Picasso Portrait Art Project

Posted on by art_teacher_mcr

The aim of this Picasso Portrait Art Project was for students to be able to work together in groups to create one large scale piece of work. The lessons introduce a number of Picasso’s Cubist portrait paintings, which students then respond to in their groups.

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I delivered this project in the last (hectic) summer term in school, so I needed to make sure it covered a few bases:

  • The project engaged all students, but particularly boys
  • It promoted teamwork and effort
  • It gave students autonomy over their final outcomes
  • Students learned about Picasso’s Cubist portraits
  • It included colour theory
  • Students were taught new compositional rules and portrait painting skills
  • It was simple to prep for each lesson
Picasso Portrait Art Project KS3

This project was delivered during enrichment week and was based on feedback from students about art activities they wanted to do during their last weeks in school. Students asked for more group work, so this Picasso portrait project was designed with the aim of being engaging, fun and easy to complete in a short time-frame.

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Picasso Portraits art lessons

The start of the project was a Picasso art lesson showing his Cubist style and exploring the features of Cubist portraits. As a class, we discussed how colour creates moods or atmospheres in paintings, then talked about how Picasso simplified the shapes and features with strong, dark outlines in black. Finally we thought about how pattern is used in certain areas and why.

Picasso art project KS3 portraits

As this project was the last of the school year, the overall grade was given based mainly on how the groups worked as a team (great for classroom management), including:

  • How they organised themselves
  • How they managed materials
  • How well they used the inspiration
  • How they problem-solved
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I also told students that at the end of the project there would be prizes for: Best Teamwork and Best Portrait. As there were groups of 4 or 5 students, there were between 5 and 6 teams per class. Prizes were sweets, pin badges and certificates 🏆

If teams weren’t working well or some students weren’t getting involved, I would gently remind them about how they were going to be marked, and the prizes which were up for grabs, and this seemed to get them back into shape.

See a range of other Portrait Artists here
KS3 Picasso Portrait art project - free
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Materials needed for this Picasso Portrait Project:

For the giant heads, I used sheets of thin, strong board that was already in the department. The board was over 1m in height – the closest I can find are these A2 recycled mount boards which will do the same job. If you can’t get the boards, or want something bigger – large cardboard sheets would still be perfect!

I cut the outline of different heads from the boards, ready for students to work directly onto. Imagine portrait silhouettes cut out of giant pieces of card.

Students first worked with tissue paper and PVA, adding a full layer of colour to their heads.

Next they used cardboard offcuts for the facial features such as eyes, noses etc. Students also covered these with tissue paper then glued them onto the giant heads in different places.

You can just make out the two triangle shapes (cut from cardboard) stuck over each other to make the eyes here on the right.

The final step was to use paint to add patterns and outlines to their features. Poster paint worked well (and is cheap!)

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Before students started to add their first layer of tissue paper, I reminded them about creating a mood or atmosphere in their work: What emotion were they trying to show? What was the personality of the portrait? Which colours would suit which feeling? Where should different colours go? What would be the impact of using warm and cold colours? Would the tissue paper be ripped or cut up?

Since the cardboard heads were so big – over 1m! This “tissue paper” stage took a few lessons. Obviously students were keen to start painting, so I used this as a classroom management technique to keep teams engaged and working purposefully.

I would check their work to make sure the tissue paper was fully stuck down and not peeling off anywhere before I unleashed the paint.

Have a look at another portrait project here

We looked back at Picasso’s Cubist portraits for ideas about how to apply the paint, so students had to think about making features clear, thick and thin lines, the use of colour for patterns,

Picasso portraits group project art lessons

Then students started to paint! Overall I think we had 4, one-hour lessons on these projects and students created some brilliant giant heads… Have you ever taught lessons inspired by Picasso’s portraits before? How did they turn out? I’d love to know your thoughts on this super-size project too 🙂 Let me know in the comments.

If you’d like a copy of this project, including the slides I used to teach it, just leave a comment and I will share it with your email address.

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36 thoughts on “Picasso Portrait Art Project”

  3. Hello- I would love to have a copy of the slideshow! This is wonderful, and I love that it has them working together. Thank you for offering- R Sirevaag

    RSirevaag (Sounds like: ‘Sir-uh-vog’)

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

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  4. This is a great portrait lesson, would you mind sharing the resources for this lesson please? I’m thinking of using the Picasso lesson as a precursor to doing your other realistic portrait lesson on Tpt.

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      1. Can you re-share the link with me again, I can’t find it in anywhere my email, sorry! Love your work!

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  5. These look great and have inspired a different approach to the Picasso Project I previously deliver. Would welcome the slides, thank you. 

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  9. Hello,

    This sounds like such an awesome project, would it be suitable for my Year 3 class do you think? I would love a copy of the slides you used for this project please.

    Many thanks

    Amanda

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  15. looks fantastic . I’d like to try this with my students. Could I have a copy of the resources pls.

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Published by art_teacher_mcr

Making and teaching art. Based in Manchester.