What is a portrait?

1. Portraits What is a portrait? A portrait is an image created by an artist which represents a person, a group of people or even an animal.

2. Is he rich or poor? When did he live? Artists make portraits of people (and sometimes animals). When you look at portraits, you learn about the people in them. How old is he? Where is he from?

3. We can honour important people by making their portraits. Why do artists make portraits? Before people had cameras, a painted portrait was a good way to remember what someone looked like. Today, most people take photographs to remember people. Artists still make portraits for many reasons. We can express a mood or capture someone's personality in a portrait.

4. Portraits often show one person. Here is a painting of a young woman Portraits can also show groups of people like families. Sometimes, artists make portraits of animals.

5. Sometimes, artists make portraits of themselves. These are called self-portraits. They use a mirror to make a portrait of themselves!

6. Many artists try to make things look real. They want the portrait to look like the model. Sometimes artists might even idealize or make the portrait look better than the person did in real life. Other artists make portraits that are abstract (they don't look real).

7. Camera & film Oil paints Junk materials Felt tip pens Terracotta Most people think of paintings when they picture a portrait. But you can make a portrait out of anything! When you make a portrait you will need to make the following decisions – How much of the person to show? Full face, ¾ length, whole body …. What should the subject wear? What image is to be conveyed? The pose? Standing, sitting, formal … The expression? The background? Materials? Tools? Techniques?

8. Looking for clues in a portrait – being a detective! You can look at – • Clothes being worn • Hairstyle • Pose • Background • Any objects • Expression of the sitter • Colours in the portrait Information gathered like this will tell you a great deal about the subject of the portrait. Also try to think about why the portrait might have been made.

9. What do you remember about portraits? Open the Portrait Sorting Smart Notebookfile (portraitsorting.notebook) and sort the pieces of art work into the correct categories. Good luck! Portraitsorting.notebook