The Portrait Party

Jean-Michel Basquiat & Andy Warhol

2011-09-05T10:49:00.000-07:00

Jean-Michel Basquiat was a rising art star when Andy Warhol took this picture of him (above). Andy Warhol, on the other hand, was a bona fide celebrity. Jean-Michel was so starstruck that he fled the scene, went home, and painted this portrait of the two of them (below). He gave the painting, Dos Cabezas, to Warhol and, thanks to this impromptu portrait party a fast friendship was born.

christine castro hughes & rama hughes

2011-08-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

christine and i found time between the feeding, burping, rocking, and pampering of our newborn baby daughter to have a little portrait party last night.

and, yes, i am completely bald now.

The Portrait Party in SchoolArts Magazine

2011-03-08T00:20:00.000-08:00

The Portrait Party is featured this month in the April 2011 issue of SchoolArts Magazine!

If this is your first time visiting this site, I'm sad to say that it's not as happening as it used to be. The best online portrait parties can now be found at Julia Kay's Flickr page (for the general public) and at Art Ed 2.0 (for art teachers only). Of course, the very best portrait parties will happen at your school, in your living room, and wherever you have a chance to draw with a friend.

A Portrait Party Bulletin Board

2011-02-28T00:35:00.000-08:00

Kristine Johncox set up this portrait party bulletin board for her elementary students to share their portraits. She wanted to start an interactive display where kids could complete enjoy portrait parties with family, friends, or classmates either in or out of school.

julia kay's portrait party

2010-06-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

way back when i started this blog, i invited everyone i knew to start a portrait party of their own. i'm happy to say that julia kay took it so far as to start her own online portrait party over on flickr. for those of you who miss the heyday of this blog (when i had more time to manage it), hop over to her party and see what she's up to. the artwork is gorgeous.

lslds & mr hughes

2010-01-20T05:36:00.000-08:00

every time i complete one of these student portrait parties, a new wave of them crashes down like a tidal wave. drawing one student (always belatedly) reminds a dozen more that they want to trade portraits also. i'm not complaining! it's a fun problem to have. you'll have to believe me that the swaps here represent the tippity tippiest tip of the iceberg. at the end of the year, i'll post a photo of the whole kaboodle. so, you can see the sea of drawings through which i've been swimming.

n.c. mallory & marty harris

2010-01-18T05:29:00.000-08:00

here is a truly gorgeous swap between n.c. mallory (portrayed above) and marty harris (portrayed below).

mr. hughes & ynzsbltt

2009-12-24T02:18:00.000-08:00

Before I colored his portrait, my drawing partner in this portrait party asked if he could go over all my purple lines in black. "It's yours when I'm done with it," I answered, "But what have you got against purple?" Happily, he changed his mind when all the other colors came together.

oshrty & mr. hughes

2009-11-26T07:19:00.000-08:00

"You made me look like a grown up."

"You made me look like a rubber action figure."

I'd buy that action figure by the way.

(Attention teachers: If you are interested in hosting a portrait party at your school, check out the Portrait Party 2.0 that we started on Art Ed 2.0. There are lesson guides, student examples, and lots of other teachers excited to collaborate with you.)

an international portrait party

2009-11-14T00:04:00.000-08:00

Melissa Woodland and David Gran organized a portrait party for their students through Art Education 2.0. Melissa's Art 1 Students were paired up with David's art students from a high school in China. Students swapped photos electronically and drew each other. You can see more of the portraits on flickr and artsonia.

kendra farrell's art 1 class

2009-11-13T23:49:00.000-08:00

Kendra Farrell held an "in house" portrait party to get her art 1 class warmed up for taking risks and having fun. They did!! You can see the rest of the portraits on flickr.

yhdt & mr. hughes

2009-11-11T16:15:00.000-08:00

this year, i added a special offer to my annual art room portrait party. if a student draws me in color, i will draw them in color.

ylhn & mr. hughes

2009-11-10T06:44:00.000-08:00

For as long as I have been teaching, I have made this offer to my students: If you draw me (outside of class), I will draw you. At the moment, I owe portraits to about twenty kids but that just means that there is always something fun to do at lunch time.

Marty Harris & Neta Sa'ar

2009-11-07T12:46:00.000-08:00

the portrait party has been snoozing ever since my baby boy was born but that didn't stop marty (portrayed above) and neta (portrayed below) from submitted this fantastic swap.

