Familiar Faces, New Ideas

• Choose a celebrity who inspires you.
• Make a portrait that visually shares a new idea about him or her.

• Use a broad definition of celebrity.
• You could choose an actor, a musician, or an athlete. Or you might think outside the box and choose a writer, an artist, or an activist.
• Look at photographs and other artists’ representations of your subject. Study the shapes that make up his or her facial features. Make several sketches of him or her from a variety of angles so you’re comfortable rendering your subject’s likeness.
• Think about what your celebrity is known for and how you can make a comment about it through the materials you use, your composition, and your color choices.
• Make a portrait that says something new about your celebrity.

Pick a “celebrity” in your family or community. Take a photograph of him or her in a place that has meaning, with props that tell a story, or doing an activity he or she is known for.

Before you begin, check out these examples by Nancy Hoover’s students at the Girls’ School of Austin in Austin, Texas!