a faithful attempt: Shadow Portraits

ABOUT THIS BLOG

"A Faithful Attempt" is designed to showcase a variety of K-12 art lessons, the work of my art students, as well as other art-related topics. Projects shown are my take on other art teacher's lessons, lessons found in books or else designed by myself. Thanks for visiting!
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I acknowledge, with deep respect, that I am gathered on Treaty 7 territory. I acknowledge the many First Nations, Métis and Inuit whose footsteps have marked these lands for generations. I respect the histories, languages and cultures of all the Indigenous peoples of Canada, whose presence continues to enrich our community.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Shadow Portraits

These charming 'portraits with shadows' were made by Gr.3 students.

I found the idea at the elementary art blog: "An Art Room Filled with Fauves".

The supplies you'll need are:

white drawing paper
strips (1-2") of colored paper
black paper (for the shadow)
colored paper (for the background)
glue stick, scissors, pencils
colored pencils or markers

So start off with the kids drawing a full figure person- you could make it a self-portrait lesson,

or kids might research a famous historical person (to link with Social Studies), whatever.

I gave the kids free reign to choose whomever they liked.

Draw this lightly in pencil, then colour with media of your choice; we used colored pencils.

Carefully cut out the figure. Place upside-down onto black paper and slowly trace

with a light colored pencil. This will be the shadow- cut out.

Decide where is the best placement for the shadow- I found it works slightly above or below to

either the left or the right hand side.

For the border, I pre-cut a bunch of construction paper using a paper cutter- it went really fast. These were about 1 inch thick or so. Kids will cut these into squares and glue them around their background paper to create a simple border.