Art Center for Kids

2009-08-07T01:52:00.000-07:00

i know it's been a long time between posts but the portrait party is alive and well offline. in addition to the ongoing portrait exchanges that my students and i have made all year, the parties have been a great classroom game for teaching everything from shading and watercolors to sighting techniques and gesture drawing. in this example, my cartooning students at Art Center for Kids used a portrait party to practice caricature and capturing a likeness.

The Happy Birthday Party

2009-03-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

the portrait party is two years old this month!

the portrait above was drawn by my sister, lali shaw!

dale o'flaherty & lucy knisley

2009-03-18T06:05:00.000-07:00

it looks like dale (portrayed above) was on a rampage of portraits! this swap with lucy is one of several he sent out at the same time.

julie oakley & xavier oakley

2009-03-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

julie and her son, xavier, had a lovely evening. he helped her make meatballs for supper and then they had fun drawing each other. xavier ended up going to bed very late because julie can’t estimate time when she's drawing.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts

2009-03-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

my wife and i moved this month and, although we love our new home, it hasn't had internet access until this afternoon. perfect timing actually because, just this afternoon, i received a beautiful surprise from roz stendahl. she and her friends at mcba (the minnesota center for book arts) had a portrait party! they made books from their drawings and they sent me a copy! the cartoon above is by ken avidor. he opened the party with a pep talk and drew this picture of the party in progress. thanks for including me everyone!

The SELF-Portrait Party

2009-02-28T23:59:00.000-08:00

like whitney said last year, "learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all." so, in honor of valentine's day, the portrait party will celebrate the greatest love of all with an entire month of self-portrait parties. draw yourself. share the results. self-portraits will be posted until midnight on february 28th.

(feel free to share your portrait swaps also. i will resume posting them in march.)

rama hughes

2009-02-28T21:01:00.000-08:00

i originally drew this self-portrait as an example for my middle school students' animation class. i liked it so much though that i adapted it as an example for d.i.y. notepads and stationary and it's a portion of the illustration for the fliers for my after-school art workshops.

thanks, everyone for participating in the self-portrait party! you can resume sharing your proper portrait parties at your leisure.

lucie geffré

2009-02-27T01:04:00.000-08:00

this is lucie's contribution to the portrait party. lucie was born in france, lives in madrid, and runs a trilingual blog that you might enjoy!

bethany vanderputten

2009-02-26T17:52:00.000-08:00

bethany made her self-portrait to hone her photoshop painting chops.

angie pickman

2009-02-26T08:27:00.000-08:00

angie created this self-portrait with cut paper. good job, scherenschnitter!

steve morrison

2009-02-25T06:18:00.000-08:00

steve is the one on the left.

tim clary

2009-02-24T05:18:00.000-08:00

tim drew his self-portrait as part of a moleskine portrait exchange.

dave mckean

2009-02-23T01:16:00.000-08:00

i almost forgot to post a CELEBRITY self-portrait this month! d'oh. good thing i found this one while packing. dave mckean, one of my all-time favorite artists, drew this self-portrait comic strip for a german magazine. you can click the pic to see a bigger version. it was his response to their question "where do ideas come from?" in a written post script to the comic, mister mckean added:

"usually i go to this great mexican restuarant i know. i sit in the corner all afternoon when they're empty. i doodle in notebooks, and eventually order a plate of mixed ideas with a side order of salsa picante.
"if i'm really stuck, there's this address in basingstoke i write to, enclosing a stamped addressed envelope, and they send me a small bag of ideas at a very reasonable price."

martin stankewitz

2009-02-22T06:39:00.000-08:00

martin drew his self-portrait for a squidoo lens on self-portraiture. it's worth reading!

cindy woods

2009-02-21T01:23:00.000-08:00

our friend cindy passed away three months ago today. this dual portrait of her sister, wendy (above), and herself, cindy (in the mirror below), is both a self-portrait and an illustration of one of her final portrait parties. cindy's final days were filled with art. you can see it on her website, learning daily.

jeannette jobson

2009-02-20T06:32:00.000-08:00

jeannette drew her self-portrait and a couple of others as part of a forum challenge.

