Exploding Thoughts Portrait Project

This large unit of work asks students to create a mixed media artwork that includes a drawing of a friend and collage pieces that represents their friend’s personality and interests.  The collage appears to be ‘exploding’ from the person’s mind!  During this project, students photograph a friend, learning about different portrait poses and also taking close-ups of features of the face.  They practise drawing features of the face and research and make connections to a successful designer who has made similar work.  Making a background that reflects the designers work, they arrange the portrait that they have drawn and collage pieces they have collected into a final outcome.

This download includes:

• A three page written unit of work that includes 8 stages and homework.  The stages include: introduction,  photography, artist research, practising features of the face, drawing a portrait, background, collage, assessment and extension task.
• A 9-slide PowerPoint presentation (pictured above) full of good examples.
• 5 pages of useful collage pieces to supplement what your students collect themselves.
• An assessment rubric for photography.
• An assessment rubric for the final outcome. (Two versions to allow for the different countries use of the word tone/value)
• An extension task worksheet.

There are lots of portrait art lessons on The Arty Teacher website.

The Arty Teacher

Sarah Crowther is The Arty Teacher. She is a high school art teacher in the North West of England. She strives to share her enthusiasm for art by providing art teachers around the globe with high-quality resources and by sharing her expertise through this blog.

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