Portraiture (Year 6) — Year 6 Lesson Plan
National Curriculum: Art and Design KS2 — To improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing and painting; to know about great artists and compare artists in history; to evaluate and analyse creative works.
Overview
Pupils undertake an extended study of portraiture across art history, from Tudor miniatures to the contemporary figurative paintings of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. They develop technically ambitious portraits using layered media and explore how light, colour and mark-making choices create mood, character and expression. The unit culminates in a personally conceived portrait that demonstrates both technical skill and artistic intention.
Learning Objectives
- To know about the history of portraiture across different periods and cultures
- To apply chiaroscuro and expressive mark-making to create mood and likeness
- To work in layers, combining drawing, paint and mixed media in a single portrait
- To write and discuss an artist statement that explains the intention and choices made in a portrait
Key Vocabulary
Suggested Lesson Structure
Present a timeline of portraiture: Hans Holbein miniature, Rembrandt self-portrait, Picasso cubist portrait, Andy Warhol screen print, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye oil painting. Ask: what has changed about what a portrait is trying to do? Discuss how contemporary portraits by Yiadom-Boakye are invented figures — people who do not exist — yet feel entirely believable and emotionally present.
Demonstrate the layered portrait process: begin with a charcoal or graphite drawing establishing proportions and key shadows; fix with hairspray; apply thin acrylic colour washes over the top, working from light to dark; develop specific features with a fine brush; add final details and expressive marks in the uppermost layer. Show how each layer builds on the one before without obliterating it.
Pupils begin with a photographic reference (a portrait they have taken themselves) or draw from a partner. They establish the under-drawing in charcoal on cartridge paper, focusing on proportion and the key areas of light and shadow before applying any colour. Teacher circulates asking: what mood are you creating? What colour temperature are the shadows?
Pupils develop the painting across multiple sessions, building up layers of acrylic wash, refining features and adding expressive surface marks. They are encouraged to make deliberate departures from photographic accuracy in service of mood — an unexpected colour in the shadows, an expressive mark for hair, a bold background.
Pupils draft their artist statement (3-4 sentences) explaining who the portrait shows, what mood they wanted to create and what one specific technical or creative choice they made to achieve it. Portraits and statements are displayed together in a class gallery.
Common Misconceptions
- Pupils sometimes believe that departing from photographic accuracy is a mistake rather than a choice — study Yiadom-Boakye's work to establish that the best portraits often involve the artist inventing and deciding, not just recording
- Many pupils are afraid of ruining their charcoal under-drawing with paint — demonstrate that this is exactly the point: the drawing shows through in ways that add depth and complexity to the final work
Prior Knowledge
Pupils should already be able to:
- Portrait drawing from Year 2 and Year 4
- Chiaroscuro from the Year 4 Drawing: Portraits unit
- Layered painting techniques from Year 4 and Year 5
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