betty wilkines

2009-02-19T01:20:00.000-08:00

betty couldn't decide if she should post her self-portrait on her own site much less contribute it to the self-portrait party. thanks, betty, for finally deciding to jump in with both feet!

chris davis

2009-02-18T01:16:00.000-08:00

chris just happened to have two self-portraits ready just in time for the self-portrait party. talk about your synchronicities!

rama hughes

2009-02-17T20:55:00.000-08:00

come to think of it, gang. here's a self-portrait you can try: draw yourself old! find the wrinkles in your face. imagine what you might look like as a great-grandparent or a centenarian. i drew this as an example for a project with my second graders and it was an e-m-o-t-i-o-n-a-l experience. very worthwhile though. i found my dad and my grandpa in my face and my compassion for them exploded. it made me determined to smile more too :) i want better wrinkles than this when i turn 88.

cathy gatland

2009-02-17T06:30:00.000-08:00

julie invited cathy to the self-portrait party. cathy did a couple of self-portraits and wrote a sort of confessional description of her process.

it spoke to julie's self-portrait and echoed a conversation that i've had with lots of people lately: drawing from old photographs or doctoring new portraits to look younger or prettier. in the wonderful book, griffin & sabine; sabine says "it's the artist's prerogative to take liberties with her self-portrait." i agree.

in my opinion though, there's a greater beauty to be found in staying open to what you see in the mirror. there's a lovely little poem about it:

I wish I knew the beauty of leaves falling. To whom, to whom are we beautiful as we go. To whom are we beautiful as we go. - David Ignato

that's almost the point of a self-portrait, isn't it? not to demonstrate one's self but to discover one's self. julie and cathy's portraits are a great example. they opted to draw from current photographs and they struggled to show themselves as they really are. i admire that.

julie oakley

2009-02-17T05:02:00.000-08:00

julie felt duty bound to produce a more up-to the minute portrait after i used a portrait she’d drawn from a thirty year old. of this new drawing, she wrote "of course the reality of the fifty year old woman looking back at me in the mirror is very difficult to reconcile with the mental image i have of me being about twenty-seven. So the results are confused to say the least. if you’re interested in tackling these conundrums yourself rama is holding a month-long self-portrait party here, and everyone is welcome."

alright people let's dig in! this actually is a great topic.

jannell summers

2009-02-16T04:07:00.000-08:00

school's out today! but, to make sure that this party stays G-rated for my many students who are watching this month, this is not the self-portrait that jannell submitted to the party. i snagged another one from her flickr though. hint hi nt.

christine castro hughes

2009-02-15T01:24:00.000-08:00

christine surprises me now and then with a masterful love letter. for example, her valentine for me this year was a pop-up card. from the outside, it's a portrait of me. when i opened it though, her self-portrait sprung out of nowhere to kiss my face. holy moly!

christine castro & rama hughes

2009-02-14T01:48:00.000-08:00

an unexpected illustration royalty afforded christine and me a new button maker! woohoo! among other things, we used it to make these sets of self-portrait button giveaways.

penelope dullaghan

2009-02-13T17:28:00.000-08:00

our illustrative girl friday, penelope, had a beautiful baby girl today! congratulations!

p.s., yes, this is a self-portrait.

atara s.

2009-02-13T03:36:00.000-08:00

atara is one of my students. she drew this self-portrait as a piece of mail art for her art class pen pal, amanda woodward.

anita davies

2009-02-12T04:42:00.000-08:00

anita is making a thing-a-day. several self-portraits among them!

david r.

2009-02-11T05:45:00.000-08:00

here's a kindergarten contribution to the self-portrait party. my student, david, whipped it up in a matter of seconds. when i asked him to color it, he rolled his eyes and went back to the crayola box.

josh sutcliffe

2009-02-10T04:34:00.000-08:00

josh and his chicken, lunch. "And Lunch is what she will be," he adds, "If she doesn’t start laying some eggs."

dusik

2009-02-09T05:17:00.000-08:00

what's a dusik do?! from four self-portraits, i selected this one to extend the mystery.

andré caetano

2009-02-06T04:28:00.000-08:00

andre is the artist who contributed about a billion self-portraits to last year's self-portrait party. the new one is tops by the way!

mrana

2009-02-05T05:39:00.000-08:00

mariana got her sister to take some photos of her at various angles so that she could draw a self-portrait to perhaps replace her old avatar/icon. then i hunted her down to ask if i could share it on the self-portrait party. says something the power of an avatar, huh?

julie oakley

2009-02-04T04:34:00.000-08:00

julie was reluctant to share this because she drew it from an old photo. a self-portrait is a self-portrait though! especially when it looks this good.

laura park

2009-02-03T00:34:00.000-08:00

can't you almost hear a twisted bluesy lampoon of "i can show you the world" beating in the background of laura's most recent self-portrait? most of her work is a self-portrait actually. in comic strip form.

matana s.

