Lesson video

- [Instructor] Hello, my name is Ms Minakuchi and I'm introducing an art and design lesson on Identity: Who I Am.

This particular lesson will focus on narrative and storytelling through portraiture.

And we'll be looking at the artist Frida Kahlo.

First of all, you'll need some resources for this lesson, just basic resources.

You'll need a pencil, hopefully, if you have a HB pencil.

If not, it's fine.

And a rubber or an eraser.

And you'll need a printed portrait or a photo, or you can use a selfie from your phone.

Or you can use an old family photograph if you have one.

Doesn't have to be a recent one.

This particular one that I'm using is a few months old.

Then you'll need an A4 sketchbook or a piece of paper.

So just pause the video whilst you get those resources and then resume once you've finished.

So, hopefully you would have done the intro quiz to find out little bit of information about Frida Kahlo.

Then we'll look at who was Frida Kahlo.

Who was she? We'll find out a little bit of information about the artist.

We'll look at how Frida Kahlo expressed her identity through her artwork.

And then we'll look at the skills needed to create a Frida Kahlo inspired piece of work.

And then hopefully you can finish with the exit quiz.

I just want to refer to some of the key words we'll use throughout this presentation.

The first one is a narrative.

So a narrative is a spoken or a written account of events, a story.

Basically it's another way of telling us another word for story.

Portraiture is the likeness of a person, especially of the face.

And that can be a portrait can be a painting, a drawing, or a photograph.

Proportion, that relates to the dimensions of a composition and the relationship between height, width, and depth.

So that is basically the measurements of, you know, in this particular case, it's gonna be the measurements of the face.

And then the definition, definition refers to the act of defining something or making something definite, distinct or clear.

So, who was Frida Kahlo? So Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist.

She was, she had quite an eventful life, which means she had a lot of events, a lot of things going on in her life.

First of all, she contracted, she had polio when she was young.

So that's quite relevant to the story because she was in a lot of pain.

Later on she had an accident which caused her a great deal with a pain in her back and her chest and her torso.

And she obviously, she couldn't move around a lot.

So that's quite integral to the story.

That's quite important to the story and we'll find out why.

So this particular portrait, it's called Self Portrait with a Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird.

It's an oil on canvas painting from 1940 and it's one of her 55 self portraits that she did.

And she painted those throughout her lifetime.

The format of the painting, it's a head and shoulders view.

So most of her portraits had this head and shoulders view.

And you can see on the portrait, there's a lot of animals and nature, and they're quite significant because they kind of refer to lots of things like, they kind of symbolise lots of things.

So the hummingbird, which is round her neck and it has thorns, the hummingbird was a symbol of hope.

And that's why she had that round there.

And the thorns signified the pain that she was in and the cat and the monkey, they're quite, you know, she really liked animals and they're quite positive, kind of happy animals that she wanted around her.

And then we have a butterfly and that's the butterfly signified hope and joy as well.

So, this is why she has the self portrait of her.

And then she has all of these symbols around her that reflect her life as well.

So just a little fun fact for you, do you think that Frida Kahlo's images are seen as a form of storytelling? Do you think that's true or do you think that's false? Of course it's true.

Because a lot of Frida Kahlo's work is about her revealing her narrative through visuals, through a painted image.

So the first task that we're going to do, we're going to be drawing a portrait.

I don't want you to worry too much about this portrait.

We're going to break it down into three sections.

And the first section is where we're going to be drawing basic shapes, and we're going to be looking at the shape of the face and we're going to start with drawing a circle and a triangle, just a basic shape.

It won't look like your portrait as soon as you start from, when you start, you have to build on it.

So this is what the first video will illustrate to you.

Just the very basics in kind of measuring the face and trying to get those proportions right.

So after watching the demonstration, I'm going to draw the outline of the face.

Draw the outline of the face for your self portrait.

At this point, as I said, just focus on the basic shapes.

Don't worry if you don't draw a perfect circle, for example.

Don't worry if you don't draw a perfect triangle because you can amend all of those later.

So, watch the video demonstration and then just, you can watch it a couple of times, if you want to go over any of the basic steps and then please resume once you finished.

So this is a drawing demonstration for the self portrait, and we're going to start probably a quarter of the way down from the top of the paper.

This is a piece of A4 paper.

You're then going to draw a circle.

So don't worry if it's not a perfect circle, because this is the kind of, this will form the top of the face.

So that's the basic circle.

Then you will draw a kind of triangular shape at the bottom and try and make the point kind of in the centre from top to bottom.

