1. PORTRAITURE
PROJECT

2. Learning Objectives
• To understand the role of portraiture in art in a
historical and contemporary context
• To explore the techniques of others in making self
portraits
• To understand the anatomy of the face, starting with
the skull
• To create a variety of work using observational
drawing skills
• To create a self portrait
• To evaluate your own work and the work of others

3. PROJECT MAPPING
TASK ASSESSMENT HOMEWORK
1 TITLE PAGE Create 1
Explore 1
1 Complete the title page using photographs and
images you collect
2 WHAT IS A PORTRAIT /SELF
PORTRAIT?
Understand 1 Extension Tasks
Find examples of portraits of people you admire
3 RESEARCH Understand 2 2. Research the artist you have chosen to study
4 DRAWING THE FEATURES Explore 2
Create 2
Extension Tasks
Picasso Portrait on the Website
Drawings of the Artists Self Portraits
5 COPY THE WORK OF OTHERS
STANLEY SPENCER SELF
PORTRAIT
Explore 3
Create 3
Understand 3
3. Research the work of Stanley Spencer and
make a fact file/ power point
6 CREATE HALF A PORTRAIT Create 4 Extension Tasks
Draw a diagram to show students how a face is
divided up
7 DRAWING A SELF PORTRAIT Create 4
Evaluate 1
4. Complete the self portraits
8 CREATE YOUR OWN
RESPONSE(S)
Create 5 Extension Tasks
Continuous Line Drawing
9 EVALUATION Evaluate 2

4. PORTRAITURE
Who made this picture?
Context and links to the POPART PROJECT

5. What is a PORTRAIT?
an artistic representation of a person, in
which the face and its expression is the
focus

6. PORTRAITS CAN BE
REALISTIC.... Or …… ABSTRACT

7. PORTRAITS self or not?

8. TASK 1 - CREATE A TITLE PAGE

10. Me!
Find a picture of
yourself and print
it out.
Place it on the page in
your book. You can put
it anywhere.
Add images, colours,
objects, drawings and
paper collage to the
page to decorate it
using your words to
help you.
Write down a list of
things you like and make
you who you are. Use
these for the next bit.
Tall
Mum
Loud
Arty
Big Sister
Wife
Cook
Cat
Dragon
Yorkshire
Books
Countryside

11. 4 You use a range of practical skills to make
artwork
5 You use your knowledge and skills to make
your artwork and use materials
APPROPRIATELY
6 You apply your knowledge and skills to
make artwork and use EFFECTIVELY
Assess your: Homework PA/SA/VF/TA CREATE 1
CREATE 1

12. EXPLORE 1
4 You use a variety of materials to make the title
page exploring the idea of self portraits.
5 You make selection of resources yourself and use
the materials, taking creative risks when making
your title page.
6 You use a range of resources imaginatively to
design and make the title page. You experiment and
accept the risks you take with your work
independently.
Assess your: Homework PA/SA/VF/TA EXPLORE 1

13. Exemplar Work - Levels

14. TASK 2 - SELF-PORTRAITURE
UNDERSTAND 1 – SA/VF/TA
• What is the difference between a portrait and a
self-portrait?
A portrait is…
A self-portrait is…
BOARDWORKS PORTRAITURE SLIDES RESOURCES ON STAFF AREA

15. Play the PORTRAIT GAME
• Match the Portrait to the description, details of the
person described in the text. – see pack
Extension Task - From the matching game - Copy a
portrait using black felt tip pen, black coloured pencil,
pencil, biro, Guess the picture from the originals.
Starter Task - Play blind portraits. Take a piece of paper
fold in to parts of the face. Draw the hair and eyes then
the nose then the mouth and finally the chin and neck.

16. 10
131
6
113
12
159
4
5
14
7 2
8
Which Portrait was painted first?

