here is another pair of swaps from sue medaris's "you draw me and i draw you" lesson. obviously, adam (portrayed above) and bekah (portrayed below) hammed it up for their portraits.
i eat this stuff up! please share more, sue (and all teachers), if your students draw each other again.
after reading about the portrait party in the artist's magazine, sue medaris added a "you draw me and i draw you" lesson to the drawing for illustration class that she teaches at madison area technical college in wisconsin. her students paired up, took photos of each other in class, and drew each other's portraits for homework. here are two of the results from zach (portrayed above) and yvonne (portrayed below).
penny (portrayed above) did her first portrait swap with her mentor and friend, lindsay (portrayed below). she recommends "this fun activity for all of you! go forth," she says, "find a friend and have fun!!"
lindsay (portrayed above) submitted her portrait of ujwala (below) with a suggestion: "I have an idea for a monthly theme. What if people did swaps of 'in the manner of' or swaps of historical time periods. I'd love to do someone as Egyptian Royalty or a Byzantine saint." i'm not going to do this because i don't want a monthly theme to scare off people who just want to draw. that said, if anyone wants to be drawn as a pharoah, you know who to call!
speaking of spider-man: my friend, sidra, (portrayed above as electro) wore this costume to a spider-man party that i hosted last year. yes, i am a super-geek. when spider-man 3 came out, we had a movie marathon with old and new spider-man cartoons sprinkled in there. it was over the top. i made favors for our friends. christine made amazing cupcakes. we all wore red and blue or spider-man clothes. none of this was embarrassing to me. sidra laughed though when she found my blueprints for the party; i had drawn out my plans for the party on three pages of the book. there were doodles of the cupcakes, the favors, the spider-buttons i was going to make. she grabbed a pencil and drew this portrait of me (below) on the last open spot on the page.
the portrait party was featured in the web tech section of city link magazine. (click the link and scroll down to read it now!) i haven't received my copy yet but, unless we got bumped by grand theft auto, the story is illustrated with this portrait (above) that kerstin klein did of me as spider-man. thanks, kerstin! and thanks to colleen dougher who wrote us up!
andy mouse (above) is keith haring's legendary portrait of andy warhol. andy's portrait of keith and his boyfriend (below) isn't as renowned but i'm sure that keith, as a fanboy for andy, wet himself when he saw it.
my mom painted this portrait of me (above) after i shared a potentially embarrassing confession: i sometimes try to move things with my mind. there was an autumn in oregon when i spent my lunch break trying to believe that there was no difference between the fallen leaves and myself. i think that might be the trick to telekinesis. unlike some moms who would discourage this kind of lunacy, my mom loved it. she wanted to draw it!
when she was a teenager, my mom wrapped herself in a rug and wandered around the neighborhood pretending to be a bear. there is more to this story. lots more. below is the pencil sketch that i drew for a painting that i am doing of my mom. as i drew it, i couldn't help thinking "my mom is just a girl." she is a kind, free, hardworking, earnest, silly, enthusiastic kid doing her best to be a grown-up and a wife and a mom. it was hard to see that until i became a boy trying to be a grown-up and a husband and father someday. i'm grateful for her example.
happy mother's day, mom!
i know that lots of you have been itching to host your own portrait party. well, here's the perfect excuse: june 7th is drawing day! so, gather your art supplies, invite some friends, and draw, draw, draw each other! the folks at drawingday.org and everyone here at the portrait party would love to see what you do.
this is one of the best portrait party stories that i have heard. our pal, kerstin klein, found this portrait of herself (above) on one of her favorite blogs, logbuch isla volante. to quote kerstin exactly, "i immediately recognized myself and thought i must be dreaming. i had to look twice. it is an incredible feeling to be drawn by someone whose art i have been admiring daily." being kerstin, she of course returned the favor (below).
p.s., kerstin, your painting is on its way!
arindam (portrayed above) and nina (portrayed below) swapped portraits. this is for the first time arindam drew the head and the neck of a portrait partner - as opposed to just the face. it's a minor change but a big improvement! and it's one of the things that makes watching all of your portrait swaps so much fun. i get to see the little changes that make your portraits better each time.
