Who is the Artist?: Artists of Pop Art", which takes students through the work of Andy Warhol, Wayne Thiebaud, and Roy Lichtenstein in order to familiarize them with the characteristics of Pop Art and these artists in particular. (They really enjoy the video, by the way. I love this series. It quizzes students as they watch, and they really come away being able to recognize the work of the aritsts discussed.

2. Take individual photos of students and print out as large as possible on 8.5x11 paper. I had students choose a pose/expression that would later become inspiration for their speech/thought bubble. 

Class 1:
Show examples of Lichtenstein's comic panel paintings and discuss lines, colors, etc. (as well as noticing where he used dots and where he used solid color). I gave students their printed photos (oh my, the commotion and giggles), a piece of 9x12 drawing paper, a 9x6 sheet of Seral transfer paper (I cut it down from a roll I've had for a while), and a couple of pieces of tape. We taped their photos to the drawing paper, centered as best they could, and used the transfer paper to trace the contours of their portrait. Hair was the trickiest part for most of them. The girls in particular wanted to draw every tiny strand of hair, so we talked about the shape of their hair, the curls, etc, and how to suggest hair without drawing each single strand (which basically turns into scribbles).

Class 2:
Students continued transferring their photos, then traced the lines in Sharpie. We used rulers to draw a frame around the portrait (so the drawing looks more like a comic panel), following the natural border created by the printed edge of the image.

Classes 3, 4, 5, 137, etc.:

This is what took so long. We used watercolor palettes and pencil erasers to mimic Lichtenstein's dot technique. This is what I told students to do:

• Create HORIZONTAL lines of dots (don't follow the contours of the lines in your drawing). Start with a clear area across which you can make a straight horizontal line (forehead, for example). Then begin adding additional lines above and below the first one. Stagger the dotted line so that each new dot is between the dots above/below it. (I don't have a photo of this step, but if you look at the first painting in this post, the student did a really nice job with this on her face.)
• To create lighter skin tones, add more water to the paint. The first dot is always darkest, so make one dot on newspaper or scrap paper first, then move to your painting. Each dip in the paint will make 3 or 4 dots. Some students decided just to be orange or yellow since the only skin tone we had was brown. :) A few of them did try to mix colors and dilute the paint for a fairer peachy complexion.  (See more paintings below.)
• Apply the dot technique to skin, clothing, and background. Apply a solid wash of color to hair, eyes, and other small detail areas (fingernails, lips, etc.).
• One of the reasons the painting portion was so tricky was that students had to be careful not to create holes in the watercolor wells. The paint becomes gummy with so much use and water, so it was vital to dip the eraser just in the surface of the paint and not push down into the thicker paint. Some students used way too much paint, so their portraits were sticking to everything, even when "dry." A layer of parchment paper on top of portraits solved this problem. If I ever have a classroom again I'll do this project with acrylic paint and let the students mix their skin colors. This would make this particular issue much easier to handle.

Classes 6 and 7:

After the third class of bringing in and setting up the watercolor paints and handing out (and cleaning up! ugh) all the materials necessary (I'm on a cart), I decided we were DONE with painting.

• Students who weren't finished, due either to absences, slow progress, or lack of using time wisely finished their "paintings" in watercolor marker. I actually really like the greater contrast of doing the backgrounds in solid color, so maybe I'll go this route automatically next time. We had issues with neon lips, so I also gave students colored pencils if they wanted softer pink/brown lips.
• Students cut out speech or thought bubbles and glued these to their self-portrait. I created three templates that students could use if they wanted. Some made their own, and some used the ones I copied onto drawing paper. I don't like to use templates as a matter or course, but we really needed the time saver.
• Students wrote their phrase in pencil, then traced in Sharpie.

Here are a few more of our 5th grade Lichtenstein self-portraits:

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6th Grade Self-Portraits (Or "Bob Ross is a Genius")

Anyone else find themselves quoting Bob Ross in the classroom? He had a beautiful way of expressing the joys of art, and "happy accident" is probably my favorite Bob-ism. This current 6th grade self-portrait project has certainly yielded a number of very happy accidents. What began as a failed ink and oil pastel batik project turned into a large crop of fabulous sgraffito wonders! (See the original post here.) 

So after two classes (for some students) of scratching away at the india ink that just wouldn't wash, my 6th graders were actually thrilled with the results. I had to keep on them, though, because they just couldn't visualize the end. To them, it seemed that their brightly colored self-portraits were ruined. And then they saw the results, and wow, what great discussions came from problem-solving our way through our original "failed" technique.

Here are a few of the (much-needed) lessons my 6th grade young artists gained from this experience:

1. Never give up. If something seems difficult, keep at it. You have the ability to complete anything you start.
2. Don't judge your work until you reach the end. Art evolves through the process of creation.
3. Keep an open mind. If you find your work moving in a direction that's not quite as you planned, just go with it. See where it takes you.
4. Learn from your "mistakes." Mistakes are necessary in order to grow as an artist.
5. Artists are problem-solvers. If something doesn't go as planned, explore other solutions. If you're still not satisfied, see lesson #3. (This is a lesson I voice in every class.)

And here are their results. (Some finished and some close to finished. A few students will go back in with white pastel to brighten their eyes in our next class.) I actually love this more than the original plan. Happy accident indeed! For students who were a bit behind, I gave them the option of applying a coat of black tempera paint and rinsing the drawings (which is what I was originally planning to do with the ink). Some chose to do that, and some chose to go ahead with the sgraffito technique. The tempera batik portraits are at the end. They turned out really well, too!

