Painting: the foundations of a facial expression
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can create a painting that expresses emotions by using different facial features.
Key learning points
- Understand how to identify and represent emotions in facial expressions through observation.
- Explore techniques to sketch and paint a base portrait capturing key features of expression.
- Begin to develop painting skills with a focus on colour mixing to accurately create skin tones.
Keywords
Proportion - how big or small parts of something are compared to each other
Hue - a particular shade or tint of a colour
Colour mixing - adding two or more colours together to create a mixed colour
Skin tone - the colour of a person’s skin
Common misconception
Faces are symmetrical and all proportions should fit to set guidelines.
Most faces are asymmetrical with different proportions. Guidelines for drawing faces give only a rough estimation of where features might be placed, and will differ for each person, as we are all unique.
Teacher tip
Encourage pupils to observe their own and others' facial expressions in a mirror. Use simple questions like, "What changes when you smile?" to spark curiosity. Demonstrate sketching with guidelines step-by-step, and remind them that capturing emotion takes practice and patience!
Equipment
Paints, paintbrushes, water in pots, palette for mixing paintings, pencils, rubbers, paper.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which of these features is most important for conveying emotion in a facial expression?
Q2.What is proportion?
Q3.How can colour affect the mood of an artwork?
Q4.What basic shapes are often used to sketch a face?
Q5.What does tone in art refer to?
Q6.When sketching facial features, where should the eyes typically be placed?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the keywords to the definitions.
how big or small parts of something are compared to each other
a particular shade or tint of a colour
adding two or more colours together to create a mixed colour
the colour of a person’s skin
Q2.Why is proportion important when drawing a face?
Q3. refers to the arrangement of elements in an artwork or image.
Q4.What is the first step in painting a face after sketching it?
Q5.What does adding highlights to a face painting do?
Q6.Faces are symmetrical and all proportions should fit to set guidelines.
To help you plan your 5 art and design lesson on: Painting: the foundations of a facial expression, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 5 art and design lesson on: Painting: the foundations of a facial expression, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 art and design lessons from the Photography and painting: facial expressions in portraiture unit, dive into the full primary art and design curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.