Tricia Fuglestad's Blog

Monochromatic Self-Portrait Triptychs

10/11/2019

4th graders are working on drawing their self-portrait in a 3/4 pose, tracing it three times into a triptych, then using monochromatic palettes with tints & shades to paint.

Learning to map out the face

Students learn about observational drawing with mirrors, the 3/4 pose, and contour line drawing as they practice placing the features of their face on an oval.

This Fugleflick teaches us a lesson about contour line drawing from the wise old Grandpa Pencil. View it here.

Drawing From Experience from Tricia Fuglestad on Vimeo.

Self-Portrait sketches

The initial drawing for the triptych was on an 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet of printer paper. We traced the final design and erased all the mapping lines. See the whole gallery here.

The lesson is available on TpT. Click here to view.

Making a Triptych

Students traced their portrait three times starting from the right. They were careful not to trace into the previous portrait so they would overlap. Both eyes needed to show for each portrait. This was not as easy as I hoped. But we figured it out with light tracers and windows as aides.

We used light tracers to help create the triptych

We also used natural light from windows to help create the triptych

Finalizing our Triptych self-portraits before starting a monochromatic painting -4th grade
*actual audio (ahhhh) #drydenrocks #artsed #artmatters #k12artchat pic.twitter.com/jrsTcvYnLX
— Tricia Fuglestad ☕ (@fuglefun) October 9, 2019

Monochromatic Painting

Each of the portraits will have a one-color palette. We began by painting anything that was skin the base color at our table. The we rotated to the next table to paint the next face. Next week we will paint a tints and shades of these same colors in the remaining places. Look below at how the fourth grade triptychs look after day one of painting.

Fresh off the drying rack -monochromatic self-portrait triptychs in progress by 4th grade #Drydenrocks #artists #artsed #elementaryart #artmatters #k12artchat pic.twitter.com/6gM1joUrL7
— Tricia Fuglestad ☕ (@fuglefun) October 11, 2019

Finished Paintings: See the gallery

Click to see the finished gallery of portraits

I keep going back to look at these portraits. They make me so happy. #monochromatic #selfportrait #triptych in 3/4 pose
Such an awesome accomplishment for my 4th graders
Lesson: https://t.co/VmtMmqq5qf #artmatters #artsed #k12artchat #elemchat pic.twitter.com/AK8lhEHSv3
— Tricia Fuglestad ☕ (@fuglefun) November 13, 2019

This fugleflick teaches the definition of monochromatic. See the video here.

Monochromatic from Tricia Fuglestad on Vimeo.

2 Comments

Megan

10/13/2019 05:55:30 am

How many sessions did this take (and how long are your classes?!) I feel like this lesson would take my fourth graders so long to complete. Your results look amazing!

Tricia Fuglestad

10/13/2019 11:27:15 am

Yes, it does take a long time. I see students for 45 minutes once per week. I'm guessing it will take around 10 weeks.
1. practice week
2. start drawing (small)
3. continue drawing (small)
4. finish and trace drawing (small) photograph for Artsonia
5. trace the triptych in pencil
6. correct and finalize triptych, trace in marker, erase pencil
7. paint day 1 base colors
8. paint day 2 paint tints, shades
9. paint day 3 paint background
10. use permapaque makers to add patterns, touch ups, trace in black marker.

About Me

Tricia Fuglestad, NBCT,
is the K-5 art teacher at Dryden Elementary School in Arlington Heights, IL. with a masters in K-12 technology integration. Tricia has been recognized for her innovative teaching in 2010 with the PBS Teachers Innovation Award, won Illinois Art Teacher of the Year in 2011, awarded Teacher of Distinction in 2012 by the Golden Apple Foundation, received Western Region Elementary Art Teacher of the Year 2013, selected to become a Jacobs Educator 2014-15, was presented with the NAEA Art Technology Outstanding Community Service Award in 2016, honored with the ISTE Teacher Educator Network Tech in Action award, 2018, and won an Art Education Leadership Award via Artsonia in 2019. Learn more here.