Split Face Self Portrait Art (Half Photo, Half Drawing)

Split-face self-portrait art is a great just-for-me activity that can be done with kids of all ages. It is suitable for preschool, kindergarten and older children, the only difference between age groups is the size of the drawing they draw and the supplies they will use.

With this being half photography, half drawing, it’s a stress-free project that also allows you to talk about symmetry and the characteristics that make each child unique.

*this post contains affiliate links*

Face Separation Self-Portrait Art

Unlike our paper plate self-portrait art ideas, these half-photograph, half-drawn self-portraits require a bit of advance planning. But once they’re done, they’ll create the most extravagant display in the classroom and a fun bulletin board.

Tip: do this self-portrait activity at the beginning of the school year and then again at the end of the school year, so children can see how much their skills have improved.

How to create a portrait that is half photo, half drawing

What you need:

• Children’s printed photo, half of which is blank
• coloring supplies (pencils, crayons, watercolors, markers, whatever is age appropriate for the group you are working with)
• glue
• drag
• Colorful background paper

Makes the image half obscured

If you’re unfamiliar with photo editing software, don’t worry – we’ll show you an easy way to create photos using Google Docs, available to everyone and free to use.

But first – you need to take a photo with your child (ideally with a white background to make this project printer friendly) or ask parents to send you suitable images.

Once you have your image, go to Google Docs (or similar) and create a new document. Insert an image (in Google Docs, navigate to insert, images, and select your image location).

Once your image is in, you can drag and drop to resize it. You can also add two images (preferably in landscape mode) per page of you working with older children.

Next, we will add a white rectangle to the page and it will cover half of the face.

Go to Insert > Drawing > New.

This will open a new popup where you can “draw”.

Look for the circle and square icons to open up shape options. Go with shapes and choose a rectangle.

Freestyle a rectangle, you can always reshape it later, it really doesn’t matter that much. By default the rectangle can be blue with a gray line, before pressing save and close choose white for the fill (paint bucket icon) and white for the border (pen icon next to the paint bucket icon). Click save and close.

By default, the rectangle will be placed on another page (before the image or after the image). We need to place it on top of your portrait. To do that, click on the white rectangle and an editing menu will appear. Look through the icons until you find the one that says “in front of text” and click on it.

Once done, you will be able to drag and drop the rectangle onto the portrait (it will probably jump onto the page with the portrait as soon as you click on it).

Position the rectangle so that it covers half of the face (you can also make the rectangle longer or wider if needed by clicking and dragging any edge).

Once done, just print half of the photo.

A step-by-step guide to taking facial self-portraits

Once you’ve prepared and printed your photos, you can begin this self-portrait drawing lesson with your child.

Start by handing out half the printed picture to students, each student will receive their own half image. You can take this opportunity to talk about symmetry.

Let the kids draw their faces. Any drawing supply will be used, however using a black marker will have the most visual impact.

This is a fun and stress-free art activity.

You can also distribute small mirrors to make the work more interesting.

After the kids have finished drawing, let them color in their self-portrait.

Paste self-portraits with split faces onto a sheet of colorful cardboard (cut out self-portraits if necessary). Display your child’s art.

Want instant access to all of our printable crafts, activities and resources?

With thousands of crafts, activities, worksheets, coloring pages, and drawing guides to print, you’ll always have the resources you need at hand. Perfect for both parents and teachers!

Sign up now and start printing!

Categories: Activities for Kids
Source: fetb.edu.vn