I pick Chuck Close because of many reasons. One of the big ones is actually his disability and how he over comes it. The students really pick up on it and seem interested in seeing that this person, found a way to work with how they are to be happy.
To start, we practice self-portraits. At this point this is their second year using a mirror to observe their facial structure. I add on to the portrait process by showing them a different way to do the nose and explain that the neck and head are actually the same thickness, it just appears smaller.
A new thing I did was have them use white boards I got from the glories dollar store and refresh their memory on how to do a self-portrait quickly. These whiteboards have been amazing.
SKETCHING
After we sketched and got a "good" self-portrait, I demonstrated the graphite transfer with tracing paper and pencils. I told them they can use it or not. But up to them.
Next to be similar to Chuck Close, I have them paint their portrait with dots, due to fingers being to big for details. I have them add value with the dots by the eyes and neck area due to be an area there normally is a lot.
Once the portrait is done, we do the background. This can take a bit but I have them create a 2inch by 2 inch grid on 9x11 piece of paper (yes I know that doesn't make it even so one row is 2x1) This is where we incorporate the other technique by Chuck Close, the colors within colors.
I use this as a way to explore warm/cool colors and build that color theory understanding. Plus craftsmanship is key.
When all done with background, simply cut out portrait and glue onto background. DONE.
When I put them up, I like to group them by warm or cool. Cool was the go to group this year.
BONUS. My art museum has not only a Chuck Close, my husband who is 6'6" next to it, BUT has a sample of his work in progress. YAY
