Year 8 - Portraiture and Clay Work Unit

( if you miss the lesson for any reason you should still complete both classwork and homework)

This unit of work is about:

• Understanding the proportions of the human head

• Improving and developing detailed drawing skills

• Developing clay modelling skills

• Recognising different artists’ portrait styles

UNIT VOCABULARY: Portraiture, Sculpture, Drawing, Line, Tone, Shading, Blending, Shading, Outline, Graded Pencils, Mechanical Pencil, Eraser, Stump, Portrait, Proportions, Profile, Gridded Enlargement

Clay, Sculpture, Modelling, Proportions, Slip, Kiln, Firing, Glaze, Ceramics

ASSESSMENT: Formative assessment with take place throughout the unit. Selected work will be assessed (the portrait worksheet, the facial features pencil drawings, the self-portrait drawing, the profile sketch, and the clay portrait sculpture) and there will be a summative assessment label completed for this Portraiture and Clay Work Unit of work.

Lesson 1

Classwork : The idea of portraiture is discussed with students before they are shown the ‘Portraiture and Clay Work unit Overview’ below.

Students are then issued with the ‘Portrait Proportions Handout’ and shown the ‘Portrait Proportions Worksheet Guidance’ video below. They then start to a produce a copy of the Portrait Proportions Worksheet. This will enable students to show an accurate understanding of the proportions of the human head and also present the information in an accurate and precise way.

Remember the video demonstration shows that students do not need to copy the three skull drawings and skull written work.

Photographs will also be taken of students in readiness for the portrait clay sculpture and portrait self-portrait drawing.

The most common mistakes pupils make and loose marks are,
1. Not spending enough time doing an accurate heading and adding colour neatly
2. Not writing in pen and using guidelines
3. Getting the proportions of the head 'on the wrong lines'
4.Producing a sketch rather than an accurate 'line drawing'

Homework : Complete the Portrait Proportions Worksheet. Below are examples of completed worksheets so that students can judge the relevant standard of their work.

Lesson 2

Classwork : Students will be shown the Eye Drawing Demonstration video below and given a picture of an eye. The may also choose to collect their own pictures of eyes, mouths, noses and ears.

Students then split the next page in sketchbooks into four (as described in the video) and produce a highly detailed drawing of an eye. You are only drawing an eye this week and for homework.

Homework : Complete the eye drawing only. Also for those of you wanting to achieve an 11 or even a 12 out of 10, the Hyper-Realistic Eye Drawing video below shows you how.

Homework : Students complete the eye drawing using the hyper realistic video as reference to help include a high level of detail in the work.

Lesson 3

Classwork : Students will be shown to video on how to draw realistic lips. They then start drawing the lips below the eye in sketchbooks

Homework : Students complete the mouth drawing whilst trying to maintain and even improve on the quality of the eye drawing produced previously.

Lesson 4

Students will be shown to video on how to draw a nose (although there are many additional videos on YouTube). They then start drawing the nose on the next page in sketchbooks, using the paper in a upright/portrait format.

Students will also need to complete the ear drawing for homework and collect their own ear picture. Photographs will also be taken of students in class.

Homework : Complete the nose drawing and ear drawing. Students will need to find and print an suitable ear picture.

Lesson 5

Classwork : Students are given photograph to stick in sketchbooks. They then watch the ‘Portrait Gridded Enlargement 1’ video and start to produce the outline of their self-portrait using the techniques described in the video.

Homework : No homework this week as books will be collected for marking.

Lesson 6

Classwork : Students continue to produce the outline of their self-portrait using the techniques described in the video in Lesson 6.

Homework : Students should complete the gridded enlargement self-portrait outline (no shading). Students will also need to bring in a newspaper in readiness to start clay work next lesson. Students will also need to decide which of the 3 drawing styles show in Lesson 8 that they wish to use - they may also want to do some practice in the back of sketchbooks of the different styles of drawing.

NOTE : clay work can not be started next lesson unless the work described above is completed to an acceptable standard.

Lesson 7

Classwork : Students watch the ‘Portrait Pottery Sculpture 1’ video below (from the 3 min to 5 min 50 sec point). There is a discussion about working with clay, including classroom expectations and health & safety considerations.

