Watercolor Portraits
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| Teacher example watercolor on four copies of drawing, card stock mounted on poster-board |
I did this project with two separate classes, one of 4-6 year olds and an older class of 7 to 10 year olds.
About Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol was an American Pop Artist. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1928 and his given name is Andrew Warhola. His parents were hard working immigrants from Eastern Europe. When Andy was only 8 years old he became very sick and had to stay home from school. His mother would entertain her sick child with art projects and Hollywood movies. Andy loved movies and Hollywood celebrities so much that he wanted to become one.
When Andy grew up he went to art school and became a graphic artist. He had a very successful career working for fashion magazines like Vogue. In 1959 a magazine editor spelled his name wrong on the credits. Andy decided he liked the misspelled last name so much he would keep it, and so Andrew Warhola became Andy Warhol.
Andy Warhol decided that he wanted more from his artistic career. He wasn't really sure how to start, so he just started painting images of things he saw everyday. Warhol painted soup cans, Coca-cola bottles and money. He even began using a silkscreen printing method to make lots of pictures of the same thing, almost like a human factory. People loved his pictures so much he became famous. His pictures of soup cans stacked up on top of one another are his most famous works.
Andy Warhol never forgot his childhood obsession with Hollywood celebrities. He began using the same technique he used to create his soup can and Coca-Cola images to create technicolor prints of famous celebrities, like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. The celebrity portrait series is what this project is based on.
Materials
- Regular copy paper
- White card stock printer paper
- Pencils and erasers
- Black Sharpies
- A printer capable of processing card stock
- Pan watercolor
- Paintbrushes
- Hand-mirrors (an option for older students)
- A white board (optional, but extremely helpful)
- Poster-board and masking tape (optional for mounting)
The Process
I made a few changes for my older group of students. Instead of doing a portrait of Marilyn Monroe they created self-portraits.
After talking about Andy Warhol and Pop Art,
"an art movement that began in the U.S. in the 1950s and reached its peak of activity in the 1960s. Pop artists chose subject matter that was anonymous, everyday, standardized, and ordinary iconography in American life, such as comic strips, billboards, commercial products, and celebrity images." -Dictionary.com
I passed out plain white copy paper , pencils, and erasers to all of the students. For the younger students I drew out the face of Ms. Monroe by breaking down the drawing process into simple and easy shapes and steps. For the older students I drew a plain face diagram, outlining where the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears are located in a properly proportioned face. The older students then changed the face to make it more personalized.
to create Marilyn I start out by drawing a simple oval on the white board. Make sure students don't make their oval too small, or lopsided.
I then began adding the features one by one. Normally I let the students vote on which feature they want me to draw first.
The hair and neck can be a bit tricky for them, so I normally walk around the class and try to assist as many students one on one as possible. Some may want to add shading and jewelry, but other than Monroe's iconic earrings and mole it isn't necessary unless they really want to.
Once the pencil work is finished I had students trace over all their lines with black sharpie.
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| Teacher example |
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| Student examples (Pk-1) |
Once the Sharpie work is complete I gathered up the work and make 4 copies of each student's work on white card stock. Students then painted their Marilyns with pan-watercolor. Children this age tend to mix all of their colors together, or put multiple colors all over the face. I recommend doing a quick demonstration on how to paint a portrait. Make the back ground all one color, make the hair all one different color, make the face and neck all one other different color, etc. Some students will still end up with brown portraits, but most of my kids work came out fabulous.
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| Student example |
My older students were able to create self-portraits.
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| Teacher example (Unfortunately I made myself look like I have an adams apple [I don't, I swear!]) |
For this project the process was completely the same, except I handed out small hand mirrors for students to analyze their facial features with. I drew a face diagram on the board, students followed along lightly with pencils on their paper. They then tweaked the diagram to transform it from a general face to their face. A few of my more perfectionist students did become a bit frustrated when they couldn't get their faces perfect.
If you don't have the time to draw out a diagram with students there are plenty of handouts available online.
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| Student examples of original drawings |
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| Completed student work |
There is nothing that says this project must be limited to people! I've had students complete the same project, but with lizards and frogs instead.
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| Teacher example |
I like to mount the finished work on poster-board with masking tape. I think it gives the work a polished look and makes it more recognizable as an Andy Warhol tribute.
National Visual Arts Standards Addressed
1. Content Standard: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes
Achievement Standard:
Students
a. know the differences between materials, techniques, and processes
b. describe how different materials, techniques, and processes cause different responses
c. use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and
stories
d. use art materials and tools in a safe and responsible manner
4. Content Standard: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures
Achievement Standard:
Students
a. know that the visual arts have both a history and specific relationships to various cultures
b. identify specific works of art as belonging to particular cultures, times, and places
c. demonstrate how history, culture, and the visual arts can influence each other in making and
studying works of art
Georgia Performance Standards for Visual Arts Addressed
VA2CU.1 Identifies artists as creative thinkers who make art and share their ideas.
b. Creates artwork that explores ideas, issues, and events from current and past cultures.
VA2CU.2 Views and discusses selected artworks.
a. Names subject and theme.
b. Uses context clues to identify time and place.
c. Theorizes and suggests how culture and environment provide inspiration for creating artworks.
VA2PR.1 Creates artworks based on personal experience and selected themes.
a. Creates artworks to express individual ideas, thoughts, and feelings from memory, imagination, and observation.
b. Creates artworks emphasizing one or more elements of art (e.g., space, line, shape, form, color, value, texture) and principles of design (e.g., balance, repetition).
VA2PR.2 Understands and applies media, techniques, and processes of two-dimensional art processes (drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed-media) using tools and materials in a safe and appropriate manner to develop skills.
a. Creates drawings with a variety of media (e.g., pencils, crayons, pastels).
c. Creates paintings with a variety of media (e.g., tempera, watercolor).
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