Pirate Portraits

2nd Grade is finishing up their Pirate Portraits. 

I try to do a portrait lesson every year with my kids starting in 1st grade. I try to come up with different themes so it's not just the same self portrait every year. This year our school theme is pirate which is GRRREAT for portraits and as you can tell we are doing all sorts of pirate ship and ocean themed projects this year. (Stay tuned for kindergarten and 1st grade pirate ship seascapes.) 

So...this being the second year this class of students have done portraits, I am really happy to see them progress and develop as artsits. 

First, we talked about the difference between symmetry and asymmetry. Because pirates might not have the same symmetry like our faces' do, because of scars or eye patches. When starting we painted the face and neck with some skin tone paints. Then drew the face, hair and shirts with oil pastels.

 Finally we drew a bit more to create a background and setting. Then finished up with some watercolor paints. I always run out of blue, so we got creative with our sky's and ocean's.