17. TASK 3 - Explore Portraiture from the PAST
• Artists from the PAST
1. Jan van Eyck
2. Albrecht Durer
3. Leonardo da Vinci
4. Sir Peter Paul Rubens
5. Frans Hals
6. Sir Joshua Reynolds
7. Thomas Gainsborough
8. Edgar Degas
9. Pablo Picasso
10. Frida Kahlo
11. Sir Peter Blake
12. Andy Warhol
13. Lucian Freud
Contemporary Artists – these artists are still
practicing today
14. David Hockney
15. Marlene Dumas

18. TASK 3 - RESEARCH
• Choose one artist from the PAST to discover more examples of their
Portraiture work and answer the questions on the slide you are .
• (Your teacher may distribute the slides equally in the class for you to explore
the portraits by one of the artists in teams.)
• TASK
• To produce a slide show using Power Point of 4 slides expanding on the
slide information you have been given about the artist.
• You record your understanding of the Portraiture work of the artist you are
looking at.
• Use the books in the Art Department Library
• Use the following websites to help you when you search for information
about their PORTRAITURE artwork.
• http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk
• http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/
• http://www.tate.org.uk
• Use the FORMAL ELEMENTS TO DESCRIBE,EXPLAIN and
ANALYSE the painting(s) you find.
• COLOUR LINE SHAPE FORM TONE TEXTURE COMPOSITION

19. UNDERSTAND 2
You comment on the work of the artist you study.
You acknowledge the context in which the artwork was made by
recording the dates and what was going on in society at the time.
You find out about a range of work, discuss ideas and techniques that
are used by the artist you research.
You relate these ideas to the context and purpose of making the
portrait(s).
You interpret and explain how ideas and meanings are shown by
the artists in their portraits.
You recognise characteristics in artwork of different historical, social
and cultural contexts.
4
5
6
Assess your: Homework PA/SA/VF/TA UNDERSTAND 2

20. Jan van Eyck
‘Arnolfini Marriage’
1434 oil on wood
(81.8 x59.7cm)
This painting celebrates a marriage.
Jan van Eyck has chosen to paint the
couple in their house………WHY?
The man in this painting is Giovanni
Arnolfini. We know that Giovanni
was an Italian merchant who exported
beautifully made cloth from Bruges in
Belgium where he lived, to Italy.
WHY has the artist painted the
different types and textures of
cloth?
Hidden within the painting are many
clues that reinforce the theme of the
painting.

22. Albrecht Durer
‘Self –Portraits’
aged
13
22
26
28
1484 - 1500
Can you match the age to the portrait?
Do they all look like the same person to
you?
Can you spot what looks the same in all
four pictures?
If you made a picture of yourself how
would you sit?

23. Leonardo da Vinci
‘Mona Lisa’
1503 -6
The most famous portrait in the world
but why?
Perhaps because the artist did not give it
to the person who had commissioned it.
Leonardo kept it until his death.
Who is she?
Her name is Lisa del Giocondo.
Mona is short for Madonna which ‘my
lady’ in Italian. So the title means ‘My
lady Lisa’.
Where is she?
What is she thinking?
Is she happy or sad?

24. Sir Peter Paul
Rubens
‘Childs Head’
1616
Who do you think Rubens has
painted in this picture?
How old do you think this child
is?
What do you think Rubens was
focusing on?

25. Sir Peter Paul
Rubens
‘Childs Head’
1616
The Portrait of Clara Serena Rubens, painted c.
1616, is one of the most touching child
portraits in the history of European art.
It shows Rubens’s five-year-old daughter from
his marriage to Isabella Brant. Her resemblance
to her mother is clear. The disarming directness
with which the child looks at the viewer is not
typical of contemporary portrait painting, but
expresses the intimate relationship between
father and daughter. Rubens uses colour with
great skill to capture her face. The warm
colouring of the flesh tones makes a particular
impact against the grey-green ground and the
child’s clothing. The strong red of the cheeks
and the highlights on her nose and forehead
convey an impression of intense life. The
painting is trimmed on all four sides, and looks
incomplete at first because the clothing is
hastily painted. Detailed work on these parts,
however, cannot have been his intention as the
portrait was probably destined for private use
and not for sale. Rubens obviously
concentrated on the key aspect of the portrayal,
his daughter’s face.

26. Frans Hals
‘The Laughing Cavalier’
1624
"one of the most brilliant of all Baroque portraits"
In general, commissioned portraits, which this
work is, rarely showed adults smiling until the
late 18th century, though smiling is often seen
in small portrait images. Often Hals showed his
sitters with broader smiles than here, and in
informal poses that bring an impression of
movement and spontaneity to his paintings.
The effect of the eyes appearing to follow the
viewer from every angle is a result of the
subject being depicted as looking directly
forward, toward the artist's point of view,
combined with being a static two dimensional
representation of this from whichever angle the
painting itself is viewed.
What is he laughing at?
How has the artist created this
‘happy’ image?

