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How to Draw Picasso Portraits with Kids

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We recently explored the work of artist David Hockney. I still love the beautiful quilt-like drawing my youngest daughter created. This time around we decided to take a look a true modern art master, Pablo Picasso. We have shared many creative art projects for kids and this one is a favourite of mine. two picasso inspired portraits and two of picasso's portraits with title
 
I adore Picasso. I actually have two pieces of his artwork...in poster form...hanging on my bedroom wall. I love the simplicity of his line drawings and we own "Hands with Bouquet" and "La Ronde". I clearly remember purchasing them during university and hanging them on my wall all those years ago. So, I decided it was time to introduce my girls to the art of Picasso...specifically his portraits during his cubist period.
 
I have mentioned that my youngest daughter is a bit of a perfectionist. She has a hard time drawing freely. When she draws, whatever she draws, must look exactly like the real thing. I thought that seeing the cubist work of Picasso would introduce her to an entirely new way of looking at the world. We discussed how Picasso's work evolved away from the work of realist artists...how he was trying to present an alternate vision of 3D objects in a very flat and 2D way. We examined a number of his cubist pieces and then the girls grabbed some paper and experimented with creating their own cubist portraits.
 

How to Draw Picasso Portraits with Kids

We decided the girls would draw portraits of each other, so they positioned themselves sitting across from one another.
kids art
First, I had the girls draw the shape of a head. On the head shape, they began by drawing one side of the face as they see it...in a realistic way.
kid drawing
Once the "real" side of the face was done, they then began drawing the other side of the face with hard, sharp, squared shapes. Finally, they added the background and colour to the portraits. two picasso portraits of kids by kids
 

In the end, the portraits looked fabulous. No, they aren't the most cubist-looking pictures..but for my kids, these pictures are a giant leap away from reality. I especially love the cubist curly hair and the cubist ear. I love how this project had my girls seeing the world in a totally different way. This truly stretched their perspective and was challenging...and they had a lot of fun.

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About Jen

Jen Farr is a mother living in Toronto, Canada. She has been sharing her DIY crafts, recipes, activities and parenting advice for over 15 years on her blog Kitchen Counter Chronicle. Jen is the mom of 2 lovely daughters. She believes in the power of taking small steps that can make big impacts on the world.

Comments

  1. Erica Price says

    Love those square ears they're fab. Very talented girls.

  2. maryanne @ mama smiles says

    These are fantastic! Love how they turned out!

  3. RedTedArt says

    Wonderful. I love the photos of the kids in action. They look like they are really enjoying their art session. And I love the portraits. They look fantastic!

    Thanks for joining in with Kids Get Arty!

    Maggy