Artwork #5: Family Portrait Still Life

Overview

Goal

This project is meant to focus on a family portrait still life drawing. You will develop the ability to realistically shade and blend using oil pastels. You will also learn about how to create a cohesive composition that is pleasing to the eye.

Materials

Surface: Drawing, Pastel or Charcoal Paper
Materials: Oil Pastels, Drawing Pencils, Tortillons, Erasers

Step 1: Understanding Composition

Go over composition and the presentation as a class.
Use your sketchbook to take notes about each compositional model AND draw a mini artwork for each.

Composition in Art

Step 2: What is Burnishing?

Burnishing involves layering and blending until no paper tooth (white) shows through the colored pencil layers.

Not Burnished

Burnished

Different things that can help you burnish:

Heavy Pressure

Colorless Blender

Tortillon

White

Lighter Colors

Step 3: Practice

Using the worksheet, practice:

Burnishing
Value/shading
Your observation and color-matching skills

Optional Practice

Step 4: Exploring the Examples

Look over the examples and consider object choices, arrangement, etc.

Family Time Pieces

Family Cars

Family Glasses

Family's Favorite Drinks

Family's Favorite Food

Family's Favorite Snacks

Step 5: Brainstorming Still-Life Objects

A family portrait usually contains photos of your family members. However, you must create a family portrait still life using objects instead of faces. Consider your family and each of their individual interests. You can also approach this using a group of your friends. What objects represent each of them?

In your sketchbook:

List the members of your household or close family (not limited to humans).
List the Hobbies/Past-times/Everyday actions of these members next to their names.
List at least one object from these hobbies/past-times/actions for each member of your household

Step 6: Organizing a Composition

Collect the objects that represent each person in your family and organize them into an interesting composition and take a photo. You will experiment with at least 3 different compositions. Consider the following:
1. 1. - Try to place objects so that some overlap. Overlapping shows clearly what’s in front of what.
    - Form connections that lead the eye around the composition.
    - Change the arrangement of the objects looking for the most pleasing one.
    - Take things out, and add others in.
    - Look at it from different angles until you find one that satisfies you. Some artists like to use a plastic or cardboard viewfinder to frame the composition; others take photos of the different options and then compare them on the screen.
    - Try different light setups. Notice how varying the cast shadows change the composition.
Once you have your 3 photos, ask for others opinions on the best composition (friends, classmates, family members, etc)

Step 7: Understanding the Grid Method

The grid method is a technique designed to aid the artist in the accuracy of a drawing, including the size, placement, and proportions of a subject matter. The grid can be left on the paper to create a different abstract effect or erased before color is added.

The grid needs to be drawn onto the photo or added to the google slide grid template. Then, a grid needs to be lightly drawn onto a blank sheet of paper at least 2"x2" or 3"x3" minimum.

30.2HowToGridADrawing.pdf

Step 8: Gridding your paper

After you have chosen the strongest composition, print it out as a reference or add it to the grid google slide template but be sure to put the photo behind the grid.
Sketch the outlines of your composition in your sketchbook.
Add color using the skills you learned last year, in step 1 (shading and blending) and step 2 of this project (tutorial).
When finished with your sketch, redraw your image onto white, toned, or black drawing paper. Remember to keep your sketching light until you get it right, fill the space, maintain accuracy, and think about how you will use shading and blending.

Grids for Photos

Requirements & Rubric

Requirements:

Your drawing must be a still-life of objects that represent your family/friends.
Your drawing must reference a photo that you took.
Your drawing must include realistic colors, values, highlights, and shadows.
Your drawing must replicate the proportions and angle of the photo as closely as possible.
Your drawing must demonstrate your ability to organize a well-thought-out composition.
Your drawing must be neat and demonstrate refined craftsmanship.
Your drawing must fill the space on the paper.

Reflection Questions & Artist Statement

Reflection Questions

Answer ALL of the following questions by copying and pasting them into your portfolio:

Why did you choose the specific objects to represent people in your family? How does each object connect to the individual it represents?
How did the grid method help you accurately recreate the proportions and details of your still life? Were there any challenges you faced using the grid, and how did you overcome them?
What techniques did you use to achieve realistic textures and colors in your drawing? Which object’s texture was the most challenging to render, and how did you approach it?
How did you arrange the objects in your still life? What was your reasoning behind their placement, and how does it impact the overall composition and focus of the drawing?

Artist Statement Questions

Use the following questions to write a short paragraph about your artwork:

What did you make?
Why did you make it?
What does your artwork mean?
How did you make your artwork?

Your artist statement can include:

Your inspiration
Themes you explored
Personal connections to your work
Information about the creative process (techniques, materials, etc)

Adapted Reflection Questions

Answer ALL of the following questions by copying and pasting them into your portfolio:

1. Why did you pick these objects to show the people in your family? How is each object like the person it represents?

Prompt: "Think about each object you picked. How does each one remind you of that person? For example, maybe a favorite object or color connects to someone in your family."

2. How did using the grid help you draw the shapes and details of your objects accurately?

Prompt: "How did the grid make it easier to get the shapes and details right? Was there anything hard about using the grid, and what did you do to solve it?"

3. What did you do to make the textures and colors in your drawing look real? Which texture was hardest to draw, and how did you handle it?

Prompt: "Think about each object’s texture, like smooth or rough. Which texture was hardest to draw? How did you try to make it look like the real object?"

4. How did you set up the objects in your drawing? Why did you place them this way, and how does it make your drawing look?

Prompt: "Think about where you put each object in your drawing. Why did you put them there? How does it make people focus on different parts of your drawing?"

Translated Reflection Questions

Responde a TODAS las siguientes preguntas copiándolas y pegándolas en tu portafolio

1. ¿Por qué elegiste estos objetos para representar a las personas de tu familia? ¿Cómo se parece cada objeto a la persona que representa?

2. ¿Cómo te ayudó la cuadrícula a dibujar las formas y los detalles de tus objetos con precisión?

3. ¿Qué hiciste para que las texturas y colores en tu dibujo parecieran reales? ¿Cuál textura fue la más difícil de dibujar y cómo la manejaste?

4. ¿Cómo organizaste los objetos en tu dibujo? ¿Por qué los colocaste de esa manera y cómo afecta esto a la apariencia de tu dibujo?

Optional: Extra Colored Pencil Videos

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