Selfies! 5th Grade Self Portraits

As an artist, portraits are one of my favorite types of art.  I love the human form, figure and face.  It provides so many opportunities for expression and

One of my most recent paintings of a 'selfie' my daughter took.

communication.  I usually try to have each grade do a type of portrait. For Kindergarten- I am going to try a 'Pirate Pattern Portrait' because our school mascot is the pirate.  First grade does a Frida Kahlo style portrait with an animal.  Second grade does a Klimt Quilt type of portrait.  Third grade does the famous Picasso Style portrait.  Fourth grade is going to do a Pop art portrait.  This year I am going to show fifth grade a Chuck Close/Abstract grid style portrait but I plan on letting them choose an art style to inspire how they color/shade their portrait.  So I made the video below and adapted a PowerPoint to show them.  It goes over some popular art styles and movements.  I actually do not have a class set of mirrors but our fifth graders DO have laptops with webcams, so I had them bring their laptops and use a website called BeFunky to take a 'selfie' and use one of the artistic 'funky' filters to make theirs resemble a well known art style.  Once they finished their digital selfie- they saved them and uploaded it to artsonia for review. http://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?exhibit=911462
Next art class they will be using a photocopy of their picture or (their yearbook picture) to create a portrait on paper.  I show them how to take their photocopy and shade the back of it with pencil.  Then they lay their copy on to another sheet of paper and trace over the contour lines.  The pencil shading from the back will show up on the front.  I encourage them to trace over their lines again with pencil or sharpie so they are more visible. But once that step is complete, they are allowed to choose a medium and a style to finish them.  I plan on showing them how to use the chalk pastels, because they are my preferred medium but students pick a variety of tools to work with.  They end up all so creative and interesting!