2009-02-02T05:30:00.000-08:00

matana, one of my students, labored over this self-portrait. it is heartbreakingly perfect.

nicholas jackson

2009-02-01T08:21:00.000-08:00

thanks, nick, for getting the self-portrait party off to a great start!

rama hughes

2009-01-31T08:23:00.000-08:00

i want YOU to draw a self-portrait!

rama hughes & christine castro hughes

2009-01-29T17:49:00.000-08:00

i (portrayed above) had surprises, a portrait party, presents, good friends, karaoke, a taco bar, cake, and dance-worthy joy. from morning to night, 34 was my best birthday ever. thanks to my wonderful wife (portrayed below).

derek somaru & rama hughes

2009-01-27T05:25:00.000-08:00

to his credit, derek was playing wii when i drew his portrait (above). to my credit, he captured my physique perfectly (below).

christine castro hughes & derek somaru

2009-01-25T05:30:00.000-08:00

this drawing of christine (above) reminds me of many, many video game battles. we play x-men fighting games on the x-box and her dark phoenix always slaughters me. and there's a connection! derek was playing nintendo when christine drew him (below).

rebecca whitener & christine castro hughes

2009-01-23T05:31:00.000-08:00

rebecca (portrayed above) and christine (portrayed below) were in cahoots about my birthday surprise but i had a hunch that the whiteners were coming thanks to a mysterious nudge, nudge, wink, wink email from jeremy whitener. "i was just hoping you'd get laid!" he defended himself later.

derek somaru & rebecca whitener

2009-01-21T05:39:00.000-08:00

derek (portrayed above) had never had a portrait party before. he was quick to find a gimmick: superheroes! that's the secret origin of battling becky (below).

emma & rachel

2009-01-19T04:08:00.000-08:00

my students made a gigantic elaborately illustrated card to congratulate barack obama on his inauguration. emma (portrayed above) and rachel (portrayed below) drew each other for part of the project.

rama hughes & rebecca whitener

2009-01-17T05:12:00.000-08:00

some of my best friends moved far away this year. i (portrayed above) was feeling kind of lonely because of it. so, i threw a party on my birthday to remind myself that i still have friends. surprisingly, some of my far away friends showed up for the festivities! rebecca (portrayed below) and her husband, jelly... er, jeremy, arrived in time for the pre-party portrait party.

tom pohlman & akiki watanabe

2009-01-15T06:39:00.000-08:00

here's another beautiful swap from different strokes from different folks. tom painted akiko (above) and she painted him (below).

john vander stelt & carol feldman

2009-01-13T06:33:00.000-08:00

john (portrayed above) shared this swap from 130 artist portrait party that karin jurick hosted last month. his portrait partner was carol (portrayed below).

don meagher & rama hughes

2009-01-11T01:46:00.000-08:00

i realized recently that a good pose goes a long way at a portrait party. so, i wrapped my arms around my head for this one. my dad (portrayed above) paid exaggerated attention to it in his drawing of me (below).

christine castro hughes & lauren hughes

2009-01-09T01:17:00.000-08:00

two more portraits by two of my favorite artists: my wife (portrayed above) and my mom (portrayed below).

christine castro hughes & rama hughes

2009-01-07T01:07:00.000-08:00

our family admired these drawings of christine (portrayed above) and me (portrayed below). my wife and i have a lot of practice drawing each other though. at a portrait party, we're like the couple who plays charades so often that they're almost telepathic when family game night comes around.

lauren hughes & henry hughes

2009-01-05T01:20:00.000-08:00

another fun swap from my mom (portrayed above) and my brother (portrayed below). both of them are really focused when they draw but neither of them takes their results too seriously. which almost always leads to fun, interesting drawings.

