Monochromatic Pet Portrait
Original: https://thatartteacher.com/2023/04/11/monochromatic-pet-portrait/
Date: 2023-04-11 Author: Sierra Machado Categories: art education, long form lesson plan Tags: acrylic painting for beginners, art education, featured, high school acrylic painting lesson, high school acrylic painting projects, high school painting lesson, how to mix your own colors, how to mix your own colors in acrylic, how to paint, how to paint an acrylic portrait, how to paint an acrylic portrait step by step, how to paint animals with acrylic, how to paint shades and tints, monochromatic painting, monochromatic painting for beginners, monochromatic painting lesson, monochromatic painting lesson high school, monochromatic painting tutorial, monochromatic pet portrait, monochromatic pug painting, painting a value scale in acrylic, painting basics for beginners, painting basics step by step, pink pug, pug painting tutorial acrylic, step by step animal painting, that art teacher, value scales in paint
Monochromatic pet portraits teach the basics of painting while giving students ownership of their subject matter. Pets are a subject matter that consistently bring happiness to students and allow them to focus on realism and blending value and color.
We started by practicing blending shades and tints using a set of primary base colors. I like to start with grayscale so they can see how starting with black paint is a very different experience than starting with white. I teach this under the document camera and we move on at the same pace. As we progress with each color, I am less direct and eventually they will mix their last couple colors totally independently.
Color-Blending-Practice-1Download
The biggest challenge for many students is keeping their brushes and pallets clean. Anytime black sneaks into a tint, and vice versa, it grays out their colors. Students often struggle with finding a photograph that does not have a distracting background and exemplifies value. We play with the contrast a little in Google Docs and I print them to scale in black and white.
This year students made their own neutral black using fire red, chrome yellow and ultramarine blue. It was amazing to see their confidence and painting skills flourish when they couldn’t rely on straight out of the tube black!
Mixing Neutrals, Black & GrayDownload
How to Paint Shades and Tints:
This guided tutorial shows all of the steps we take, and it’s perfect for review, absent students and showing students their end goals.
If your students don’t have pets or don’t bring in a photograph, I highly recommend the website unsplash.com. They have so many high quality images that are free use.
After we practice mixing values, we move on to mini practice paintings on watercolor paper. This allows students to practice seeing color and value before their summative assessment. I pick a few options for them from unslpash.com to pick from and we spend a few class periods putting their value practice to work.
Pet Portrait Guided Tutorial:
This guided tutorial will walk students through my thought process and technique.
I allow my students to trace their pet photographs. For many students, this is the first time they have created a realistic painting with attention to value. My painting professor in undergrad allowed us to trace, and it really expanded my viewpoint. He emphasized that he was teaching us the skills of painting in a beginner class and that drawing was a separate, although important, skill. As our painting skills progressed we phased out of tracing. This teaching strategy really allowed me to give myself, and now my students, grace to embrace one technique at a time.
I also give the option for students to sketch their images instead of trace. I do this lesson in a VERY mixed abilities Art II class and I have learned that scaffolding options for students creates a more successful experience for all. After their image is transferred on their canvas using graphite paper, they begin painting their values.
We focus on shades and tints of one main color, but students are encouraged to explore other colors if they want. Some students stuck with a pure monochromatic color scheme, and others added accents colors or a variety of colors in their backgrounds. It was so fun to see their confidence and blending skills expand with each color.
Monochromatic Pet Portraits Student Examples:
Another advanced option is to do a human portrait. This is a much more challenging experience, but my AP track students often want to level up. We have practiced creating skin tones at the beginning of the unit and that is a lesson students really appreciate as their artistic skills progress.
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