Lane Tech Art Studio : Pencil Portraits 2013-2014

Students went through the same process as last year to create large-scale beautiful portraits of family members or friends in either pencil or charcoal. They did not use a grid, but instead had to very closely observe all of the features comprising the particular face in their photograph.

Portrait by Rachel F.

Once again we started with an oval, then the overall angle of the face and the placement of the middle line, and then basic face proportions. This year I stressed from the start, using tracing paper and measuring areas of the face on the photograph, using lines and tick marks, and then comparing/enlarging those same measurements on the 18" by 24" paper. In this way the students could check to see if what they drew was happening mathematically. If not, they made adjustments in order to be more accurate in proportion.

After closely observing and measuring and drawing all of the facial features, the 2nd battle was to use values to recreate the subtle lights and darks in the photo in order to make the features appear 3-Dimensional.

Some of the students also chose to add limited color to their portrait using watercolor or colored pencils.

Portrait by Ana G.

This is a very difficult project because it requires so much patience, and re-drawing and re-measuring and close observation. It also means I am doing a lot of step by step demonstrations which is unusual in my classroom. In the end, students are generally very proud of their work. To create a realistic drawing of a person is something most of my students want to be able to accomplish, and that is why this project will probably come around every year. It is a desired skill even if it is not a very creative act.

Please look at last year's post if you want a more detailed description of the process. I wanted to highlight some of the portraits from this year. The photos don't do justice to the subtle and meticulous shading in some of these!

Self Portraits