don meagher & lali shaw

2009-01-03T01:26:00.000-08:00

imagianry hats and mustaches weren't enough for our dad (portrayed above). he drew my sister, lali, as big bird (below).

barbara levy & christine castro hughes

2009-01-01T01:21:00.000-08:00

another swap from my grandma's first ever portrait party! she (portrayed above) and christine (portrayed below) were both proud of their drawings. personally, i love how protective and apologetic christine was that she - accurately - drew my grandma's grandma neck. they love each other.

rama hughes & henry hughes

2008-12-30T01:15:00.000-08:00

my brother has a bold, care-free style of portraiture. he basically barrels into each drawing with complete faith that ~ even if the details are not just right ~ his many drawing skills will pull the picture together in the end. his portrait of me (above) is a masterful example. i tried his method when i drew him (below). it takes practice, i think.

lali shaw & lauren hughes

2008-12-28T01:11:00.000-08:00

this portrait swap between my sister (portrayed above) and my mom (portrayed below) reminds me of the olden days when the two of them were nearly inseparable. lali even dressed a lot like our mom.

don meagher & christine castro hughes

2008-12-26T02:52:00.000-08:00

my dad (portrayed above) loves my wife (portrayed below). he's a tough nut to crack sometimes but christine did it somehow. of all my girlfriends, she was the first who really interested him. if you're familiar with his drawings, his affection is apparent in our portrait parties.

barbara levy & rama hughes

2008-12-24T03:12:00.000-08:00

my grandma (portrayed above) doesn't do portrait parties. she join us for the get-togethers and she models ~ does she ever! ~ but she never actually draws. so, no one went looking for her when she missed our sister's portrait party. we assumed she wasn't interested. surprisingly, barbara was really disappointed. she had taken a nap and was sad to have missed the festivity. "we can always have another one!" i suggested. so, my grandma, christine, and i had our own portrait party. barbara even participated with her first portrait ever! "it's not very good," barbara approved her drawing of me (below), "but it's the best thing i ever drew."

erik shaw & don meagher

2008-12-22T03:02:00.000-08:00

my dad adds bow ties or hats or mustaches, et cetera, to almost all of his portraits. it's his gimmick. don's drawing of his new son-in-law (above) was no exception. but erik turned the tables on him (below)!

130-Artist Portrait Swap

2008-12-21T01:34:00.000-08:00

A new participant, Ed Marion, just introduced me to The Portrait Party's long-lost sister-site, Different Strokes From Different Folks. Every 2 weeks, Karin Jurick posts a photo and scores of artists paint their interpretations of it.

This 3-week period, Karin has posted a portrait challenge so that approximately 65 pairs of artists will be swapping portraits. Karin seems to have opened the door for some last minute participants. Ed thought that we would all like to know about it. We would! Thanks, Ed!

lali shaw & henry hughes

2008-12-20T02:46:00.000-08:00

happily, my sister (portrayed above) and my brother (portrayed below) are always game for a portrait party when we're all together. sadly, that doesn't happen as often as it used to.

lauren hughes & rama hughes

2008-12-18T05:11:00.000-08:00

when i was 11, my mom (portrayed above) drew a picture of me (portrayed below) in my underwear. that was my apparel of choice back then. when i was 21, she decoupaged that drawing onto a present for me. it was a beautiful box full of letters and drawings from my friends. you could say that box started this portrait party. tomorrow, i turn 34. it amazes me that we've been drawing each other for that long. decades!

mrs. & mr. alex butterfield

2008-12-16T05:11:00.000-08:00

alex drew his wife (on the left) and he made her draw him too (on the right) even though she was reluctant. see, gang? that's how you get a portrait party going: coercion, extortion, bribery. it's fun for the whole family!

don meagher & henry hughes

2008-12-14T01:11:00.000-08:00

father (portrayed above) and son (portrayed below) in matching, albeit make-believe, hats.

gordon redshaw & parita shah

2008-12-12T04:46:00.000-08:00

this swap is all about the eyes. gordon (portrayed above) and parita (portrayed below) drew this portrait party version of a staring contest.

beautifully, i might add.

clara charlotte & michael nobbs

2008-12-10T01:05:00.000-08:00

clara from germany (portrayed above) met michael from aberystwyth (portrayed below) through twitter. they bonded over danny gregory books. it sounds like a portrait party was inevitable.

