Fifth Grade Art Lesson 19

Presidential Portraits, Part 1 Drawing the Other Half

Objective:

The student will complete one half of a presidential portrait using value.

Materials:

Pencil, printed copies of presidential half-portraits

Procedure:

We are going to celebrate President's Day by going back in history and viewing some of our great presidents. Your teacher has portraits of many of our most famous presidents. There is one small problem half the face is missing. Do you know what your job is? Do you recall the art element value? Value is the range of lightness and darkness of a color, and value reveals form. Using your knowledge of value, take the presidential portrait and fill out the other side. As you well know, our faces are symmetrical. What is on one side will also be on the other. On your finished work, avoid letting the center line show through. You will need to use value on the skin. Full portraits are available to examine if needed. As you are working, be sure to note every detail, particularly in eyes, eyebrows, mouth shape, and hair. Include any textures that you see. Do not get in a hurry. Do your best work.

Conclusion:

We will complete our presidential portraits in our next lesson by filling in the background. Before you call your work finished, make sure that you have a full range of value, that you have drawn any textures you see, and that you have observed any details in your portion of the portrait

Artwork and Examples used in this lesson

John F. Kennedy

Jimmy Carter

Student Artwork

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Abraham Lincoln

Ronald Reagan