Realism Self Portraits

By Gina Sicotte Grade 8 students explored aspects of their identity – specifically their own particular facial features – to understand how we express ourselves. For this unit, students were inspired by a variety of realistic portrait artists from around the world and by the videos of Leonardo Pereznieto, who is a Mexican artist and author of You Can Draw! Simple Techniques for Realistic Drawings. They began the unit by exploring features and expression.  Using photography to enhance a mood or feeling students created an expressive self-portrait using a variety of pencils and other drawing tools.