lali shaw & christine castro hughes

2008-12-08T03:11:00.000-08:00

one of the things that i love about actual real life portrait parties is seeing how friends who wouldn't normally draw each other do draw each other. lali (portrayed above) and christine (portrayed below) would probably draw each other more if we saw each other more but this was their very first go at it. for a portrait enthusiast like me, that's always exciting.

morgan kessler & her dad

2008-12-06T06:09:00.000-08:00

morgan (portrayed above) had a portrait party with her dad (portrayed below). BZZZT ~ NO ADDITIONAL DETAILS WERE GIVEN ~ BZZZT.

erik shaw & rama hughes

2008-12-04T01:21:00.000-08:00

the rest of our family has been drawing each other for years but the groom, our new brother, erik (portrayed above) never had a portrait party before. he jumped it with both feet though! he gave us a great, weird pose to draw and put a lot of effort into his two-minute portrait of me (below).

don meagher & lauren hughes

2008-12-01T01:17:00.000-08:00

my dad (portrayed above) never takes his drawings too seriously. while he put hats and mustaches on the rest of us, his two minute drawing of our mom (below) was actually pretty sweet and serious. aww...

henry hughes & christine castro hughes

2008-11-26T01:05:00.000-08:00

my brother, henry (portrayed above), is pretty frugal with his compliments. if he doesn't like something he'll tell you. so, it meant a lot to christine (portrayed below) when he marveled over all of the drawings she did at our sister's matrimonial portrait party. (we all liked her pose too!)

anna lee & jackie poutasse

2008-11-26T01:01:00.000-08:00

anna (portrayed above) and jackie (portrayed below) swapped portraits this weekend.

Cindy Woods rocks on!

2008-11-22T01:24:00.000-08:00

cindy woods passed away yesterday. i never met her in person. so, i can't say that i knew her well. we corresponded frequently though. we both like science fiction. we have at least a dozen favorite artists in common. and drawing... well, simply put, cindy won my friendship quickly.

what i love about cindy's artwork is (1) its honesty and (2) its compassion. you can see lots of it on this website and even more on flickr and cindy's blog, learning daily. it is obvious in her drawings and her words that cindy's heart was enormous. the world's a better place for having held her and little sadder to have let her go.

wally torta & cindy woods

2008-11-20T00:45:00.000-08:00

wally (portrayed above) wrote me last night to share this swap and to let me know that his portrait partner, the amazing cindy woods (portrayed below), is now in hospice care. cindy has big talent and a huge heart. she deserves all the love you can send her. if you want to read about her life and see her gorgeous drawings, i hope you'll visit her website: learning daily.

rama hughes & aileen level

2008-11-18T19:25:00.000-08:00

i invited all the teachers at my school to a portrait party in the art room this week. i brought a lot of snacks and stayed pretty late to host it. aileen, the social studies teacher, is the only person who showed up though. darn. but, yay aileen. we drew anyway and had a good time eating chocolate and sharing teaching and travel stories. the following morning, almost everyone said they would come next time if i did it again. we'll see.

lali shaw & rama hughes

2008-11-16T08:26:00.000-08:00

my sister (portrayed above) asked me to host a portrait party as part of her wedding celebration. she didn't want me to post her drawings but the drawing she did of me (below) is maybe my favorite portrait of all time. so, she gave me permission.

james kochalka & jason cooley

2008-11-10T01:24:00.000-08:00

to celebrate the tenth anniversary of his sketchbook diaries, james kochalka (portrayed above), invited friends and colleagues to draw his portrait. as kochalka's pal and bandmate, jason (portrayed below as a little white dog), is also a recurring character in the comic strip diary.

How to Host a Class Portrait Party

2008-11-09T17:35:00.000-08:00

Art Problem: Students will draw portraits of each other.
Grades: Appropriate for all ages
Time: Adjustable

Materials:
A stop watch or a clock with a second hand
Drawing Materials, a wide variety if possible
Paper
A firm drawing surface (clipboards, hardcover books, etc.)

Step 1: Introduce the Lesson
Explain what a portrait party is: Students will take turns drawing each other. Portrait parties are a fun way to introduce students to a wide variety of artists and art skills. If you intend to use the party to teach a lesson, now is the time. David Hockney and Lucian Freud had a portrait party. So did Pissarro and Gauguin. What are the proportions of the head and face? Gesture drawing? Blind contour? Sighting techniques? You teach it, they'll listen in anticipation of the party.

