Me and My Shadow

Self-portraits are even more fun when something unexpected is added. Our older elementary students added shadows, and they loved the resulting 3-D illusion!

The technique is simple: the artist draws a picture of him or herself doing something they enjoy, and color it in (it's much easier to color in a picture prior to being cut out than after it is cut). Once completed, the picture is placed on top of a piece of black construction paper and taped along the edges on all four sides (just short pieces of tape, not the whole edge). Now the artist cuts himself (or herself) out of both sheets of paper at once, creating a mirror image out of black paper - a shadow!

Select a third sheet of construction paper in a contrasting color as the ground.

Arrange the portrait and its shadow on the ground with the shadow slightly to the left or the right of, and possible slightly above the figure.                                                                             

Move them around until you like the effect, and glue them down.

Pretty cool, especially with sparkly lipstick!

Must be a Rebel!                    Skateboard Dude