As tentative, artistic fingers grasp Ticonderoga pencils, executing the newly assigned self-portrait project in Mr. Schoenleber’s “Intro to Art class”, many students are nervous about completing the assignment.

Every year Mr. Schoenleber does this project. “It has a very high success rate even if you consider yourself not to be a good artist,” he said. Students take a picture of themselves and then use a grid to enlarge their photo to fit a larger paper. Students have an easier time drawing themselves on a grid, and the drawing is more lifelike because the proportions are kept the same. As a result, many students are very pleased with their self portrait. The nine best drawings will be chosen for display at the Winter Fine Arts Festival.

One student said she thought she could never produce a drawing that looked like her, but she also said that the project very enjoyable. “Your features are blown up to un-lifelike proportions to see just how unsymmetrical your face really is.”

Because students enjoy self-portraiture so much, Mr. Schoenleber believes that he will continue to do this project in the future.