Step 2: Organize the Students
Students can pair off for a portrait party lesson but, in my experience, small groups work better. Teams of three students are better for short classes. Four or five for longer classes. A third student minimizes group conflict, motivates the model to stay still, and challenges the second artist to try harder. One student will model while the rest of the team draws. Students will take turns modeling.

Step 3: Warm Up
Start the party with a quick round of portraits. 30 second, one minute, or two minute portraits all work well. So, adjust this round to your class time. The quick round insures that every student gets a chance to draw and to model. It also gets the students' creativity going and shows everyone how easy and how hard it is to draw and to model. By comparison, the next round - A five minute pose - seems like all the time in the world. If you are teaching a specific art skill, now is a good time to quietly assess the students before individual teaching begins. Give the students a few seconds to share their portraits between rounds.

Step 4: The Party Begins!
Continue the party with a series of 5 - 10 minutes poses depending on the students' ages and maturity level. Remind the students of the skills they should be practicing while drawing. Start the timer. Tour the room and offer individual instruction while the students work. A group portrait party is ideal for this kind of instruction because none of the portraits become too precious ~ Students can blame bad drawings on the time limit ~ and the students will do several portraits in a short period so you have that many opportunities to gauge their progress and adjust your instructions.

Step 5: Assessment
By the end of the portrait party, each student will have created a small series of portraits. Assessment always varies but the series itself offers students and teachers a wonderful evaluation. Did the portraits improve throughout the series? Students enjoy a huge ego boost when you can put the portraits in order and prove their success to them.

Have fun!

rama hughes & christine castro

2008-11-06T18:43:00.000-08:00

when i was feeling shy before a show, christine made this button (on the left) for me so i wouldn't have to introduce myself. this weekend at the alternative press expo, i returned the favor.

Our First In-Class Portrait Party!

2008-10-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

My after-school art classes started this week and, as a get-to-know-you game, I had all the students try a blind contour drawing of the kid sitting across from them. One side of the table modeled while the other side drew. It was a big hit! The following day, one of the kindergarten kids found me and said "My sister taught me the trick you taught her." Which trick, I asked. "Where you draw each other without looking." At your drawing. "Right! It's fun!" It's fun to know that the kids go home and try these games again.

sarah y. & mr. hughes

2008-10-27T20:36:00.000-07:00

sarah y. is the student responsible for the portrait party fad at our school. her mom gave me permission to post our sketches here. below is the one sarah drew of me. "in the art room because you're always there," she said.

A Matrimonial Portrait Party

2008-10-26T21:05:00.000-07:00

My sister got married this week in Mexico! The one thing she asked me to do was host a portrait party before the wedding. Over the next few months, I'll post all the drawings we did but here is the invitation I whipped up: A portrait of my sister during her hair and make-up tests.

The Portrait Party in CitiLink

2008-10-20T05:44:00.000-07:00

i finally got a copy of our citilink article! with thanks to kerstin for the scan and the illustration. click here to read it!

samuel & amalie el guanaco

2008-10-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

the first of many possible portraits from samuel (portrayed above) and amalie (below)!

Class Portraits

2008-10-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

hey everyone! so, obviously, the portrait party website is taking a little nap this fall while i secure my footing on a new school year. you'll be happy to know that portrait parties are alive and well in my classes though. in fact, they seem to be a little fad among the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade girls. here are just a few of the portraits that the girls have done of me this year. they are spreading across the art room wall at a surprising pace and i'll post the actual swaps if i get permission from the kids' parents. until then, please keep sending your swaps. i'll post your pictures and mine whenever i find time.

JJ & Trevor Romain

2008-10-04T14:53:00.000-07:00

here's a schitzophrenic take on a portrait party. trevor drew "one of the characters who lives in (his) head" (above) and, apparently, she drew him (below).

susan brady & christine castro

2008-09-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

my wife, christine, (portrayed on the right) attended art workshops at squam lake. she came home with lots of stories and this portrait swap she drew with susan (portrayed on left).

mandy schonzeit & liz starin

2008-09-15T01:26:00.000-07:00

my friend, mandy (portrayed above), and her friend, liz (below), are rocking the casbah of portrait parties. more please!