Summer Workshop Series: Modigliani Self-Portraits

This week, I held a 2-day workshop teaching students (ages 10-13) how to create a self-portrait in the style of Amedeo Modigliani.  Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who is known for his elongated portraits with almond-shaped faces.  When he moved to Paris in 1906, he came across Pablo Picasso and Constantin Brancusi!

Since the studio I taught at was up and coming, not many students had heard about our classes, and with this being our first project, we had one student.  One is better than none!

Materials

-12" x 18" canvas

-pencil

-acrylic paint

-water

-water cups

-brushes

-paper towels

Objectives

Inspired by the style of Amedeo Modigliani, students will create their own elongated self portrait.  Students will also be learning painting techniques throughout the process of creating the painting.

Directions

Day 1: Each class was 2 hours in length.  We began by talking about Modigliani and identified elements of his style that stood out in his artworks.  After viewing images of his portraits, students began drawing their portrait sketch onto the canvas.  We started with the background first, them moved our way up each layer (background, skin color, shirt, hair.  After the 2 hours were up, the first layer of colors were placed down.

Day 2: When the student returned the next day, we worked on the details.  We started with the hair, adding highlights and shadows with different shades of blonde.  We then moved onto the skin tine, adding shadows and highlights to the chin and eyes.  Next, we covered the eyes and mouth, finalizing with tracing the facial features with raw umber.  Once the face was done, we moved onto the shades in the shirt, then finished up with re-tracing the outline of the portrait from the background.  Two hours flew by fast and we had a finished product!

Here's the example I had made to show the student(s):

Here's my student's project in progress and finished!

And while my student worked on hers, I started another one!

During the two days, we had multiple phone calls for more students signing up for future classes, so stay tuned!

These classes are taking place at Pastiche Studio in Mokena, Illinois.  To view details about the studio, classes available, and paint parties, please visit their site!