Self Portraits: What are you thinking?!

By the time students reach 6th grade they are more self-conscious about their drawing skills and do not always enjoy creating self portraits like they did when they were younger.

I tried this project this year after seeing an artwork of Nichol Brown’s  on Pinterest and I was thrilled that it worked out so well!  Students were less intimidated by drawing only half of their faces (and more of them actually look like themselves!) and they had fun figuring out what to draw in the designs above their heads.  

I asked them to choose 10 items to represent themselves and to find a fun way to have everything floating above their heads. They could also choose to color the items, or leave them just outlined in black.

When we began, we focused especially on drawing eyes and eyebrows.  (Did you know that a study showed people recognize someone's eyebrows easier than their eyes, when shown only those body parts? Those little babies are important!)

It was great to see the variety of ways students expressed their interests and they were happy with the results (an awesome bonus at this self-critical age!) 

 

Happy Self-Portraiting! :-)