1st and 2nd self portraits

Our first project of the year for 1st and 2nd grade was self portraits! First they drew one all by themselves, so I could see where they're at, and then we drew one together! They all improved so much, in just one class! The 2nd time I saw them, we drew our entire body, and tried to make ourselves more proportionate. They did a great job, and I'm so proud of them! Here's some great examples!

Wonder Inspired 4th grade Self Portraits

Today, 4th grade starting working on their self portraits, inspired by the art of Tad Carpenter, and the fabulous art teacher Katie Allain.  You can check out their art on their Instagram accounts, if you click on  their names. He's the artist who designed the cover for the book, Wonder!

Here's how we created ours!

Colorful 5th grade Self Portraits

Last week, I was inspired by the great Cassie Stephens yet again! Her 4th graders have been creating some Fauvist style self-portraits, and I thought our 5th graders would be great at it to! Here's the link to her original post on the topic! In the Art Room: 4th Grade Fauves

1st & 2nd Grade Self Portraits

At the beginning of each year, I like to do self portraits with the kids to see how much they remember from last year, how much they know if they're new, and see how much they've improved since the last time we created them. They're just so cute too! 

We start out by doing a "before" that they do without any instruction or reminders. Then, we do an "after" with me! We do kind of a directed drawing, where I go over what shapes to use, and where to put the features and hair. 

After that, we trace them with Sharpie markers, and color them in. 

Here are some 1st and 2nd graders hard at work!

5th grade All About Me Collage

This project is actually from the beginning of the year, but we just now finished it at the end, right before night of the arts! It was definitely a learning experience, and evolved from my first vision of what the project was going to look like. I wanted to do something like I did in my freshman Art I class, with Mrs. Elliott in high school (about 21 years ago!). In Mrs. Elliott's class, we did a collage with magazine clippings, of things that represented us, and we colored the background with markers or colored pencils.

 Here's how we create ours!

2nd grade Superhero self portraits

For the past few weeks, our 2nd graders have been working on their superhero self portraits, (it has a lot of steps y'all!) and we're finally finishing them up, this week! This lesson was inspired by the great Cassie Stephens, and you can see how they do their lesson if you follow this link!

Here's how we made our own!

1st grade Royal Self Portraits

1st Grade Royal Self Portraits!

For the past few weeks, 1st grade has been working on these adorable royal self-portraits, inspired by the great Cassie Stephens! 

Here's how we created our own!

3rd Grade Modigliani style self portrait

 3rd Grade

Modigliani style self portrait

Instead of doing the traditional self-portrait, 3rd grade learned about the artist Amedeo Modigliani, and emulated his style, while drawing themselves. Here's an example of how Modigliani simplified and elongated his subjects, in the painting

Jeanne Hebuterne with hat and necklace, 1917

 We drew out the faces onto black construction paper, traced them with a black oil pastel, and colored them in using oil pastels. They were encouraged to make their coloring look almost as opaque as paint. These students did a fabulous job!