Lesson At A Glance

Here’s a brief overview of the complete lesson. It’s also on your prep page in the Ready, Set, Go! section (below the lesson).

Colored buttons jump to each section in the full lesson plan below.

7 Minutes – Draw mouth from memory

30 Min – Sculpt a mouth in clay

5 Min – Bottle shows how a mouth is shaped

10 Min – Draw face using handout guide

15 Min – Use mirror for self portrait guidelines

15 Min – Cool color shadows in oil pastels

15 Min – Lighter areas in warm colors

5 Min – Outline in black or color

2 Min – Outline with a bold color

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SCROLL & TEACH

LESSONPLAN

Each section is a different color. Read over once and then you can SCROLL & TEACH using any device you like. It’s designed to work well with your phone.

All materials are suggestions and may be modified as you see fit. We have tried many items, and these seem to allow the most versatility for the cost.

Everyone creates a simple sketch in pencil.

Draw a quick face with no shading, keeping the features simple. Don’t make it look cartoonish, just simplified.

Then have everyone write the word “MOUTH” in all caps on their paper somewhere.  Ask, “which letter represents the shape of the teeth?” Then emphasize how rounded the letter U is, and point out that the teeth are just as rounded. If you have a skull model you can show them the teeth.

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Use the video to demo for students to follow.

Make sure no one tries to work while the video is playing. Stop after a few steps and then have everyone complete those few steps.

After everyone is ready, play the next few steps and continue.

Important! Keep the clay on and over the paper while working.

Steps for Sculpting the mouth.

Stop at the pause points and let the students repeat the steps to that point. Don’t have them work while the video plays since they will not be able to see everything.

• Warm up the clay. Twist apart into smaller pieces. Large chunks can’t be shaped.
• As they work, explain about the mouth: It’s a lot like the eye, in that there is an opening that is a horizontal line, and that curves around what is underneath. In this case instead of a sphere, it curves around the cylinder-shape of the teeth. We will look more at the muscle shapes around the mouth today.
• Clay works slowly, so you can’t make big changes. Only lots of small ones.
  1. Structure: Make 4 golfball sized balls – a little larger is better than too small this time
     1. Make one into a half-biscuit shape – this is the teeth.
        • A half-circle, pinkie finger diameter & 2 fingers thick
     2. Flatten 2nd ball into a large cookie shape to create skin. Turn as you pinch to flatten it.
     3. Use pinky finger to measure the for the slit to cut into the pancake. Set over the teeth and press down the sides but not top & bottom.
     4. Divide 3rd ball in two, and place behind the skin/pancake; one above the teeth and one below, to support the skin. Turn back over and press a little valley between the mouth opening and the lower one and it will look more like a chin.
        • P A U S E P O I N T
  2. Lips: Using 4th ball of clay, make a worm shape, a little thinner than a pencil. Not too thick!
     1. One goes along the top of the mouth for the upper lip.
     2. One goes along the bottom, but then you mash it up and make a half-length tootsie roll shape and place in the center below the mouth for the lower lip.
     3. Cut the upper lip in two right at the center.
     4. Place 3 little pea shaped balls on the upper lip; two on each side of the center cut, and one just below them in the center. Do not make these too big.
     5. Use fingers to pinch a ridge along the the top lip and join the 3 peas as shown
     6. smooth out the sides and bottom of the lower lip a bit, keeping a deep valley underneath.
        • P A U S E P O I N T
  3. Mouth muscle – racetrack. Use more of the 4th ball to make muscles.
     1. Make thicker worms that are flattened to be about a finger width
     2. Shape it into a race-track like formation that completely encircles the mouth, but not overlapping any of the lip work
     3. Press and join to the edges of the lips and the surrounding skin
        • P A U S E P O I N T
  4. Mouth corners – Use a back-end of a brush or pen nib holder to make deep holes in each corner. Pinch the inside a bit to make a teardrop shaped hole & then press the outside edge inwards to make the hole more vertically shaped. The mouth corners are usually dark and like a sink hole, with muscle all around.
  5. Sculpt and press to make it less exaggerated and more realistic.

Point out features and shadows of the mouth.

Use your pre-made clay mouth sculpture to discuss mouth shapes and shadows shown in the graphic. You can display the graphic to help make your points.

Gather around to show how the light and shadow works on the anatomy of the mouth.

