Symbol & Self
Students create metaphorical self-portraits.
In this project, students create expressive self-portraits that go beyond physical appearance by incorporating symbolic objects that represent aspects of their identity, interests, or personality. Through discussion and exploration, students learn that objects can serve as metaphors—standing in for deeper ideas or personal traits.
They practice contour drawing techniques to carefully trace and render their chosen objects, combining them with their self-portraits to create a meaningful and visually layered composition. This project encourages self-reflection while introducing foundational drawing skills and the concept of symbolism in art.
Good for:
All Ages
Student Examples
"Just Me." The reason I made my eyes football is cuz i like football and if you look at it you see all these colors and it’s like I used almost all the color groups. That’s probably my favorite part. The challenging part was my nose if you look a little closely it’s crooked cuz that’s how hard it was. Easy part was making the background.
Bowen, 8
My background is a beach cuz my g parents have a condo in ft lauderdale and i really like to go there for spring break. Lego brick for my eye because I love lego’s and I have a lot in my house. My mouth is made of Twizzler’s because that’s my favorite candy. I think the best job I did was the background probably, I really liked how the sand and the water turned out. I kinda had to transition cuz I wanted to make a sunset, which I’d already made a pie, so I had to color over it really dark.
Thomas, 9
“So I’m a tiger and Arcious is a legendary pokemon, and I’m based on Arcious and the background is pokeballs because i really like them and I made it underwater too because I love the ocean.”