Spirit Animal Value Portraits

Students have been working on a quick project after finishing up their sculptures. For this unit, we began by discussing the concept of spirit animals, a shamanistic belief of a spiritual guide in the form of an animal. The animal will represent elements of it's human's personailty. So in other words (when we simplify a bit)...

If you were an animal, what would you be??

Students focused on their interests in climate, activity, company, and energy level as a jumping off point, and spoke with their peers to continue the process.

Once decided, students found an image of the animal and printed it iut as a reference. We discussed proportion and reference points in the face, and animals began drawing their images on a fresh sheet.

We are taking these in a more goofy direction, and students are adding accessories to emphasize their personality in the portraits. As the project continues through next week, students will begin adding backgrounds and frames to the artworks.

I am super excited to see the portraits progress, and am having fun along the way! Who knew that so many freshmen boys would put tuxedos in their portraits? So classy! 

Here are a few images of portraits in progress: