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Paint Your Self-Portrait
Use what you’ve learned about self-portraits to develop a painting of your own likeness
You’ve seen how artists like Pablo Picasso create self-portraits. Now it’s your turn to make a self-portrait by designing and painting a composition using a defining artistic technique.
recycled magazines
photographs of yourself
digital camera/cell phone camera
printer
scissors
glue sticks
ruler
permanent markers
plastic sleeve
canvas paper
pencils
water containers
paintbrushes
paper towels
acrylic paint
Step 1: Create a Reference Collage
Cut out images from magazines. Arrange the images to create a collage.
Look carefully at the self-portraits included in this issue of Scholastic Art. What choices does each painter make about the techniques he or she uses to depict the setting, clothing, and objects? Do these choices reveal something personal about each artist? Keeping these iconic self-portraits in mind, cut out magazine images that have meaning for you. Look for a variety of images that could be used to create the background, middle ground, and foreground in your composition. Look for colors and textures that will energize your composition. Find an old photo of yourself at home or take a new digital photo and print it. Begin experimenting with your composition. Choose one background image, and then add one or more photos of yourself in the foreground. Incorporate other images. Use cropping, framing, gesture, or repetition in unexpected ways. Once you are happy with your composition, glue each image into place.
Tip: The scale of your images will affect how realistic or abstract your composition looks.
Step 2: Sketch Your Composition
Use a grid to help you lay out your composition.
Insert your collage into a clear plastic sleeve. Use a ruler and a permanent marker to draw a grid on the plastic sleeve. Then use a ruler and a pencil to lightly draw a matching grid on your canvas paper. This grid should be directly in proportion to the grid on your plastic sleeve. Sketch the basic shapes from your collage onto your canvas paper with a pencil. Use the grid to make sure that your drawing is to scale.
Tip: Sketch only the structural shapes. You’ll paint the details later.
Step 3: Paint Your Self-Portrait
Compare the collage on the left with the finished painting on the right. How does the artist use color and shape?
Look at the paintings in this issue of Scholastic Art again. Notice the techniques that each artist uses to paint his or her self-portrait. For example, Vincent van Gogh uses line in his work on this page, and Horace Pippin simplifies the shapes in his work on this one.
How did the student who painted this self-portrait use texture?
Select one technique that you will use in your own self-portrait. Think about how your chosen technique might affect the way viewers will interpret your painting. Begin painting your composition on your canvas paper. With your collage as a reference, use the grid to keep your painting to scale. Remember to incorporate your chosen artistic technique throughout the entire composition. Use large brushes for areas of flat color and small brushes to paint small details.
Tip: Keep the paint thin at first, building up layers of color slowly.
Prepared by: Heather Drayzen, Salk School of Science, New York, New York
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