Expressive Portraits
Egon Schiele, self-portrait pulling cheek, 1910
An Approach to working with Portrait
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Expressive Portraits - draft
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1. “Blind” or Modified drawing of you and me Blind, half-blind or modified drawing is a method that leads you to draw without looking at the paper. This exercise makes you work very concentrated in pairs or alone at a mirror.
Exercise
Each student has a piece of A4 paper on a hard drawing board, a soft pencil or a thick black marker. After instruction each student draws concentrated for about 15-20 min without talking. We pretend that each of us is sitting in a soap bobble that can break any moment if anyone makes noise. Let your hand follow the direction and the speed of your eyes as you VERY SLOWLY start following the lines of the face you see. Your eyes “touch” every edge of the face of your model, when the pencil/pen almost automatically starts moving around on the paper. You are not allowed to look at the paper. You will not lift the pencil from the paper, but constantly wander around in your drawing with your pencil. It is extremely important that you are patient and slow when doing this exercise. A sensory observation as blind drawing leaves out all objective knowledge.
Tip
This is how the student should hold the marker: 2
TNTTC NUAE
Expressive Portraits - draft
Aims/ objectives
Outcomes
The teacher is going to:
At the end of this element the student/student will be able to:
UCSJ
visual schemata.
Draw based on observation and confidence in the eye/hand
Stimulate the student’s understanding of
Concentrate on observing the detailed
the connection between the movement
contours of the face
of the eye and the movement of the
Experience and understand the qualities
hand.
of expressive blind drawing
Challenge the student to work slowly
Express the individual features of a
and concentrated in silence
human face through blind/modified
Stimulate the student to recognize and
drawing
explain the experiences during the
Talk about his/her experiences with this
process
method.
Stimulate the student to differentiate
Examples of blind drawing
Examples of modified drawing
You might think that blind and modified drawings look a little strange – as if they are made by a “Picasso” or cartoonist. This expression might be useful when explaining the qualities of expressionism or starting a study of cartoons.
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TNTTC NUAE
Expressive Portraits - draft
UCSJ
Key Questions To help the student see the contour lines of the person sitting across, the teacher might ask: Which lines do you see in and around the mouth, the ears, the eyes, the nose, the chin, the cheek bone? Can you see the lines in the hair? Where do the lines start and what direction do they take? Where do the lines of the neck meet the lines of the face? How is the neck connected to the chest and shoulders? Which lines do you see in the clothing around the shoulders and neck?
It is important that the teacher maintains an atmosphere of serious concentration all the way through the exercise. Emphasize the quietness by talking in a low voice and speaking slowly. Correct the students who “cheat� by looking at the paper while drawing Instead of drawing each other you may also introduce the method to draw objects in the class room or outside the classroom
2. Expressive lines and colours Put all the drawings on the floor or hang them on the wall and look at them together. Discuss and share your experiences
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TNTTC NUAE
Expressive Portraits - draft
Aims/ objectives
Outcomes
The teacher is going to:
At the end of this element the student/student will be able to:
Stimulate the student’s ability to recall and express observations from the process Challenge the student’s awareness and understanding of expressionism and expressive style Challenge the student’s understanding of “correct” or “idealized” drawings Stimulate the students to experience the qualities and advantages of this approach to drawing.
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Explain verbally the qualities of the drawings. Express understanding of contours and their effect on the overall emotional atmosphere of the drawing. Understand, explain and use an expressive pictorial language Appreciate and evaluate the drawings in relation to the aims and objectives of the exercise
Key questions What did we just do? Why? Did you like doing this exercise? Why? Do any of the drawings actually look like the person being portrayed? Which expressions/ meaning/ moods do you see in the drawings? Which qualities can a drawing have, apart from naturalistic qualities? Which drawing has the most details, and what are the effects of these details? Has anyone “cheated” when making the drawing? How can you see that? Can the exercise of blind drawing be used when teaching children? What skills did we train?
From expressive drawing to expressive painting with crayons
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TNTTC NUAE
Expressive Portraits - draft
UCSJ
Expressionism is a name for a period in art history from 1905 to 1914. Expressionism was strongly represented in France and Germany including the two German art groups: “The Bridge” and “The Blue Rider”. Expressionism was a reaction against Impressionism and Realism. Instead of being concerned with the outer, perceived reality, the expressionists wanted to express their inner subjective experiences and emotions in an artistic form. Expressionistic style is a term used when the art work is particularly powerful and wild. The motif is never naturalistic but always recognisable. Expressive art work is known by its strong colours, heavy contours and loose strokes of the pencils. It always looks somewhat rough. Expressionistic style is very useful when the focus is on the inner reality. It expresses very well moods, sensations, feelings and thoughts. To qualify the student’s choice of colour, form and content the teacher walks around among the students and ask them individual questions. The teacher is not telling the students what to do, or even do it for them, but ask key questions that make the student reflect upon choices and actions.
Key questions What do you want to express and how can you express that content? Why do you choose to use these colours? Is your layout right according to what it is you want to express? What do you want to keep from the blind drawing and what do you want to remove, and why? Do you think that what you are doing is expressive, according to expressionist style?
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TNTTC NUAE
Expressive Portraits - draft
UCSJ
During the process you sometimes pause and talk about the pictures in order to make the students reflect upon form and content of the paintings they are making. You could make a break after 20 minutes and look at the pictures together. Discuss the choices of colour and composition and ask about content. Share experiences and get inspiration How does this help our further artistic understanding and development? During the process the teacher can refer to and include art works of national and international professional artists.
6 examples of Vietnamese expressive art works
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TNTTC NUAE
Expressive Portraits - draft
UCSJ
3. Pictorial dialogue, reflexion, and presentation Aims/ objectives
Outcomes
The teacher is going to:
At the end of this element the student/student will be able to::
Stimulate the student’s ability to analyze
Evaluate the paintings according to the
and reflect upon her/his own pictorial
aims and objectives
choices
Explain own reflexions and choices
Stimulate the student’s pictorial
during the process.
competences through dialogue
Create an exhibition in a reflective and
Qualify the students’ awareness and
qualified manner.
reflexions about final exhibitions
It is essential for the student’s experience and sense of relevance and ownership that the process ends with an exhibition, where the works are being presented to a larger group, being the rest of the school, other classmates, parents or the community. First you discuss the finished works with the students in class, and then you create an exhibition together with them.
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