Role Model Tonal Portraits

Students chose an image of a person that has been a role model in their lives. They did research on their role model's life and accomplishments. We used the opaque projector to project an enlarged version of a printed image of their role model on the wall. Students traced the projection, focusing on the shapes that are created by highlights and shadows. The highlights and shadows were then number in a range from 1-5, with 5 being the darkest shade. They created a value scale of one colour with 5 values and proceeded to paint their image according to the numbered scale.

The project below was completed with Grade 8 students.

Materials: opaque projector, 18x24 paper, pencils, tempera paint