Self Portrait Art Project for Kids
I’d been looking for a different approach to self-portraits for a back-to-school project. I wanted something that would ask the students to see themselves in a new way, and create a colorful display that I knew the teachers would appreciate for their classrooms. Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser has an amazing life story, along with a very appealing style of abstract drawing. Click here to read more about him.
1. Start with a 9″ x 12″ paper, and trace the width of a ruler around the outside edges in pencil. Add another line about 1/4″ away to make a narrow inner border.
2. Draw a very large circle that almost touches the top border and does touch the left and right. Wobbly circles are welcome! Shoulders may be straight or angled.
Eyes are drawn by starting with a center dot, and then the football shapes that extend and touch the outside edge. Hair must be simple, simple, simple, using as few lines as possible. Names are drawn in block letters in the bottom border.
3. When the drawing is done, all lines are traced with a thin black marker.
4. Everything is colored in heavily with some good colored pencils. This sample is down Prismacolors.
Kathy Barbro earned her B.F.A. at Minneapolis College of Arts & Design, enjoying a 20-year career in graphic design. When her son entered kindergarten, her career path took a turn. The local elementary school had no art program and that was all the inspiration she needed. Kathy served as a volunteer art docent for several years, later becoming the school’s Professional Expert in Visual Arts. She teaches twenty K-5 classes weekly and conducts an after-school Art Enrichment program. Kathy pooled her talents to share her curriculum via the blogosphere. With 500 classroom-tested art projects posted, her Art Projects For Kids www.artprojectsforkids.org is a favored source of art lesson plans among teachers, home schoolers and parents.