modified drawing

Expressive Portraits

Egon Schiele, self-portrait pulling cheek, 1910

An Approach to working with Portrait

TNTTC NUAE Expressive Portraits - draft UCSJ

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1. “Blind” or Modified drawing of you and me

Blind, half-blind or modified drawing is a method that leads you to draw without looking

at the paper. This exercise makes you work very concentrated in pairs or alone at a mirror.

Exercise

Each student has a piece of A4 paper on a hard drawing board, a soft pencil or a thick

black marker. After instruction each student draws concentrated for about 15-20 min

without talking. We pretend that each of us is sitting in a soap bobble that can break any

moment if anyone makes noise.

Let your hand follow the direction and the speed of your eyes as you VERY SLOWLY start

following the lines of the face you see. Your eyes “touch” every edge of the face of your

model, when the pencil/pen almost automatically starts moving around on the paper.

You are not allowed to look at the paper. You will not lift the pencil from the paper, but

constantly wander around in your drawing with your pencil. It is extremely important that

you are patient and slow when doing this exercise.

A sensory observation as blind drawing leaves out all objective knowledge.

Tip This is how the student should hold the marker:


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Aims/ objectives

The teacher is going to:

Outcomes

At the end of this element the

student/student will be able to:

Stimulate the student to differentiate

visual schemata.

Stimulate the student’s understanding of

the connection between the movement

of the eye and the movement of the

hand.

Challenge the student to work slowly

and concentrated in silence

Stimulate the student to recognize and

explain the experiences during the

process

Draw based on observation and

confidence in the eye/hand

Concentrate on observing the detailed

contours of the face

Experience and understand the qualities

of expressive blind drawing

Express the individual features of a

human face through blind/modified

drawing

Talk about his/her experiences with this

method.

Examples of blind drawing Examples of modified drawing

You might think that blind and modified drawings look a little strange – as if they are made

by a “Picasso” or cartoonist. This expression might be useful when explaining the qualities

of expressionism or starting a study of cartoons.


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Key Questions

To help the student see the contour lines of the person sitting across, the teacher might

ask:

Which lines do you see in and around the mouth, the ears, the eyes, the nose, the

chin, the cheek bone?

Can you see the lines in the hair? Where do the lines start and what direction do

they take?

Where do the lines of the neck meet the lines of the face?

How is the neck connected to the chest and shoulders?

Which lines do you see in the clothing around the shoulders and neck?

It is important that the teacher maintains an atmosphere of serious concentration all

the way through the exercise. Emphasize the quietness by talking in a low voice and

speaking slowly. Correct the students who “cheat” by looking at the paper while drawing

Instead of drawing each other you may also introduce the method to draw objects in

the class room or outside the classroom

2. Expressive lines and colours

Put all the drawings on the floor or hang them on the wall and look at them together.

Discuss and share your experiences


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Aims/ objectives


Outcomes


student/student will be able to:

Stimulate the student’s ability to recall

and express observations from the

process

Challenge the student’s awareness and

understanding of expressionism and

expressive style

Challenge the student’s understanding

of “correct” or “idealized” drawings

Stimulate the students to experience the

qualities and advantages of this

approach to drawing.

Explain verbally the qualities of the

drawings.

Express understanding of contours and

their effect on the overall emotional

atmosphere of the drawing.

Understand, explain and use an

expressive pictorial language

Appreciate and evaluate the drawings in

relation to the aims and objectives of the

exercise

Key questions

What did we just do? Why? Did you like doing this exercise? Why?

Do any of the drawings actually look like the person being portrayed?

Which expressions/ meaning/ moods do you see in the drawings?

Which qualities can a drawing have, apart from naturalistic qualities?

Which drawing has the most details, and what are the effects of these details?

Has anyone “cheated” when making the drawing? How can you see that?

Can the exercise of blind drawing be used when teaching children?

What skills did we train?

From expressive drawing to expressive painting with crayons


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Expressionism is a name for a period in art history from 1905 to 1914. Expressionism

was strongly represented in France and Germany including the two German art groups:

“The Bridge” and “The Blue Rider”. Expressionism was a reaction against Impressionism

and Realism. Instead of being concerned with the outer, perceived reality, the

expressionists wanted to express their inner subjective experiences and emotions in an

artistic form.

Expressionistic style is a term used when the art work is particularly powerful and wild.

The motif is never naturalistic but always recognisable. Expressive art work is known by its

strong colours, heavy contours and loose strokes of the pencils. It always looks somewhat

rough. Expressionistic style is very useful when the focus is on the inner reality. It

expresses very well moods, sensations, feelings and thoughts.

To qualify the student’s choice of colour, form and content the teacher walks around

among the students and ask them individual questions. The teacher is not telling the

students what to do, or even do it for them, but ask key questions that make the student

reflect upon choices and actions.

Key questions

What do you want to express and how can you express that content?

Why do you choose to use these colours?

Is your layout right according to what it is you want to express?

What do you want to keep from the blind drawing and what do you want to remove,

and why?

Do you think that what you are doing is expressive, according to expressionist

style?


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During the process you sometimes pause and talk about the pictures in order to make the

students reflect upon form and content of the paintings they are making. You could make a

break after 20 minutes and look at the pictures together. Discuss the choices of colour and

composition and ask about content. Share experiences and get inspiration

How does this help our further artistic understanding and development?

During the process the teacher can refer to and include art works of national and

international professional artists.

6 examples of

Vietnamese expressive art works


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3. Pictorial dialogue, reflexion, and presentation

Aims/ objectives


Outcomes


student/student will be able to::

Stimulate the student’s ability to analyze

and reflect upon her/his own pictorial

choices

Stimulate the student’s pictorial

competences through dialogue

Qualify the students’ awareness and

reflexions about final exhibitions

Evaluate the paintings according to the

aims and objectives

Explain own reflexions and choices

during the process.

Create an exhibition in a reflective and

qualified manner.

It is essential for the student’s experience and sense of relevance and ownership that the

process ends with an exhibition, where the works are being presented to a larger group,

being the rest of the school, other classmates, parents or the community. First you discuss

the finished works with the students in class, and then you create an exhibition together

with them.

modified drawing

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