Portraits
Art Making Activities

Activity 1: Blind Self Portrait
For this activity you will need to either sit in front of a mirror or have a small hand held mirror. Take an A3 sheet of drawing paper and tape it to a flat surface. Now looking in the mirror place your pencil or crayon on the paper at the point where your chin will be. Without lifting your pencil or crayon draw lines that follow the contours of your face.
Tip: Don’t forget to include your ears, eyes, nose and mouth without lifting your pencil. This will mean going over the same line more than once which is all part of the drawing. The idea is not to worry about the details but to follow the lines and contours of your face.
Tip: It is important not to lift your pencil or crayon off the paper or you will loose your place, AND, don’t be tempted to look at the paper.

Extended Activity: Blind Self Portrait Wire Sculpture (Stage 3 students)
This activity involves completing the previous activity and then once you have your pencil or crayon drawn portrait take two or three lengths of florist wire and join them together by twisting the ends. Now using the wire start by making a ‘stem’ (about 6-8 cm straight vertical length) as the starting point of your sculpture. This will act as a stand to hold your sculpture up. Next place the remaining wire on your page, leaving the straight stem alone and start ‘drawing’ with it. Hold it firm with your thumb while you bend it to follow your line drawing of your face. Keep making bends where the lines change directions or curve. Once you have finished drawing the whole face with wire put the stem into a block of polystyrene or if you have help a block of wood.
Tip: Make your joined wires much longer than the contours of the face and the paper so you have enough wire to finish it. If you run out of wire you can join more on while working but it is easier to give yourself enough wire at the beginning.

Activity 2: Crazy ‘Ink’ portrait
For this activity you will need some shoe polish in a tube that has a sponge applicator at the top. Look at the portrait Brett Whiteley about to Pounce by John Olsen. The marks Olsen makes are very loose and free flowing. Use a sheet of A3 drawing paper and using the tube of shoe polish gently squeeze some polish out making quick and broad strokes to make a portrait. The person you decide to paint can be yourself, a friend or someone else.
Tip: The important thing is to work quickly and freely and not to worry about each stroke and have fun, after all it is a crazy portrait.