And that is the basic shape of the face.

Don't worry if it's not exactly like your face, it will change.

So that's the beginning of the face.

Then once we've drawn that we will draw some guidelines.

So these guidelines will form the areas where you're trying to not to put things in the centre here.

So then these guidelines will form the area where the, you know, just to make sure that everything is in proportion.

So we'll draw a line about halfway through the centre of the circle, just like a horizontal line.

Then you will draw a line, I've got it about an inch.

So that will measure where the eyes will go.

I'll draw it a little bit darker so that you can see, but you need to make sure that you draw it quite faint.

I'm only drawing it in a bold line so that you can see clearly.

So there's the two lines for the eyes.

Then I'm going to draw a line right from the top to the bottom.

Again, I'm only drawing it thick so that you can see.

And then underneath where the circle is, I'm going to draw another line and that's where the bottom of the nose will go.

And then I'm going to draw two more lines underneath on this paper.

They're about a centimetre apart.

And then I'm going to draw two lines in between where the eye line is and then the bottom of the nose.

So they will form the area for your nose, try and get them as equal as possible.

I'm going to draw them bold only cause you can see them, but you need to draw them faint because you know, you'll be rubbing these lines out.

So this area will give you a kind of basic shape of the human face.

Everybody's face is different.

So these measurements will be really different.

So you just need that centre line, a line halfway through the circle.

Another line underneath, I've got it maybe about an inch different, an inch apart.

Then align here underneath the circle.

And that's where the bottom of the nose will go.

Then there's another line about a centimetre down and then another line.

And then we've still got that kind of wide triangle here at the bottom.

So what these lines will do, they will give the measurements to make sure that the face is in proportion.

Now you can change some of these lines later, depending on the features of your face.

I've changed mine because mine is a lot wider here.

So these were the steps, the basic circle, the triangle, and then the guidelines.

So, for task two, there's another video demonstration.

So you're going to start to add some shapes and details lightly using the guidelines to help you with your, the shapes and the size and the proportions.

And then you can start to change the shape of your portrait based on your type of face.

So you can see from these three drawings here, you can start to add more details.

In my particular case, I added the glasses.

I added the shape of the nose.

I added the lips and then I started to just change this area at the bottom, the triangle, because mine is a little bit fuller.

So I started to kind of make it a little bit larger.

So what you do is you add the details, you modify the shapes, according to your particular portrait, your face, because it's about you.

And then you can start to remove the guideline.

So watch this demonstration and then just resume once you've finished.

So pause and then watch the demonstration and then resume.

So the next step is to start to use those measurements.

I'll leave this guideline so that you can see.

So this particular area is where the eyes will go.

And you can see from the centre here to about here it's not quite in the centre.

It's a little bit wider because my eyes are a little bit wider.

So that's where the eyes will go, in between this space here.

And then this is for the nose.

And then this is where the mouth will go.

So what I'll do, I'll just start to, I've already started to draw here.

So I will just draw the other side just so that you can see how I kind of pat the features.

So I might need to modify, which is where the rubber comes in handy.

I might need to modify just to make sure that the lines are equal.

And then I will just start to draw in the features.

So I'm going to change as I go along.

And this will take you some time just to make sure that you've got all the proportions correct, and all of the detail.

And then you can start to add the details that you see.

You can see here, I've added the shape of the nose.

Mine is a little bit wider.

So I'll just start to add those details there that I see.

The lips, the lip is not quite even, it's larger this side, so I'll just make it a little bit larger there, and then I'll rub that faint line out.

So you're just trying to make sure that everything on each side is equal.

I look like I'm not smiling there.

And then I will just draw a few more of the details.

I will draw the top of my glasses here just to make sure that both sides are the same.

And then all I'm doing is I keep looking at the portrait.

I've got a picture of my self portrait here.

So I'm just looking at that and then add in the details as I see them, again, making sure that both sides are quite equal.

So at this stage, I'm quite happy with the way that the proportions are, but the face for me is a little bit too narrow.

My face is a little bit wider, so it will come out a little bit here.

So what I need to do now is just to make sure that these edges are fuller.

So I'm gonna use the circle that I have as a guide and the line next to it.

So I'm just going to take this out a little bit more, both sides.

I'm just going to make it a little bit wider and then I'm going to make it fuller here at the bottom.

Now it's starting to look a little bit more like me.

So the line at the bottom of the chin, and then I'm just going to rub these lines out.

So you see the guidelines, we don't need those anymore so that I can start to rub them out now.

