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 scheme of work has lessons that introduce a number of Picasso’s Cubist portrait paintings, which students then respond to in their groups.

Picasso Portrait Art Project KS3

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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

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.

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

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 and resources I use to teach it, just click here or below and you’ll be able to download it all. Enjoy!

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*UPDATE*
Thank you so much to Alexis Wardle (all the way from Canada!) who has shared these incredible responses to the project – I absolutely love them! It is clear that students have really engaged and interpreted the portraits in their own way.

If you want to share any of your student’s work, please feel free to get in touch over on my Instagram 👍

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If you’d like a copy of the presentation, just leave a comment below and I will share it with you – enjoy!

241 thoughts on “Picasso Portrait Art Project”

  2. Hi, i am an elementary art teacher from Montreal in Canada, I would like to have a copy of your great project! Your students did an amazing job!

    Thank you!

    Reply

  4. Hello! I just ran across this project and I love it! I would greatly appreciate the materials for instruction of it. I would like to use it next semester (Jan 25).

    Thank you in advance!

    Reply

  6. I absolutely love this plan! I would be so grateful if you could send me the lesson plan along with the slides!

    Reply

  13. I’m so happy I found this page! I would love to try this lesson with my students if you could send me a copy. Thank you!

    Reply

  23. This looks a great project that I would like to try with my very mixed ability and understanding group of kids in a small international school in Myanmar. Thanks for all your efforts in encouraging those of us less well resourced in materials and expertise.

    Reply

  24. I’d love to this lesson for my grade 5&6 split class! I will be teaching it this week. Can I please have a copy? 🙂

    Reply

  28. How Fabulous! Just LOVE your Picasso Art Project, may I also receive a copy plz? Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

    Reply

  31. Hi, could I please have the resources mentioned in the post? Thanks so much! Looking forward to trying this lesson with my students soon!

    Reply

  32. This looks fabulous! Would love to try this with my class. Please can you send me the slides and any teaching resources/plans with this series of lessons. Many thanks. 😊

    Reply

  33. This looks great! I’m teaching grade 7/8 in Niagara Falls, Ontario and would love to try this with my class.

    Thanks!

    Reply

  34. Wow, this is amazing! I am an elementary teacher and I run an afterschool art club. I would love to do this with my art club students. Would you please share with me?

    Thank you 🙂

    Reply

  37. Hello, what a great looking project! I’d love to do this with my 7th graders. Please share! 🙂

    Reply

  38. Fantastic project. Could I possibly get a copy of the files to do this with my class?

    Reply

  39. Hi, This looks a great resource, I really like the outcomes. I’d be grateful if you could share with me? Thanks

    Reply

  41. I love this! I would love to use this with one of my 4th grade classes. Could you send me the slides?

    Reply

  43. This lesson looks amazing. So engaging and informative. Could you share your lesson and slides with me?

    Reply

  48. This looks like a fantastic lesson plan and I’d love to use it with my Year 6’s. Please could I have a copy of your slides?

    Reply

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Published by art_teacher_mcr

Making and teaching art. Based in Manchester.