Middle School

The Essential Question
How can we help students experience success when drawing a self-portrait?

Objective
Students will draw and shade their eyes using a grid.

Materials
gridded photo of student’s eye, pencils, drawing paper, rulers (for drawing a grid), blending stumps, erasers

Procedures
1. Discuss the anatomy of the human eye and share visuals as needed.
2. Ask students to take a self-portrait photograph of their own eyes.
3. Have students overlay a grid to divide their photo into sections, then use rulers to draw a corresponding grid on drawing paper.
4. Ask students to follow the grid to draw and shade their eyes.
5. Students can draw something below the eyes to indicate how they spend most of their leisure time (e.g., a phone, book, or video game device).
6. To learn more about how to draw using a grid, watch the YouTube video, “Melody Weintraub’s Drawing Using a Grid."

Assessment
Students are assessed by the effort and skill they use in drawing and shading and how accurately they follow the grid.

Melody Weintraub is a retired middle-level art teacher and an art education adjunct at The University of Tennessee Knoxville.