7th Grade Celebrity Portraits

There are two words in the art language that really give me the "ughs" and the eye rolls, "grid" and "portrait." It really amazes me how little ruler skills my 7th graders possess... I mean we're talking down right pitiful. My co-worker friends know, that when I say I am going to do grid portraits, that they are supposed to try to talk me out of it... but I must be a glutton for punishment. 

First we talk value, drawing pencils, blending stumps and proportion via a powerpoint, prezi or other type of slide share. Next students complete value practice:

After the practice creating value, they practice using it while utilizing a grid:

After all that practicing... they are "ready" to draw a grid. First I ask them which celebrity they want to draw and we find a picture they like, then I print it in gray scale. I record myself creating a grid on the paper and show that to them:

I try to video my demos, which is new for me because after 13 years, I finally realized that gathering the students around a demo table was not as successful as I'd always thought. They tend to pay much more attention when they are in their seats, and are watching them projected on a screen. 

After they draw the grid on their printed portrait, they watch another demo:

After the demos, they jump right in. After a lot of "ughs" and eye rolls, (from me) they are well on their way to creating a portrait in correct proportion, that actually looks pretty good. Here are a few of the completed portraits:

***end "ughs" and eye rolls***