Submitted by: Linda Wood,  St. John's Lower School, Houston, Texas  
Unit: Drawing  
Lesson Plan: Funny Face Self Portraits
Grade Level: 4 thru 6 (these are 5th grade)
School Web Site: St. John's Lower School (click Art Stories - until you see Linda Woods)

• Integrate technology - use digital camera
• Gain appreciation for the drawings by Leonardo da Vinci
• Students will show human emotion
• Students will draw facial features in correct proportion - studying ratio of eye width to the rest of the facial features
• Students will create values by varying pencil pressures

Digital camera, 
12"x18" drawing paper, pencils erasers, rulers optional, 
mirrors optional

Look up Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci (my links were broken)  Additional drawings of grotesques 
Leonardo da Vinci Online  Drawings/painitings by Honore Daumier may also be used 
Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

Take digital pictures of the kids "making their best silly face, or showing an extreme emotion," while they are finishing up another project.  I told them that they were to include their hands near their faces in the photos.  The most hilarious thing is that I never told them what we were going to do with the photos.  If I did tell them in advance that they were going to draw themselves, they would have been more inhibited.  They really played the fool for these pictures and had a great time doing it. 

Instruction/Motivation:

1. Show and discuss how Leonardo da Vinci expressed emotions in his drawings (several are available online)
2. Demonstrate drawing  the features step by step, using proportion and ratio, tonal shading, and repeatedly reminded them to use a full range of values.  I used the visual perspective techniques from Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. 
3. Discuss each facial feature in detail as a group before they draw it --I demonstrate observation and drawing of tonal values on each facial feature.
4. Emphasize proportion and ratio throughout the presentation

All of the initial questions were answered by studying the photo and figuring out proportions on the photo, then transferring the information to their drawings proportionally. 

1. They laid down their pencils on the photo to find the axis through the eyes, and transferred that angle by lifting the pencil and placing it down on their drawing paper with out twisting the wrist, then they drew a very light guideline for the axis of the eyes.
   
   
2. If their faces were distorted in such a way that each eye had it's own axis line from corner to corner of the eye, they did one eye first, then measured how many eye widths to the other eye by measuring that distance on the photo and transferring the information to their drawing page. Then a new axis line was drawn, with the length of the second eye compared to the first eye in the drawing.  
   
   
3. When it was time to draw the remaining features on the face, a new axis line was placed for the middle of the nose and mouth, on to the chin.  To draw the nose, they measured how many eyes long it was and made a mark, then they sited which part of the eye the widest part of each nostril fell directly underneath. 
   
   
4. When they drew the mouth, they looked at the photo again to see how many eye widths it would take to place the middle lip line, lower lip line, dimples, etc. from their noses. 
   
   
5. As one are of the face was completed in their drawing, they could use larger measuring tools than simply one eye.  The whole thing was about proportion and ratio.  Once the facial features were completed, they measured to see how many eye widths (or any other measuring stick they selected at that point) the chin was from the mouth, the face width from the mouth and nose, eyes, etc.
   
   
6. They marked the midline of the face and measured to see  how tall the head needed to be, how wide the shoulders should be, and so on. 
   
   
7. Shade drawing using varying pressure of the pencil - create highlights and shadows. Those who finished their drawings early were encouraged to draw a background that might possibly explain the reason for the facial expression.  

Note from Judy:

This year, Linda did the still life shells lesson before they did their portraits. This was a great lead in lesson to learn value shading. Results were amazing. Look how sophisticated this year's Funny Face portraits are (here are just two examples - all were this wonderful).

Note from Linda:

It's all about proportion and right brain drawing techniques.  Kids see distorted portraits by
Leonardo and others, and they pose for their own portrait for a photograph that they work from.  Their faces in the photograph are supposed to be distorted, very emotional, etc.  We start with one eye
and then measure to see how many eye widths away their other eye is, make marks for it, then draw the second eye.  Measure the nose on the photo and compare it to the size of the eyes.  Then go to their portrait and make marks for how long and wide their nose will be before they draw
it.  All features and lengths and widths of the head are done in this way...measure the next thing they need to figure out on the photo and then compare it to the eyes on the photo.  Other things that help are looking at what is directly above, beside, or below something they are trying to draw, and a technique I call "dry tracing", where they pretend to draw on the photo...looking for shapes, shadows, highlights, small but important detail.  I think this technique actually helps them to key
in on specific details better than any other.  I tell them to imagine (while dry tracing) how hard they might have to press on their pencil to obtain the various values they see in the highlights and shadows, and to think about what shape a shadow or highlight is.  We don't use tracing
paper, rather, they just go over their photos with a pencil point a hair's breadth above the actual photo as they investigate it. Every single kid in my class is blowing my socks off with their portraits this
year.  They are loving it!  When they finish their own portrait they are drawing their friends.  I am so excited to have something with so much meat in it at the end of the year that they are so interested in and doing such a great job. See Lower School Gallery - fifth grade.

• Did students effectively created a drawing showing human emotion?
• Did students students draw facial features in correct proportion? Did they use the ratio of the eye length to correctly place other features of the face?
• Did students use pencil to shade and show values?

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