Think of the opening notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.  You know those four notes, the first three repeating the g note, and the last one down two notes to note e.  You can sing it - Dah Dah Dah Duh. This is the beginning rhythm of the first movement of the symphony. Just as there are different rhythms in music, there are also in art.

Let’s explore this concept further through our own play with rhythm and movement.   We will take a photograph of our face up close in color, then put it in pixlr.com, apply the pixelate filter at about level five, and then using color pencils or by using torn paper on a drawn out gridded paper, you will create rhythms within the squares and movement throughout to create a lively portrait of yourself.

Steps:

1. Take a close up photo of your face.
2. Upload the jpeg to pixlr.com web app
3. Apply the Pixelate Filter about level 5 to the photo.
4. Save the photo to your computer as jpeg.
5. Print out your photograph.  Tape your photo to the window, place a piece of tracing paper over the photo and trace the squares.
6. If you aren’t able to print out your photograph, you can reference the image online and at the same time draw a grid on paper that represents the squares on the photograph.
7. Use your photo as a reference and add circles within circles of color to each square to emphasize the values that you see on your face.  Notice how some circles are light, others dark, some saturated colors, some muted colors. Use a variety, but remember that the lighter values represent the highlights on your portrait, and the darker values are the shadows.

Example: 

Look at this close up swatch of the Chuck Close Portrait which are the lips and around the lips, and how he used colors within each square.  Notice the colors he used for the lips and then line dividing the lips, and the dark values around the lips. Be creative to give your face energy. Suggested medium is color pencil.

Image: Chuck Close SELF PORTRAIT WOODCUT 2009,Used with permission.

Example: 

http://www.artyfactory.com/ Used with permission (Links to an external site.)

Submit Your Assignment:
Take picture of your completed assignment and post along with your original photograph.
To submit your work:
1.Make sure your image is correctly rotated in editing software, upload it to Canvas Files, then go to the assignment forum and click “Submit Assignment” in the upper right corner of the screen. Click the image icon (mountain/sun) on the textbox menu. Click the second tab, CANVAS, Click MY FILES, find your image and click on it to upload to textbox, click the image again and pull it in from the corner to reduce size of picture to fit the forum. We should be able to see the whole picture without scrolling. Or change the dimensions in the dimension box (first dimension should be about 400, tab over and click UPDATE).
2.To upload a file, click on Choose File to select the file from your computer.
OR
To answer using a text box, click on the Text Entry tab and answer the questions in the text box.
Finally, click "Submit Assignment" for it to be graded by the teacher.