27. Joshua Reynolds
‘Self Portrait’
1749
Joshua Reynolds was a portrait painter to 18th
Century London society. In 1749 Reynolds
travelled to Italy to study classical painting and
sculpture, which is where he developed his style.
Inspired by Michelangelo, he painted in the
Grand Style, making his sitters seem perfect and
dignified. With his rival Thomas Gainsborough
he became the most influential London portrait
painter of his age. Politicians, actors, aristocrats
and royalty all sat for him.
How does he portray the
‘status’of his subjects?

28. Thomas Gainsborough
‘Mr and Mrs Andrews’ 1750
69.8 x 119.4cm Oil on Canvas
What do these photos
have in common with the
painting?
Why do you think Mr
and Mrs Andrews were
painted in a field and not
inside?
In 1748 Frances Carter married Robert Andrews but what time
of year did they get married?
Can you see that Gainsborough didn’t finish this picture ?
Was he going to paint another dog or perhaps some flowers?

29. Edgar Degas
‘Self Portrait’
1857-58
How do we relate to the subjects of
these portraits?
Are they all portraits?
Are they formal or informal?

30. Pablo Picasso
‘Self Portrait’
1907
The picture's child-like air is
significant. It looks simple and harshly
drawn with the emphasis on the staring,
almost vacant appearance of the eyes.
There is a passionate sensuality about
this younger, happier face compared to
earlier self-portraits, though an
intensity of look is palpable due to the
hatching and harshly contrasting
colours, which combine to create a
vivid consolidation of energy.
www.picassohead.com/create.html
Use this website to create your
Own Picasso style portrait.

31. Who made these images of women? They are all different, why?

32. Frida Kahlo
‘Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and
Hummingbird’
1940
Of her 143 paintings, 55 are self-portraits
which often incorporate symbolic portrayals of
physical and psychological wounds. She
insisted, "I never painted dreams. I painted my
own reality."[
Kahlo was influenced by indigenous Mexican
culture, which is apparent in her use of bright
colours, dramatic symbolism and primitive
style. She frequently included the symbolic
monkey. In Mexican mythology, monkeys are
symbols of lust, but Kahlo portrayed them as
tender and protective symbols. Christian and
Jewish themes are often depicted in her work.
What is she trying to tell us about herself?

33. Sir Peter Blake
‘Self Portrait with Badges’
1961
Blake’s self-portrait shows his equal
respect for historical tradition and
modern popular culture. He may have
based this image on Thomas
Gainsborough’s famous portrait The
Blue Boy (illustrated to the left). But
Blake’s blue fabric is not silk but
denim – a material associated at the
time with American youth culture.
How does he show that he was
fascinated by American popular
culture?
Blake uses these objects like a
traditional portrait painter, to suggest
his interests or achievements.

34. Andy Warhol
‘Marilyn’
1967
Andy Warhol was a big fan of famous
people such as glamorous film star
Marilyn Monroe. He made over 70
portraits of her, all slightly different.
Warhol liked Marilyn but why?
He loved making pictures of people
who were easy to recognise – who
would you make a portrait of?
Why did he change the colours on
the prints?

35. Lucian Freud
‘Man’s Head, Self-Portrait’
1963
‘My work is purely autobiographical... It is
about myself and my surroundings’
'I've always wanted to create drama in my
pictures, which is why I paint people. It's
people who have brought drama to pictures
from the beginning. The simplest human
gestures tell stories.'
Lucian Freud (1922 – 2011)
was one of the most
important and influential
artists of his generation.
Paintings of people were
central to his work, spanning
over seventy years.
What can you learn about his character from these images?

36. David Hockney
‘My Family’
1977
What is going on in this portrait of the
artist’s parents?
How does this artist change the picture from
the photograph to the painting above?
His mother poses, attentive and graceful,
while his father, who fidgeted during
sittings, was painted reading Aaron
Scharf's book Art and Photography.
In this work, painted a year
before his father's death,
Hockney's style has shifted
towards a closer study of
human behaviour.