The aim of this lesson is to model the basic shape of the head and eye sockets. The remainder of the lesson will be used to start the gridded enlargement drawing concentrating on the eyes, after deciding on which of the three drawing styles they wish is adopt - realistic pencil, pen scribble, or pen dots.

Homework : Students complete both eyes and eyebrows for their gridded self-portrait drawing. You will need to decide which of the 3 drawing styles show below that you wish to use,

REALISTIC TONAL ‘PENCIL’ DRAWING (2 example videos):

‘PEN’ SCRIBBLE DRAWING (2 example videos):

‘PEN’ DOT DRAWING (2 example videos):

NOTE : clay work can not be continued with next lesson unless the work described above is completed to an acceptable standard. The eyes and eyebrows of the drawing

Lesson 8

Classwork : Students watch the ‘Portrait Pottery Sculpture 2’ video below.

The aim of this lesson is complete modelling the eyes and perhaps start the nose. The last 10 minutes of the lesson will be used to started drawing the mouth and nose for the gridded enlargement portrait.

Homework : Students complete the mouth, nose and the surrounding skin for their gridded enlargement self-portrait drawing.

NOTE : clay work can not be continued with next lesson unless the work described above is completed to an acceptable standard. The assessment example videos below are extremely useful in helping students to achieve higher quality work.

Lesson 9

Classwork : Students aim to complete modelling the the nose and mouth. The last 10 minutes of the lesson will be used to started drawing the remainder of the skin and hair for the gridded enlargement portrait.

Homework : Students complete all aspects of the gridded enlargement except the clothing.

NOTE : clay work can not be continued with next lesson unless the work described above is completed to an acceptable standard.

Lesson 10

Classwork : Students aim to complete modelling all aspects of the face including the cheeks, chin and eyebrows. The ears and hair can be left until next lesson. The last 10 minutes of the lesson will be used to started drawing the clothing for the gridded enlargement portrait.

Homework : Students complete all aspects of the gridded enlargement including the clothing, making sure the blazer is shading dark enough.

NOTE : clay work can not be continued with next lesson unless the work described above is completed to an acceptable standard.

Lesson 11

Classwork : Students watch the ‘Portrait Pottery Sculpture 3’ video below.

The aim of this lesson is to improve all aspect of the completed feature for the clays sculpture and to start modelling the ears and hair and any other facial details like glasses. The lesson should also be used to encourage students to take their clay work home to complete, showing the Gargoyle Clay Sculpture - Extension work video below (from the 2mins 30sec point) on how to make ‘slip’ at home. They already have a box but will need extra clay and some dry clay to make ‘slip’. Students may take home one clay modelling tool but not a knife.

The lesson should also be used to discuss the high quality examples shown below, as well as the homework option for students to take their clay sculpture home to work on.

Homework : Next lesson is the last lesson for clay work so students may wish to take their clay sculpture home to work on. They already have a box but will need extra clay and some dry clay to make ‘slip’. Students may take home one clay modelling tool but not a knife. See the video below (from the 2mins 30sec point) on how to make ‘slip’ at home.

Lesson 12

Classwork : This is a DIRT lesson when students aim to complete or improve modelling the clay sculpture, including the hair, ears and other facial details. It may be advisable for some students to re-watch the ‘Portrait Pottery Sculpture 3’ from Lesson 12.

When students have completed the clay sculpture they should use the time to improve any of the sketchbook work for this unit .

The last 15 minutes of the lesson can be use to complete the ‘Portraiture & Clay Work Evaluation Sticker’, and also to introduce the next ‘Collage/Painting Project Unit’.

Homework : Books will be collected for marking but students will need to collect items for the collage. They should have the following,

• 2 animal silhouettes printed on A4 paper (so each are approx. A5 size)

• 6-8 man-made objects (sweet packets and wrappers with big lettering) - this year student will stick down just 3 man-made objects

• 2-3 natural objects (such as leaves) - this year students will stick down just 1 natural object

Remember you must draw and paint whatever it is you collect and stick down as part of your collage.