Reflective Self-Portraits

For this self-portrait, students drew themselves from the front and back. They began by tracing a circle template on one side of their paper. In that circle they drew a self-portrait after reviewing proportions and how to draw facial features. Next to the circle they drew themselves from behind with an outstretched arm holding the mirror. In the background they were to draw a room setting paying attention to size to make objects appear to be off in the distance. We reviewed colored pencil techniques such as blending before they colored in their art work. In the future I might consider using crayons instead- the colored pencils took a very long time for this project- they would work better with a smaller sized paper.

Value Castles

4th grade students were show how to draw a castle using basic shapes (squares, rectangles and triangles). We looked at photos of castles and brainstormed different architectural details we could include in our castles such as spires, bricks, flags, etc. Students used colored pencils to complete their drawing, creating a light source by shading their castle from light to dark.