Renaissance Painter: Leonardo Da Vinci

Woman's Head Study Mona Lisa

Post-Impressionist Painter: Vincent Van Gogh

Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear

 Cubist Painter: Pablo Picasso

Woman with a Blue Hat Lecture (Woman Reading

Portraits to Make a Statement

Some artists create art that makes a statement

about events or ideas that mean a lot to them. Art
can make people think about war, poverty,
racism, violence, and oppression. Portraits are
one art form that artists use to give a message
about important issues. A portrait can tell you
more than how someone looked or lived. What do
the portraits below make you think about?

Dorothea Lange’s photographs showed the world how people were

suffering during the Great Depression. This photograph was published in a news
story which made people aware of the hardships migrant workers suffered. As a
result, the U.S. government rushed the workers food and set up relief programs.
Jose Clemente Orozco
was a Mexican painter. His murals
showed social struggles and
violence of mankind. He lived
during the Mexican Revolution and
was very involved in the politics of
the time.
Berthe Morisot painted this portrait of
her sister at her baby’s cradle.

What ideas do you think she wants you to

think about?

It is interesting that this sister was also a

promising painter but gave up painting to
raise a family, as was the custom at that
time. Berthe Morisot, however, rebelled
against the traditional role of women in the
late 1800’s and became a successful
Impressionist painter.

Does knowing this make you look at this

portrait differently?
Mary Cassatt
was another woman who,
against the traditions of her
times, became a successful
Impressionist painter. She
was most famous for her
ability to create portraits that
showed the everyday lives
and tasks of women—topics
that had never before been
thought of as worthy of great
art.
1. Think about how artists use color to show meaning in their
art works. What color symbols could you use or invent to tell
people about yourself? Draw a self portrait and include several
colors that symbolize something about you!

Here is Carmine Chameleon's self

portrait. Carmine colored himself red
because he loves the color carmine red.
He shows lots of green grass because
spring is his favorite time of the year.
The rainbow in the background
symbolizes all of the colors Carmine can
be.

2. Some artists tell people about

their symbols. Other artists keep
them a secret and let people guess
about the meaning of their art.
Some artists make portraits that do
not show what the subject looked
like physically. Portraits can be
abstract and may have symbols
that tell you about the person.

One such artist who created

abstract, symbolic portraits was
Giuseppe Arcimboldo.
He painted many portraits about
ideas such as the seasons, fire,
air, and the earth, using everyday
objects to show the parts of the
face.
Now create a portrait that makes a statement about an idea that is important to
you.

Brainstorm a list of ideas that you could communicate with a portrait.

Many artists have used their art to make people think about war, poverty,
racism, violence, and oppression. Other artists, like Morisot and Cassatt, used
portraits to show and celebrate motherhood.

You may want to focus on a personal experience. Think about what you want
your artwork to do. Do you want people to become aware of a problem? Do you
want to urge people to act in a certain way?

Will people need to have more information about your idea than they get just by
looking at your artwork? You can include a descriptive title or even write a short
paragraph about your art work.
Technique Demonstration:
Face Proportions (Front View)

Many artists want to make realistic portraits that show how someone looks. To do
this, you have to learn about face proportion. Are you ready? We’ll start with a
front view.

1. HEAD. Draw a large head

shape on your paper.
2. EYES. Eyes are halfway down the face. So use
your ruler to divide your head in half with a
horizontal line. Draw lightly (you may want to
erase it later).

This will look a little alien until you add eyebrows and hair. But
don't draw the eyes too high!
If you look at someone face on,
they will have room for five eyes
across the front of their face! You
can divide the horizontal line into
five equal spaces to figure out how
big to make the eyes.

Now draw the eye shapes—you can

draw five to start with to help you
remember the size and spacing.
3. NOSE. The size of the nose depends on the
person. The bottom of the nose is often as wide as
the inside corners of the eyes. So you can draw two
lines down from the inside corners of the eyes.

Usually, the bottom of the nose is halfway between

the eye line and the bottom of the chin.

Now you have a "nose

box"—draw the nose!
4. MOUTH. Draw another line half way between the nose and the chin.

Mouths are right above this line. The

width of the mouth depends on the
person’s expression. But the corners of
a relaxed mouth line up with the
middle of the eye. Draw two vertical
lines down from the pupils of the eye.

Now draw the mouth!

5. EARS. Ears are bigger than
many people think! They stretch
from the eyes to below the nose.
Use the horizontal line you first
drew for the eyes to line up the
top of the ears. They will end
between the bottom of the nose
and the mouth.
6. EYEBROWS. Eyebrows tell a lot about
a person’s mood. They come in all
different sizes and shapes (and some
people pluck them out!) A gentle arch over
the eyes should do for a relaxed face.
7. NECK. Most people draw the
neck too thin. A head weighs eight
pounds so necks are big and
strong! Start at the ears and gently
curve in then out again.
8. SHOULDERS. If you have room on your paper you can draw shoulders
or part of the shoulders. We actually have room for three heads on our
shoulders!
Make the shoulders wide enough so you could fit another head on each
shoulder.
9. HAIR. Last but not least, HAIR! You could stop now if your
subject has no hair. But if he or she does, remember where the
hairline is.
What's Wrong with
these Portraits?
What's Wrong with these
Portraits?

Mouth is too low Hairline too high Ears too big

Nose is shaped Nose is too small

incorrectly

Head is round, Eyes too high, Eyes too small

not egg-shaped so chin too big
Using colored pencils, lightly shade in the color of the
person's
skin. (IMPORTANT: Use the side of the pencil, not the
sharp tip, for shading.)
Using the same color, press harder and shade darker
where there
are shadows in the face. Mostly these are beneath the
eyebrows, nose,
and cheekbones. Try to keep the blending from light to
dark very
smooth.
Begin coloring hair and clothing the same way you
colored the
face, shading with the side of your pencils.
Check your coloring by looking at the whole face. If
anything
looks like it's flat, it may be because the shadows
aren't dark enough,
or the blending isn't smooth.
Add detail with the colored pencils. Eyebrows,
eyelashes, and the
color of the eyes are good details to draw with the tip
of the pencil.
Coloring Your Portrait

Here are some ideas for adding color to your portrait. After you
have drawn a portrait, you may want to add color. There are many
different ways to finish your portrait. Here are just a few:

Here’s what to do:

Use your watercolors to paint washes of color over
the larger areas of your portrait (the hair, skin,
background). Let your paint dry before going on.

Now add details, patterns and textures with any

medium you want. You could use thread, wool,
beads, leaves, etc.

Dry thoroughly and then press under some heavy

books to flatten.
THE END