Year 6 and 7 Visual Arts

Surprise Self Portraits

To lift our spirits (and our masks), students created an artwork of themselves to celebrate all the wonderful virtues they possess and are proud of. Students in year 6 and 7 were taught how to blend coloured pencils and encouraged to make decisions to create emphasis and contrast in these colourful self-portraits. Students enjoyed using different materials, seeing their peers work evolve, and trial the ‘reveal’ of their faces. These masterpieces are truly elevating and inspiring!

Shannon Widdeson

Arts Domain Leader and Teacher of Visual Arts and Design

Reflections

The words on my portrait describe me and who I am as a person which makes it different. The work communicates what I look like and what my personality is. I learnt about shading/blending with two colours to colour in letters. I used a mix of colours within some of the words and used a little harder pressure around the outline of the letters. I am proud of the letters and words that I coloured in by shading and blending.

Sandra A – 7A

This self-portrait is different to other portraits because of the mask and words, it was drawn with a mask because of the Covid-19 pandemic. I am proud of the colouring in this piece. I used delicate lines and light shading in my artwork. I learnt how to use paper to create a dynamic portrait (the mask that you can take off).

Jess H – 7A

This self-portrait is special as it has a unique feature of the folding paper. The artwork shows that we are beautiful whether we have the mask on or off. I used realistic colours and have used colour to convey emotion. I used mainly curved straight lines. I am proud of the colours that I used and the way I used colours and words to communicate emotion and feelings.

Jaxson S – 7A

This artwork is about me, it describes me and it expresses who I am. I tried to keep my lines steady and thin. The mask stands out, and the blue in the background is brighter and more colourful so it draws your attention. While making this project I learnt how to shade well. I am proud of my colour choices.

Angela – 7A

It is a portrait of me, I tried my best to make it look like me and it does. I used shading, hatching and colouring in different directions throughout the artwork. If you spend enough time on a drawing it can come out looking very nice.

Artin K – 7D

This artwork is a self-portrait but the lower half on your face is covered by a mask. The mask is like a cover or a shield from showing your true emotions. To me, this means wearing the mask keeps you safe but quiet and stops showing your unique personality. I learnt that blending plays a pivotal role in making the self-portrait look more realistic and also taking time when doing particular parts. I added pressure when colouring around the edges of the nose to make it look like shadows and also deepen the colour of red when doing the outline of the lips.

Leann S – 7D

This artwork really represents my personality and who I am. I did lots of ombré and shading. I also made subtle in some spots and bold in others. I learnt a lot of the complimentary colours that look really good together and I learnt how to really use the colours and where to use them.

Daman P – 6A

This self-portrait is different to other portraits because we got to use words to describe ourselves and do fun and colourful patterns. We also had to draw on a colourful mask. This artwork is one of my favourites because we got to use as many colours as we wanted and make as many patterns as we wanted. I used almost every colour and mixed them to create new colours. I also did many patterns on my artwork to make it stand out. I am really proud of my mask and the patterns on the background of my artwork.

Sereen R – 6A