37. Marlene Dumas
‘Jule-die Vrou’
1985
Jule-die Vrou is a brightly
coloured and ghostly portrait
painting, framed in extreme
close-up; only the model's eyes
and lips are fully painted. The rest
of the painting is obliterated by a
corpulent fleshy pink, suggestive
of femininity, sin, violence and
womanhood. The contrast
between realism and abstraction
suggests something is not right?

38. Exemplar Work - Levels

39. How do you draw the human face?

40. The Skull
Feel the skull that holds your eyes in your head?
Can you feel your jaw bone?
Look carefully in the mirror and relate the structure of your
face/head to these drawings?

41. Under the Skin

42. TASK 4 - CREATE A DRAWING OF AN
EYE, A NOSE, A MOUTH and AN EAR
• You will develop your understanding of the shapes of the
features and how to shade the shapes in to make the features
appear look 3D and realistic.
TASK
• Classwork and the Date
• Divide the A4 page in to 4 using a ruler and a pencil
• Using the guide sheet and from a demonstration from your
teacher, create a drawing of the facial features, one in each
box.
• How can you check your drawings? Who could you ask?
• What could you do?
Assess your: Homework PA/SA/VF/TA EXPLORE 2 CREATE 2

43. EXEMPLAR WORK - levels

44. Drawing Eyes

45. Drawing Eyes
This is the line of
proportion that
the eye rests on.
Notice the top of the eye is more arched than the bottom curve
Tear duct
At this stage the eye looks a little like a squashed lemon!
Use the Guide sheets to help you to draw an eye using PENCIL

46. Add the pupil and iris
Notice the top of the iris is covered by the eyelid
The pupil should be placed right in the centre of the iris

47. Rub out your guideline and add tone to make the eye look more realistic
The iris should have a variety of tones and tends to get darker towards the
outer ring. Even the white part of the eye has tone towards the edges,
giving the eye form.

48. Drawing Mouths

49. Drawing Mouths
1 - Draw a straight line to indicate where the lips should be. You may
curve the lines up or down to indicate your expression.
2 - Draw a circle in the centre with only a slight bit of the circle below the line.
3 - Draw secondary circles on the side of, and slightly above the centre circle.
4 - Draw the lines as show in the image; these lines have formed lips.
Follow the four circles when drawing your lines.

50. Draw the "wrinkle lines." These lines give your lips a realistic look.
As indicated, the upper parts of the lips should be drawn as curved lines going upward

51. Rub out your guide lines and add tone
In general the top lip tends to be darker in tone than the bottom lip
Notice that by adding highlight to the bottom lip and tone underneath,
it defines the shape of the bottom lip and gives it the appearance of
sticking out. This is more natural looking than drawing a solid line around
the mouth

52. Drawing Noses

53. Drawing Noses
This is the shape that the nostrils make at the bottom of the nose
At this stage it looks a little like a seagull flying into the distance!
How big, small, flat or curved you decide to draw the wings will help
to determine the shape of your nose.

54. Complete the nostrils by adding lines (like brackets) around them.
The curve in the middle helps to indicate where the tip of the nose is

55. Add tone to give your nose more form
The top of the nose will be the part of the face that sticks up the most
therefore catches the light more. You can add highlight here by using
an eraser.

56. Drawing Ears

57. To draw the ear on a forward facing portrait it must
fit between the eye and bottom of the nose
It should overlap the edge of the egg (head) shape and
is a little like a long, narrow oval shape.
The line representing the inside of the ear follows the
same shape as the outside and then near the bottom of
The oval, it loops back up and goes wiggly!
Drawing Ears

58. Add tone to give the ear more form
The inside of the ear will generally be darker
as it is less exposed to the light
When applying the hair you will observe that it goes past
the outer edge of the ear

59. Stanley Spencer 1891 - 1959
1959 1914 1936
Which date above applies to which portrait?
Discuss the artists use of colour and engaging outward stare?
You will copy the portrait on the far left using watercolour.

60. Self-Portrait
by Stanley Spencer
Date painted: 1914
Oil on canvas, 63 x 51 cm
Collection: TATE LONDON
TASK 5 – Painting
You will copy this Self Portrait by Stanley Spencer using
1. Observational drawing skills
2. Applying watercolour painting skills.
Assess your: PA/SA/VF/TA EXPLORE 3 CREATE 3
UNDERSTAND 3

62. HOMEWORK 3 – RESEARCH
• You will research the work of Stanley Spencer
and his self portraits.
• You compare his style and technique to the work
of the artist(s) you investigated in TASK 3.
• You record your thoughts on comparing their
work- SPOT the DIFFERENCE
• Use the formal elements to describe the paintings
• What do you think about them?