Sgraffito Self-Portraits (India ink over oil pastel)

This is a future self-portrait of sorts. This student
drew his dad. :)

This student was the first one to try to rinse away
the india ink. Her drawing tore a bit, so she's going
to add a bow or other hair adornment to cover
the hole. So smart!

Tempera Batik Self-Portraits (Tempera wash over oil pastel)

6th Grade Self-Portraits (a learning experience)

This is only my 2nd year of teaching Art in public/charter schools, so I'm still experimenting with a lot of techniques and media. I've been wanting to try oil pastel batik with a class, and since my 6th grade classes are the only ones for which I have sink access (I use a science classroom), I thought this would be a good place to experiment. So glad I've been telling my kids all year that art is an experiment and a terrific forum through which to practice our problem-solving skills!

Demo: Aside from a few gray lines where
the ink hadn't dried completely on the
paper, it worked just fine...

My demo turned out exactly as planned. I created the line drawing with white chalk pastel, then filled the image with oil pastel, laying it down heavily and leaving the white chalk lines visible. I then painted black India ink over the entire image, waited for it to dry (about 25 min), and rinsed it in the sink in my office. It came out GREAT, and I was so excited to do this with my students.

So I went through the process with my 6th graders...they spent a lot of time on their under-drawings, pressing firmly, leaving chalk lines empty. They really did a fantastic job. Only when we inked the drawings and began washing them, the ink didn't come off like it did with my demo. I'm perplexed. The first few students who began rinsing their drawings were washing away the oil pastel, as well, in trying to get the ink off, and one ended up with a small hole. So...I put a pause on the project until we get back from Spring Break. My only solution for salvaging these (the kids have put SO much effort into them) is to turn them into scratch board drawings. One student has already started on this process, and while the result is a bit "dirtier" than we were going for, it's not such a bad solution. I think we'll be touching them up with more oil pastels, as well, particularly the eyes and other focal points.

Student self-portrait w/
scratchboard technique begun.

I report when we're done. (View the updated post here!) In the mean time, if this has happened to anyone else, I'm open to additional ideas. I've read that some people add dish soap to the ink (which I didn't do), so perhaps that's part of the problem? Also, some of the kids inked theirs in one class, then washed at the start of the next, a space of two days wait time. I thought that might be the problem, so I had a couple of students ink theirs while we had time to wait for them to dry (again, about 20-25 min), but that persistent ink wouldn't come off of theirs either. So we just decided to let them dry again and wait to try the scratchboard technique. Aside from drying time with the first set of student work, there's absolutely no difference in materials or technique from the demo I made and the students' work. Ah well...mistakes are the foundation for discovery. We'll work it out. :)

Self-Portraits Everywhere!

We're buried in self-portraits at school! I feel like SPs are an annual experiment, and I'm always trying to find new media and inspiration for these. I'm working on Lichtenstein self-portraits with 5th grade right now, and 4th graders are doing an identity project with their self-portraits. I'll post those at the end of the month when they're complete. I'm trying to muster up the strength to do a collage SP project with 3rd grade in April (just thinking about carting around all the materials is giving me a headache). And this year's K and 1st grade splatter self-portraits are here. 

For now, here are a few of this year's 2nd grade self-portraits. As I usually do with 2nd, we discussed van Gogh and viewed a few of his self-portraits. We also talked about impasto and his use of color in all of his work. As with last year's 2nd grade paintings, we used oil pastels and tempera cakes, but this time we just created background textures (impasto style) with lines and dots, sticking with one color scheme for the background: warm, cool, analogous, primary, secondary, or complementary. Last year's 1st and 2nd grade Expressionist self-portraits can be viewed here.

"This is the most fun ever!"

Those are definitely words you want to hear in the art room. This is the first time I've attempted to splatter paint with my students, and I'm so glad I gave it a go. It was so much fun! (for the kids AND for me!)
This started out as a basic self-portrait project. While talking about facial proportion, Kindergarten and 1st grade students drew themselves during a guided lesson. They then colored with crayon and cut out their self-portraits, and glued these to construction paper in a color of their choice. I encourage them to choose a contrasting color (so no pink if you colored your shirt pink, although it seems the young lady to the left slipped past me).

When these were done, they were cute, but they were missing something. I came across the book, I Ain't Gonna Paint No More!, by Karen Beaumont, with hilarious and illustrations by David Catrow, and decided that we simply MUST splatter our self-portraits!

I had parent volunteers (2 per class) come in to help out, with the painting being done in a centers set-up. We pulled three students at a time, with the others watching Harold and the Purple Crayon or Purple, Green, and Yellow on Tumblebooks (by Robert Munsch, another great story about a girl who colors herself). I put the artwork in boxes (which are now quite colorful and beautiful on the inside), demonstrated for students how to flick the paint, and encouraged them to aim for the edges of their paper (so their faces didn't completely disappear). The adults handled the brush, loading paint and rinsing between colors, which sped things up and kept the yellow from turning green.

I must say that we managed to keep the paint mostly contained (though a few kids ended up a tiny bit speckled), the students loved it, and so far no teachers have yelled at me. And the results are pretty darn cute, too.

I have about 175 kinders and 1st graders, so here are just a few: