Self-Portraits - Student Work

Before I let my 2nd year 2-d class begin their self-portraits, I give them a warm-up exercise first. I have them tape a piece of newsprint onto the damp-room glass doors, look at their reflection and quickly draw themselves in charcoal. Since they only have less than an hour to get this done, the finished piece is usually spontaneous and sometimes quirky, and they don't feel so intimidated anymore. They know drawing themselves is doable. The top one belongs to senior Anne Guu, and the 2 below were done by seniors Sam Chon and Esther Lee.

Now here are the finished products. These pieces were done as the end of the year final by my Intermediate 2-d class.They were to do themselves in whatever 2-d media they felt most comfortable in. They could work from a mirror or a recent pix. The results were incredibly varied and I was extremely pleased. Especially with this first one done by senior Esther Lee. She brought in a piece of plywood and if I remember correctly, she wood burned on it, collaged it, painted it, plus probably more. It was definitely her strongest work of the year and I was so thrilled for her. You can really see all the various media in the close-up.

This next piece was done by senior Ashley Chang. She chose pointillism over top watercolor. She worked on a large piece of mat board that she then ripped the edges as well as pierced holes in. I'm not sure but I think she may also have brought in some stitching around the edges of the holes. Below is a close-up so you can see her attention to detail and range of value within the pointillism.

Senior Brandon Liao (above) came up with a highly unique idea that I've never seen used for self-portrait here, and that was to cut he and his sisters (Andrea & Cynthia) out of paper. Loved how it turned out, and what a beautiful gift for his parents to frame.

Senior Kate Lee used one of her Prom pix to work from and captured both she and her boyfriend in pastel. I love how expressive this piece comes across.

And above senior Marisela Herrarte used both her 2 and 3-d skills in creating this piece. She drew herself in pencil, then pierced her mounting board and warped it with string, and cut up her portrait into strips and wove them across. So clever. I love that!

In the portrait above senior Robert Dohring drew himself in pencil and then watercolored his piece. Love his use of colors. And below, senior Sam Chon, who had just done a remarkable scratchboard piece on the previous assignment, decided he liked this technique, and used it for his self-portrait. He wasn't sure if it was gonna work or not, looks like it came out great to me! Fantastic job seniors.