#2 [BY MY]SELF-PORTRAIT

Instructions:

Draw a picture of yourself from the shoulders up. We've been spending a lot of time with OURSELVES. And I like being alone, but DANG. Well, it's time to show yourself some attention... in the art sort of way. With this exercise, we're going to actually pay attention to our faces. Observe them... describe them (even just to ourselves), and draw them. While you are welcome to go in any direction with these portraits, try to stay positive, true, simple, but keep it specifically you.

Draw your face. Then draw a fancy frame around the portrait. And write your [quarantine] name at the bottom in special letters.

See the template above. It will help you figure out how to draw a human face - how much space there is between all of its parts and what goes where. Some of the best portraits in the world do not follow these rules and you don’t always have to either. But for this assignment you do. (Then, on your own, you don't). The video tutorial above will help make sense of this template. (The green lines in this template are just guides - you should draw them in pencil and erase them afterwards.) Draw on paper and - for everything but the pencil guide lines - use any art materials you want: pens, markers, paint, pencils. You can work in color or in black and white - it’s up to you.

While you draw, look in the mirror and ask yourself these questions:

• What color are my eyes? What shape are they?

• Are my eyelashes light or dark? Long or short?

• What color and shape are my eyebrows? Are they thick or thin? Straight or arched?

• Is my nose skinny? Wide? Crooked? Does is turn up or down?

• What color is my skin?

• Do I have freckles? Moles? Scars? Birthmarks? Wrinkles?

• What color is my hair? Is it long, short, curly, straight?

• Is my mouth wide? Is it small? Are my lips full or thin?

• Can I see my ears? Or are they hidden?

Sometimes it’s easiest to answer these questions by looking at other people and comparing your features to theirs. That can help you figure out what makes your face uniquely yours. Do this, but don’t make any judgements about how you look. Be like a scientist and study your face as objectively as you can.

Okay, have fun! Share and see other people’s self-portraits, use these Instagram hashtags: #quaratineartclub #QACselfportrait #QACselfportrait_APR, dm @Ms.Wallach_ART_APR, or email rwallach@pacrim.org and I'll post them too.