And then I just continue adding the details that I see.

So this will be the shape, you know, more of the shapes of the nose, the lines here, the lines on the lips.

This needs to be made a little bit longer as one side is shorter than the other.

So I'll just make that a little bit longer.

And then I'm just continuing to add to this drawing.

So the next stage is just making sure that both sides are equal.

So this line comes down a little bit there and then all I'm going to keep doing is just keep adding to this and then keep adding the detail so that I can add the definition so that I'm going to add more of the nose here, cause mine is a little bit wider.

I'm going to add a line here.

I'm going to take out these guidelines because it's making the nose really straight.

And then I will just keep adding little bits from the face, just so that I can start to add some definition to make it look a little bit more like me.

Some of the lines I'll just make a little bit darker and then I'll rub out the guidelines cause I don't need that anymore.

And then you just keep needing to add all of the lines that you see from your portrait.

You just keep, just need to keep glancing at your portrait every now and again, just to make sure that you have everything.

And then you just pad it lightly.

Remember this is not going to be a shaded portrait.

We're not adding any tone.

We're just adding a little bit of definition when and where we see it.

So I'm just gonna add a little bit of, you know, a few lines here.

This area is darker and then I'll just add some lines to the lips here, again, looking at my portrait just adding all of the detail that I see.

The darker lines, the heavier lines, and then just keep going, keep moving on until I'm happy with what I see.

So, now the third video will demonstrate how to add more definition.

So remember, the definition is kind of like the details, you know, to make the portrait look more like you, to make it more definite.

So what you're going to do, you're going to add the definition to the face by just changing the features, making them unique to you, unique to your own face.

And then you're going to just lightly add some areas of tone.

So, because we're going to add to this as you remember from Frida Kahlo's, it's quite a kind of simple drawing.

So we're going to stick to those kinds of guidelines.

We're not going to, you know, add loads of tone or lots of colour.

We'll just add a tiny bit of definition just to show where the lighter and darker areas of your face are.

So do watch the demonstration.

Again, watch it a few times if you need to.

Don't worry about adding too much tone or too much definition.

Just, you know, enjoy the process and then just resume the video once you've completed that task.

I will start to draw in the hair.

And then I'm just going to add a few of the darker areas as I see.

Give myself some eyelashes, make this a little bit darker, make some lines there, You see, you're not drawing, you know, remember, we're not doing a tonal drawing we're just adding details.

And you just continue like this with your portrait until you have lots of definition on the face.

So you have lots of marks.

So what we're doing is we're just adding lots of marks to the image.

And we just keep going until we have a portrait that looks something like, my particular one, it looks a little bit like this.

So I'm going to continue until I have all of the definition until it looks like this.

So, this is not too dissimilar from the original image.

All I've done is just start to add some marks and some more darker areas.

You know I've added a few more eyelashes here and then a little bit of definition.

And then the eyebrows, I added the eyebrows one-on-one until you get to something like this, and then that is your portrait.

The important thing to remember with the portrait is mainly that it's in proportion.

Which means the eyes are at a good distance to each other and the nose is here.

Remember I said, you follow the guidelines, but you might need to go out of them a little bit.

So here it looks like the lips need to come down a little bit.

So you just keep, you know, rubbing things out and moving until you've got there.

And this is what you should end up with.

Okay? So, once you've finished, we're not going to add colour at this point, as we're going to add some more for part two of the lesson, the second lesson.

But if you really want to, if you've finished your portrait and you really want to add colour, you can add a little bit of colour in the same way as you did when you added the definition and areas of tone.

Again, just concentrating on the darker areas first.

You can use coloured pencils if you'd like to do that.

So this is the finished portrait and I'm just going to do a little review.

What do I think went well and what would be even better if? So, I've said that the portrait has good proportions, which means everything is measured well in the face and it's lightly drawn.

So I didn't press down on the pencil too hard.

I just drew lightly so that I can go over something and add more definition if I needed to.

There are hints of tone and definition.

Even better if.

At this stage, it does look like a simple drawing.

And I am tempted to add a little bit of colour, but I think I'm going to wait and see what develops when we add to this portrait, when we start to add a little bit of collage.

So, during the next lesson, we are going to begin to add a little bit more to the self portrait.

We are going to continue looking at narrative, and then we're going to add to our portraits in an individual way.

So, each portrait will be different and we're going to stick with the narrative.

We're going to stick with our own personal stories and we're going to add to the image.

So, thank you.

Look forward to seeing you for the second part of the lesson.