63. WHERE ARE THE FACIAL
FEATURES ON THE HEAD?
INVESTIGATION

64. When we draw a face, we need to be
aware of the mathematical
calculations that will allow us to draw
it in proportion
Eyes – halfway
between crown and
chin
Bottom of nose
– halfway
between eye
line and chin
Mouth – halfway
between nose line
and chin
Width of mouth – in line
with pupils
Width of nose – in line with
corners of eyes

65. Measurements
EXTENSION TASK – DRAW YOUR OWN DIAGRAM TO REMEMBER THE
RULES

66. How to Draw a Face
Step 1 Step 2

67. Step 3 Step 4
Draw a mark in the middle of the
vertical guideline and each side of the
face. This mark represents the top of
the eye / pupil.
Now draw a guideline down
vertically from each eye dash that
you drew. Then draw the mouth in
between those 2 lines

68. Now draw the eyes. Notice that the iris is
centered on the red line and the eye lid is on the
middle horizontal middle guideline. Put the top
of the eyebrow about one eye’s height above the
eye.
Step 5

69. Now draw the other eye the way that you
did with the other eye. Notice that the eyes
are about an eye’s width apart. Also draw a
line down from one of the eye brows.
Draw the nose above the 2nd horizontal
line down.
Step 6
Nose

70. Now notice the ears are placed between the
tops of the eyes and the bottom of the nose.
Also, put in more details to the nose and start
drawing in details, such as the pupils to the
eyes.
Step 7
Step 8
Add in hair!

71. Objectives:
Helping the student to see and understand
correct facial placement.
What You Need:
plain paper
pencil (color pencils if you choose)
photographic image of face
tape
desk or drawing board
What You Do:
Find a photograph of a persons face/head.
Student cuts the face in half the long way. (one
eye, half nose and half mouth)
Student tapes photo onto a sheet of paper,
leaving room beside it.
Student finishes the drawing of the face (they
can keep the cut off portion for reference, as
needed).
TASK 6 - CREATE A PORTRAIT

72. TASK 7 – USING A MIRROR, DRAW A SELF PORTRAIT
USING A PENCIL

73. Remember• These are only
guidelines!
• Your face may not
follow these rules –
that’s what makes
you individual
• Look really carefully
at the shapes of your
face – don’t try and
guess, it never
works!

74. Portraiture: MY SELF PORTRAIT
All artists need to practice the skill of observation to improve and understand how to draw. Between now and the due date of
this sheet practice drawing 3 self portraits (Spend 20mins on each). Evaluate your drawing and Try to improve on the next one.
CONSIDER
Detail: Sketch the
outline, then add light
and texture.
Tone: The human face is a 3d
Form. Adding tonal blending
helps to make the features stand
out.
Emotion: Pull different faces in the
mirror. See how your features change
shape.
Brag (What are you proud
of?).....................................
Wish (what would you
improve?).................................
Brag (What are you proud
of?).....................................
Wish (what would you
improve?).................................
Brag (What are you proud
of?).....................................
Wish (what would you
improve?).................................

75. CHARCOAL
PENCIL
PASTELSINK
You can use different materials

76. CONTINUOUS LINE DRAWING OF THE
EXTENSION TASK

77. Which parts of the face express emotion?
EYES
MOUTH
EXPRESSIONS

78. • CAN YOU MAKE FACES AND PHOTOGRAPH THEM?
• CAN YOU CHANGE THE LIGHTING EFFECTS WHEN TAKING THE
PICTURES TO ADD A SENSE OF DRAMA?
•
HOMEWORK TASK – TAKE 4 PHOTOGRAPHS
OF YOURSELF AND PRINT THEM OFF TO USE IN
LESSONS

79. TASK 8 –
MAKE A PERSONAL RESPONSE TO THE
SELF PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHS AND/OR
FROM OBSERVATION A PICTURE OF
YOURSELF.

80. Exemplar Work - Levels

81. TASK 9 - EVALUATION