1st Grade Van Gogh Portraits

I was looking for an end of year project to do with my marvelous 1st graders and I remembered back to last years Starry Night Silhouettes and how much fun last years first graders had working with oil pastels to blend wavy swirly skies 

Being that my first graders are really focused this year, I decided to step the project up a notch by incorporating  portraiture.  I was a real stickler for making sure the entire background was completely colored and that the students used realistic colors to render their faces.  Each student even got a mirror to make sure they were drawing what they observed and not what they thought they looked like.

 I began by giving a demonstration on how to draw the features of the face along with helpful tips like drawing the eyes in an oval shape, creating the small 'v' in the center of the top lip, making sure the ears start at the eyes and end at the tip of the nose, etc.  Then as a class we did a guided drawing while the students looked at themselves in their mirrors. 

The next session I demonstrated how to color their faces and hair and how to use natural colors as opposed to artificial ones. 

For the background we students the life and work of Van Gogh and in particular his Starry Nights painting.  Students chose warm or cool oil pastels to work.  

 I absolutely adored this project, my kids really did a phenomenal job.