Reflections Self Portrait Pencil and Water color

Portraits and Self Portraits A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person A self-portrait is a representation of an artist, drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by the artist.

What is a Self Portrait? “All self-portraits have the advantage of having an available model when and where you want him,” Ivan Albright humorously noted. “Conversation can be held to a minimum.” Despite the convenience, self-portrayal is rarely as simple as we might think. In self-portraiture, it is just the two of us. The face appears to confront us—the viewers— directly, and we expect some privileged revelation.

What is a Self Portrait? Furthermore, self-portraiture in the twentieth century was transformed when advancements in sociology, psychology, genetics, philosophy, and other fields changed our understanding about the individual. One’s “character,” which once seemed fixed and controllable, was now subject to a variety of influences. Such notions affected self-portrayal. Artists investigated issues related to gender, race, age, health, or the body and struggled to integrate their multiple identities. The interest in self-portrayal continued to grow throughout the century, resulting in works of remarkable diversity and complexity. As if refracted through a prism, self-portraiture was bent in new directions. Self-portraiture can be a teasing masquerade, concealing more than revealing. In the end, we may not

Self Portraits in Art History Many famous artists have created their own self portraits throughout the ages. Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait, 1889 Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait 1940

Self Portraits in Art History Victor Eugène Delacroix, Self- Portrait, 1837 Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun, Self Portrait 1790 Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, 1659

Self Portraits in Art History Chuck Close, Self-Portrait, 2007 Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait, 1986

Assignment Draw your self portrait wearing sunglasses (using a reference photo). Using pencil add the details to your mouth, nose, ears and hair Create a “reflection” of what you are looking forward to after the end of school in the sunglasses Use watercolor to paint the “reflection”

The Assignment Work on the line drawing first. Work the ENTIRE PAGE, don’t just focus on a small area. The piece should be a strong line drawing before you begin shading. It is important to get your likeness. There should be a wide variety of values and textures. Practice in your sketchbooks really concentrating on the getting a likeness. Do as many as it takes.

Examples

Examples

Drawing The face The length of the face is determined by the distance from the brow line to the nose line the distance from the brow line to the nose line is the same distance from the nose line to the chin The ears begin on the eye line and extend up to the brow line and connect back to the head on the nose line

Drawing The Face The "eye" line is in the middle of the face. (Your eyes aren't way up on your forehead, so resist the temptation to put them there.) Five "eyes" make up the width of a typical human face. Obviously, people only have two eyes. The "five eyes" just helps determine the width of the face. The "nose" line is found in the middle of the "eye" line and the bottom of the chin. When it comes to facial proportion, most noses will end at this line. However, there are exceptions to every rule. Some people have really long noses and some have really short ones.

Drawing The Face The corners of the inside of the eyes generally line up with the edges of the nose. The "mouth" line is in the middle of the "nose" line and the bottom of the chin. This line represents where the top lip meets the bottom lip. The pupils of the eyes generally line up with the corners of the mouth. The ears are usually found between the "eye" line and the "nose" line.

Plum Lines

References http://thevirtualinstructor.com/facialproportions.html calvertcanvas.blogspot.com