Theme and variation: the crosshatch portrait

Arts & Activities, March, 2002 by Len Mathes

Picture this: At a typical high school, art teachers find students enrolled in the "Art 1" courses who aren't there of their own volition. Having a limited amount of courses offered as "electives," the counselors invariably place kids in your class for a variety of reasons.

So the sturdy art teacher is now faced with several students who (the students think) are not artistic, who don't particularly want to participate and may provide teachers with problems we would rather not have. Sound familiar?

I am always inventing projects with the motive of "hooking" my potential artists--those that don't think they are artistic enough to produce anything of value or beauty. After witnessing their own artistic potential, they may willingly and eagerly enroll in more art courses. At this point, I got 'em! Here's a project that produces artwork both of value and beauty ... and is a great "hook."

Among the very first techniques taught in art classes are how to render objects in a variety of ways: line, shadows, contour line, stippling, cross-hatching and so on. But prior to using ,these techniques, I strongly stress to students the importance of improving observational skills. Looking at an object and closely observing it is of utmost importance. I use many blind contour drawing exercises to hone their observational skills. Once the students know what I expect them to look for, we begin with the dreaded self-portrait!

My "end" is always to reinforce my student's sense of artistic self-esteem ... and my "means" are whatever it takes. Colleagues steeped in "fine arts" traditions sometimes have mixed feelings about using today's technology to produce works of art. But my students enjoy learning to use technology in our projects and are always willing to follow my lead to investigate whatever is new. For this project you need a portrait photograph, a scanner, computer software to enhance the brightness and contrast of the photograph, a light table, a thin roller-marker and a computer printer.

I use a digital camera (Sony Mavica[R]) to take extreme close-up pictures of my students' faces. Each student then uses computer software (Adobe Photoshop[R]) to change their colored photograph to black and white. The black-and-white photo is then manipulated by using the brightness and contrast controls to create a higher contrast photograph accentuating the shadows and highlights, but maintaining some of the middle tones.

Once their photograph is finished, it is printed on a regular piece of 8 1/2" x 11" white paper. The final portrait size is around 6" x 9". On a separate piece of paper, a series of six 1-inch squares are drawn in pencil. A thin black roller-ball marker is given to each student. I previously used the traditional pen and India ink, but found the roller-ball marker as successful and much cleaner to use.

The object is to darken the first square as much as possible using crosshatch strokes, and create a dark-to-light value scale using lesser and lesser amounts of cross-hatching. Once this exercise is completed, it's on to their self-portrait. A plain piece of 8 1/2" x 11" paper is stapled in two places over their black-and-white photo, allowing a corner of the top sheet to be free. Then both sheets are placed on a light table. The darkest black areas are carefully darkened first.

With care and a close eye, the middle tones are dealt with next. The light table is no longer used beyond this point. Using a cartoonist technique, the top sheet is frequently flipped up while the student's eye fixes on the various parts of the photograph, then renders the value using crosshatch. I keep reminding my student that "where it's white, there are no lines," and to "slow down!"

I may be biased because I am their teacher, but the results are spectacular! Even more spectacular is the kids' newly discovered assurance in their artistic capabilities. But we aren't done yet! There are at least three more steps involved. The best is yet to come.

I cut tan butcher paper into 8 1/2" x 11" pieces, although any light-weight paper could be used. The students then scan their original crosshatched portraits at 72 dpi (dots per inch) minimum and print them out on the computer's printer, substituting the butcher paper for the regular printer paper. Some students elect to take a white pencil to slightly indicate highlights, while others add a thin tempera whitewash to the background.

Since I print one for the student plus one for me, I dry-mount a copy of each portrait on illustration board. Each time I gather nine or 12, I arrange them on a larger poster board, glue risers under a few, and arrange them so they project three-dimensionally and glue them down.

But the project still is not complete. Next, students take classified ads, tear them in strips and haphazardly glue them down on a plain white piece of 8 1/2"x 11" paper (glue sticks were used here). I suggest not using any newspaper photographs because the newspaper photo will distract from their self-portrait.