Artists have been depicting themselves in their work for centuries.

When making a self-

portrait you have the luxury of portraying yourself to the audience however you’d like.
Portraits and Self-portraits have been continually been used to show the status of the
person being depicted. Artists have also been embedding themselves in their work even
as other characters. You will be portraying yourself as someone you admire, either real or
fictional.

Frida Kahlo “The Two Fridas” 1939 Ann Piper, “Telling Secrets” 2008

Phil Hale uses himself as reference Alex Ross uses photographic reference
For all of his figures.
Facial Proportion Tips:

- The eyes are always in the middle of the head.

- The eyes of the figure can be used as a unit of measurement.
- The head is usually about 5 eyes wide.
- The nose is roughly as wide as one eye.
- Remember these are only general guidelines, the most interesting faces often deviate
from these proportions.

What does the person you chose say about you?

What do you want to say about yourself to the audience?
What kind of people normally have portraits painted of them?
What will your portrait say about you?
Remember to use the ideas you learned in the still life and figure drawing sections of this
semester.