Project Concept For this project, you will be creating a self-portrait that reflects your personal culture. The style of your portrait will be similar to a comic book or cartoon. It will not require you to draw a realistic image of your self. There will be more than one way to accomplish this and it will be up to you to decide how you want your final project to look. Words and symbols can be added to further convey who you are. You may use any of the information you found when creating your mind map/survey or you can add some new ideas. The end result should tell someone something about your personal culture. Please remember to only include things that are appropriate for school. Below are some comic styled portraits created by the app Mashables.
Generating Ideas This step is about brainstorming ideas for your project. You have already done a lot of this on your mind map or survey. Take some time to make a list of other ideas. Below are some elements that can be used in your painting. At this point you are collecting a lot of ideas and not worrying about how they will be used. Later, these elements will be edited down to only those needed for the finished project.
Colors Make a list of colors you would like to use. Your color choices should reflect you in some way. They can be your favorite colors or reflect the cultural meaning
Images You may also want to collect some image to include in your art piece. These should tell the viewer something about you. These are optional but may help fill in your background. At this point you are collecting ideas so don't limit yourself. Editing out unwanted items can be done later. Store items in a file on your computer. You may also collect images from magazines or newspapers to collage in to your painting.
Designs Designs can be added to your background. They may be used in combination with your images and words or they can be the complete background. Collect ideas and add to your file or paper collection. These designs can be just shapes like circles or rectangles or may be simple images like flowers, stars or sun rays.
Words There are many ways you can add words to your artwork. You may use a single word, several words, a sentences, or a paragraph. These words can be painted in, collaged, or written in sharpie. Words may be integrated into the back ground or used in a word bubble. Don't let the words overpower your image. Add these to your collected material. Remember to use words that lets your audience know something about you. Words are not required, but they may help convey your personal culture.
Below are some examples from the online photo editing sites listed above Your photograph can be uploaded to the site and manipulated to help you create a simplistic or stylized image. There are many other sites available. You may choose one listed or find your own.
Luna Pic - Effects - Cartoon
Picture to People - Photo Effects - Drawing Vintage Photo Effect Creator.
Any Making - Cartoon Effect
Be Funky - Effects - Pop Art 1
LunaPic - Effects - Kandinsky Effect
Be Funky - Artsy - Watercolor 1
Another approach to this project is to create a self portrait based on the style of a popular cartoon show. Below are 2 examples of artists who drew themselves based on different cartoonists.
Express an emotion - happy, sad, angry, tired, shocked, etc.
Hatch Lines with Line Variety
http://www.creativebloq.com/illustration/get-started-ink-drawing-11618934
Vary line thickness
Shade with lines or dots - hatch, cross hatch, dots (Ben-Day)
Hatching- Hatching is used to add value or effects to your shading by adding a series of close spaced parallel line, making it a great starting point for detail in your shading.Lighting hatching are used on parts that is facing the light source and darker hatching for has little or no lighting.The hatching technique is known to give result almost instantly.
Crosshatching- Crosshatching is one of the commonly used techniques method in when drawing a figure in comics. With crosshatching, you will be able to make smooth gradation from light to dark making it useful when used for Rembrandt lighting or for cast and form shadows.The difference from hatching is that for crosshatching, you draw the line strokes overlapping.
3 Planning Sketches At this stage you will begin to narrow down your choices. You may already have an idea of what you want to do. Some times our first ideas are great, but some times they ultimately won't work. For this step you will create 3 quick sketches to plan out your ideas. Each sketch should be different. The purpose of this step is not to create a perfectly sketched design, You can try different types of cartoon or comic styles for your image and work out the design and word placement. These 3 sketches can be fairly small and drawn on one piece of paper.
JCHS Student Work - Ava Holtzman
JCHS Student Work - Alexa Smith
Final Design
Rough Draft 1. Take a photo of your self on Photo Booth or use an existing photo. You only need a head shot. Make sure your face is expressive in some way and not just a basic shot. 2. You will need a simplified version of your face. This can be done in several ways.
Print a photo and use a sharpie to capture the major lines and shapes (Airdrop the photo to me and I will print it)
Use a free online photo editor to create the effect you would like
Freehand a drawing possibly using an existing comic/cartoon style or an image created on an online photo editing site.
3. Consider paper format - Vertical or Horizontal 4, The initial step will be created on rough draft paper called Newsprint. This paper will be the actual finished size. All corrections will be completed on this paper. 5. Add your background, words and designs. This step can be done before or after your image is transferred to your rough draft paper. 6. Take a photograph of the rough draft and turn it in to Schoology.
Transfer to Final Paper Transfer the design to the final paper 1. Transfer Style 1 - Use a graphite stick and "color" the back of the paper any where there are pencil lines on the other side. Lay rough draft line drawing up with the graphite side against the final drawing paper. Retrace your lined to transfer your drawing to the final paper.
2. Transfer Style 2 - Make sure your rough draft sketch is darkly drawn or go over the lines with a sharpie. Place the rough draft paper underneath the final. Put both sheets onto of the light box. LIGHTLY retrace your lines on the final paper.
Paint 1. Collect the colors you will need in your paint trey. Start with about a quarter sized paint puddle. Paint goes further than you might think and you can always get more if needed. 2. Choose the right paint brush for the job. Big brushes for large areas and small brushes for small areas. 3. Paint in the light colors then work toward the darker colors. 4. Paint the base colors first since everything will be outlined. Outlining will be done last. 5. If you are collaging any items on to your painting, do this step next. Use a glue stick to glue the design on top of the painted area. Paint can be placed around the edge of the design to help integrate it into the background. 6. Finish by painting a black outline around everything. Use a line that varies in thickness. This done by pushing down and pulling up the paint brush as it moves. 7. If you are adding Ben-Day dots. These will also be done at the end stage. Choose a paint brush whose handle tip is the size of the dots you want to include. Choose your color, dip the brush handle into your paint, and begin doting the image. Usually you can get 3 or 4 dots before needing to re-dip. It is a good idea to do a practice piece to make sure you like the effect. 8. If you are writing words in sharpie, this will be the final step. Refinement Turn your painting upside down and place it in the trey of the whiteboard. Walk across the room and study the upside down painting. Look for anything that stands out or doesn't belong. Next take your painting to 2 other people. Have them write down 2 success and 2 needs improvements concerning your work. Take a photo of their suggestions and turn it in to Schoology. Correct your painting based on your observations and those of your peers.
Reflection Download the rubric, annotate it, and turn it in to Schoology (PDF only)
Take a photo of your finished work and turn it in to Schoology (JPEG only)