Face Card Designs
Advanced Art students created self-portrait face card designs on 14x20-inch poster board. After completing a worksheet that required them to measure and make observations about playing cards in a traditional deck, they were challenged to draw themselves as a face card (King, Jack or Queen). They did not have to depict themselves as "royalty," but they were required to develop complex patterns in their clothing and their palette was limited to the colors found on the face cards they had studied (red, yellow, black, white, blue).
After determining their "suit," "pose" (3/4 view or profile) and the object(s) that they would be holding, photos were taken of them, which they could use for reference. They could draw from observation or grid the photo in order to enlarge it.
Because this project required them to have their image on the card twice, some students opted to use the photography department's lightbox to trace their first drawing in order to accurately copy and invert it.
After tracing their second image to the paper, students went over the lines in ink with Sharpie markers.
