Activity Guide by Kate Kwasneski
Intern, Grinnell College Museum of Art
Look and Learn
One of the most popular subjects in the history of art is the human face. People have been drawing and painting themselves and those around them since the beginning of art! It can be interesting to examine all the different ways the human face can be represented in art. This is why the Grinnell College Museum of Art is currently having an exhibition featuring work that shows many different ways to represent faces called Face Forward. Today, we will look at some of the pieces featured in this exhibition!
This photograph looks like it could be a painting! There are very few shadows in the image, they might have been Photoshopped out. This person, who is probably named Milo, is shown from the torso up. Many portraits use this pose, but some show the whole body and some are shown from the shoulders up, called a bust. How do you think that changing the amount of the subject in view would change this portrait? In addition, Milo’s shirt is close to the same color as the background and the main color in the image is his hair. How do you think changing the color of the background would change the image?
This portrait is very monochromatic. All the shading is done in black and white. The two people in this image look very serious. It could be interesting to think about how these two people are related to each other, and why they are in a portrait together. How does having two people in the image change it? What do you think of the style of this image?
This woman looks contemplative. She is sitting at the table, but the background of the image is completely blank so it is difficult to tell much about her environment. There is a rectangle on the table that might be a table runner or a placemat. What do you think of the shading on her face? Does it suggest any particular emotion? What do you think this woman is thinking about? Come up with a story of this image.
This portrait is much more stylized than the others we have seen so far. The expressive lines in his coat create shading. He looks like a sketch, and while his face is not entirely realistic, it conveys a lot of emotion. This man also looks like he is thinking very hard. What is he thinking about? What do you think of the sketch-like style? This portrait is in black and white. What would color add to this image?
Create
Now it’s your turn to draw a face! Are you going to use a realistic style, or a more abstract one? What details turn a drawing into a face? Eyes, nose, mouth? Philtrum (that’s the shape between your nose and top lip)? What details can you leave out?
Drawing faces can be intimidating. Since we spend so much time looking at faces, we know their every detail. It can be discouraging when the face on your page does not look like the face you see in front of you. But art does not have to be perfectly realistic to be worth making! We have looked at so many styles of art today, and even the ones that are not in a realistic style are beautiful art and recognizable faces!
Or maybe you can try a contour drawing. Shut your eyes and try to draw a face without looking. Try to make the contours of the face, like the nose and the chin, with your eyes closed. This might not look like a face when you open your eyes, but exercises like this will improve your drawing skills and help you learn to connect what you are trying to draw with the motion of your hand.
These are some contour drawings that I made. They do not look very realistic, and many of them have features that float off into space! Remember: the point of these contour drawings is not to draw a perfect face. The point is to practice!
Instead of making contour drawings with your eyes closed, you can also do a contour drawing while looking very intently at the object! In this case, you can look at a family member or a photo of a person on a device. Just make sure not to look at your paper while you do so. This way, your hands and eyes get practice working as a team while they draw! Just like it takes practice to learn an instrument or to shoot a basket, it takes practice to draw faces.
Write
Tell a story about the face you drew. Who does it belong to? What are they like? What are they doing in the image you drew? Write about it.