• The upper lip is a large dark area, shaded more than anything else on the mouth.
• The lower lip is a cylinder on it’s side, so it get a lot of light on top and has a linear highlight
• The bottom area of the lower lip is in shadow, and there is a strong rectangular shadow below the large (tootsie roll shape) middle area, but the right and left of the bottom lip show no edge or shadow at all.
• One side of the upper lip will usually be in more shadow than the other, since each is somewhat flattened, the two making more of a V shape as opposed to a curved U shape.
• There are two wells in the corners, which are the third darkest spot on the face, and sometimes the second, if the nostrils are hidden. Pupils are the darkest

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Use a plastic bottle for an object lesson.

Continue with mouth viewpoint demo using plastic water bottle. Draw a life-sized mouth on a 16 oz. water bottle. When it is turned to the side, the corners are lined up one behind the other. People know this. But when it is in the 3/4 view, (mid-way between the front and the side views), it is surprising how the farthest corner of the mouth is BEHIND the bottle. You can see it through the bottle, but if you draw this viewpoint, you cannot draw the far corner of the mouth because it’s not visible. The curve of the mouth is important to understand as you draw it in any angle.Students set up their work area. Ask several people to go get water tubs filled, and others to find smocks. That way you have two or three groups in different areas so you don’t get backed up with lines.

Try wrapping your hand over your mouth. Freeze your hand in position and pull it away. The bottle will actually fit neatly into the curve your hand made, demonstrating how much more curvy the mouth is than WE THINK IT IS. Pass the bottle around the room and let students try this, as well turning the view slightly to see how rapidly the far corner disappears.

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Students create a learning sketch.

Draw the face using a handout guide. Emphasis is on proportion, not details. Have students erase and redraw features in more accurate places as you point them out.

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Students help set up their work area.

Mirrors should be set up on stands and raised onto a stack of books if needed. A mirror that is too low will make a portrait that is viewed from below, looking up the nose, which is unflattering. Looking straight and level is best.

Talk to students about how to create this unusual and expressive self-portrait.

Students use their mirror to draw self portrait of the head, neck, and shoulders only – not full body. 

Students draw their portraits.

Move around the room and help students with proportions, adjustments, and confidence.

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Find all of the cool color oil pastels to work with.

Students should layer at least 2 colors in each area to create lots of variations. Going over the area lightly at first and then layering in more of either the same or slightly different colors will work much better than pressing hard right at first. 

Students blend their colors using 2 techniques.

1. Blend by layering with the white pastel. This will lighten and soften the color some, so don’t use this where you want the brightest colors.

2. Blend using blending sticks, or stumps. (tortillions work also, but do not clean them with the sandpaper). Once a tip gets dirty with a color, clean it off by rubbing it over the sandpaper board.

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Students keep working and move to the lighter areas.

Fill in the lighter areas using light warm colors. They can be bright and/or light. Layer 2 or more colors and then blend with either white or blending tools.

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Everyone can add bold lines using black or color.

This is optional.

Outline with a bold color such as bright red, electric blue, or black. some further blending around the outlines can be done. Do not outline all of the color areas, just the main features. Even the eyes and the mouth can be left alone.

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Students set up their work area.

• Wash hands
• Super-wash brushes if used
• Put art supplies away
• Wipe tables & toss trash
• Remove any smocks (last)
• Check for items on floors and tables

Try to get photos of your student’s artwork. Find a good spot for quick lighting without highlights or shadows from your hands and device. Ideally in-between two strong lights on each side.

Create a clay model of the mouth using the video instructions in STEP 2.

Find a 16 ounce water bottle and draw a life sized mouth on it.

Print all of your PDFs from the lesson plan and cut any references apart as needed.

STUDENT’S

MATERIALS

• 14 “ x 17” Sketch Paper
• 2B Pencil
• White Eraser
• Kneaded eraser
• Oil pastels
• Sandpaper board
• Blending sticks (stumps)

Week 28: Face Sculpture

Artists get to create a face sculpture out of air-dry clay or salt dough that will be painted next week. They’re free to have fun with ideas to make the face anything, even an animal face. Before they work on the sculptures, young artist create a fun face warmup and then make practice faces in modeling clay. Older students finish their watercolor portrait and then move to the sculpture.

Week 29: Painting Sculptures

Last week’s face sculptures have been drying all week. The first half of the lesson this week, is painting the sculptures with acrylic paints. The second half is artists’ choice with dreams: using the acrylics in an expressive painting of a happy dream.