1. Animal Portraits Tempe Center for the Arts Activities by Mary Erickson, Ph.D., with Arizona art teacher Vivian Spiegelman

2. The Faces exhibition at the Tempe Center for the Arts includes many artworks that show people’s faces. An artwork that shows one individual is called a portrait.

3. Animals are wonderful individuals and have wonderful faces, too. rooster horn toad javalinasloth llamamule

4. Now, you can make a portrait of a special animal you know, like a pet, or a favorite animal you’ve learned about in school, in a book, at a zoo or on the Internet. To begin, you need a printout or photograph that clearly shows the head of the animal.

5. Look for a photo that captures the feeling or personality you want to show in your portrait.

6. Which dog looks happiest? Why? A B BA Why does cat B look more lively than cat A?

7. You can choose which view you want to use for your animal portrait. Does one view tell the story of your animal better?

8. You can choose full face, side profile or angled view. AngledSide ProfileFull-Face

9. Choose the direction of your paper. Should it be horizontal or vertical? Horizontal Vertical

10. Which way should you turn your paper to make these animals’ portraits? Vertical or horizontal?

11. Before drawing your portrait, you should look carefully at each part of the animal’s face and head. Pay attention to the size of each feature What is large? What is small? What is long? What is short? What is wide? What is narrow?

12. Which bird has the… Shortest beak Widest beak Smallest eye Longest neck

13. Which animal has the tallest ears? Which animal has the largest eye? Which animal’s horns curve the most?

14. To make your animal portrait, you need: It is a good idea to make a sketch of your animal before you begin your final drawing. 1 animal photograph 1 pieces of middle-tone paper (grey or beige construction paper works) 1 black crayon 1 white crayon 1 pastel or chalk eraser

15. 1. To begin your portrait, draw your animal in pencil.

16. Find the darkest places on each animal’s face, head or neck. Find the lightest places. Where do the values change gradually? Where do you see very dark areas next to very light areas? Your portrait will be more interesting if you use several values in your drawing.

17. 2. Find the lightest areas on your animal’s face and head then fill them in with white crayon.

18. 3. Find the darkest areas on your animal’s face and head and fill them in with black crayon. Leave the middle tone areas the color of the paper.

19. Your animal portrait will have a style similar to your classmates’ because you all will all focus on value - the size of different facial features.

20. But your animal portrait will be uniquely your style because you will choose what to draw: Type of animal Facial expression View of the animal’s head Details