4th Grade: Modigliani Self-Portraits

This is one of my favorite projects.  There's something amazing about 4th graders being able to capture the expressive faces of Modigliani.  Students LOVE saying his name too, by the way.  First I show a bunch of work by the artist in a PowerPoint.  We talk about elongated features- long neck, long nose, small eyes, small lips, and rich colors used.  Then we fold our papers (steps shown below) and use our fold lines for guidelines.  I tell the students to look at the rectangular shapes made by the folds, as "quadrants"  The face takes up the first two quadrants, neck goes in the third, and shoulders in the bottom quadrant.  The line down the middle helps keep the face centered.  Eyes go on the top fold, bottom of nose falls midway in the second quadrant.  We start with a light pencil sketch, then color all skin tones first, hair and clothing second, and finally outlining every pencil line in either black, brown, or navy blue. The very last step is coloring the background.  I have them choose two analagous colors (next to eachother on the color wheel)  and blend together above the head. 

First, fold like "hot dog"

Next, fold "hot dog" in half

Lastly, fold that in half once more.  When open you should see 8 small rectangles.