Grade 2 Self-Portraits- RES

Second graders at RES have completed these lovely self-potraits.  These artists worked hard to show emotions on their face while trying for an accurate reflection of their appearance.

Self-portraits are a great way for students to explore the concept of a sense of self, and allows them to choose how to present that self to the world through art.

Spending time looking at themselves in a mirror and drawing what they see lets them focus on what makes them special or unique both inside and out.

This allows students to see not only how they are different from others, but all of the ways that we are all alike.

This is particularly true as we explore the math of the human face. Students are using basic bath skills of proportion and fractions to place the features on their faces, and are discovering universal commonalities of human facial structure.

These artists have excellent shape recognition and can use that skill to help them accurately draw the shapes they see in their own faces.

They have done lots of color mixing to create the correct tones for their skin, hair, and eyes.  The background colors that they have chosen often contribute to the mood of the piece or tell you something about the artist, like a favorite color.

 
These artists have been able to sequence multistep directions to create these portraits.  We began in pencil to draw the initial work, traced those lines with permanent markers, and added color with oil pastels and watercolor paints.

Self-portraiture is a mainstay in art rooms for many excellent reasons. In addition to students finding these to be of very high interest to create, they function as a marker in time and artistic development, which is why my students all create one each year (Kindergarteners 2014-15) (Fourth graders 2014-15).  The styles, materials, and lesson goals change and become more challenging over time, but the essence is of considering one's concept of self: ever-changing and always growing!