Paper Maché or Cardboard Portraits

Students will create a portrait of their grandparent out of cardboard or paper maché. The sculpture will be mounted to the wall and protrude from the wall dimensionally capturing the portrait.

This unit has four parts: research and design (designing a project, photo reference of grandparent), prototype (creating a rough form to mark out the volume), final design in cardboard or paper maché depicting the student's grandparent, and documentation of the finished work (photos, email, reflection, and critique).

Overview Unit Goal

Composition Concepts

  • Creating a Portrait Likeness
  • Creating Dimensional Details

Technical Skills

  • Cardboard Techniques
    • Scoring, Cutting, Folding
  • Paper Maché Techniques
    • Strip Size, Overlap
  • Optional: Painting Techniques
    • Color Mixing

Tools & Supplies

  • Scissors, X-acto Knife, Cutting Mat
  • White glue, glue spreader, newsprint
  • Newspaper, Paste, Plastic table guard
  • Optional: Paint Brushes

Artist Inspiration Videos

Technical Skill Videos

Order of Work

Determine Your Design
  • You need at least one photo reference of a grandparent, but ideally you have two - one frontal view and one side view
  • Identify the facial aspects and proportions that make your grandparent specific and capture their physical likeness
Prototype: Base Volume
  • Create the base form your portrait should take up.
  • It should be volumetric, and be mounted to a piece of cardboard that can hang on a wall. [Imagine a head protruding 2/3 of the way out of a picture frame]
Here are some options:
WAFFLE FORM
  • ​To start making a waffle form of the face, draw the outline of the head on the back piece of cardboard.
  •  Cut out a side profile piece (showing the bridge of the nose) and cut off the last quarter of the back of the head. Attach this piece to the back cardboard so that it lines up with the outline drawing of the head. You can use a tab construction to attach the pieces.
  • Cut out two more profile pieces that would line up with the eye sockets and cheeks. (These will be narrower than the nose piece). Consider making an indent where the eye sockets go and a brow ridge where the eyebrows go. Attach these to the back piece so that they line up on either side of the vertical nose piece in line with the center of the eyes.
  • Cut three circle shapes that match the diameter of the head near the brow line, the nose, and the mouth. Cut the back quarter off of the circles so that the height of the circle matches the profile pieces. Cut matching slits into the profile and circle pieces so they fit snuggly together. 
​CRUMPLED PAPER CONSTRUCTION
  • To start with a crumpled paper technique, draw the outline of the head on the back piece of cardboard.
  • Loosely crumple paper to fill the head volume and tape it down to the cardboard.
  • Cut strips of cardboard to follow the outer edge of the head shape. Glue them using paper tabs and white glue.
  • Cut strips to follow the brow line, cheek line, and chin area. Glue those to the outer cardboard ring using paper tabs and white glue.
ABRIDGED WAFFLE CONSTRUCTION
  • To start with the abridged waffle construction, draw the outline of the head on the back piece of cardboard.
  • Cut out the profile of the face (remove the last bit of head) and attach it to the back piece using cardboard tabs and white glue.
  • Holding a square of cardboard up to the right angle created by the profile, draw the shape of the face on the cardboard so that it hits the outline drawing on the back piece and the profile. 
  • Cut out two of that piece (one for either side of the profile and glue it on using paper tabs and white glue.
  • Make at least four horizontal pieces that match the face shape for those sections (eyebrow ridge, cheeks, mouth area, etc.)
Your prototype form should fit the head shape of your grandparent. This is the time to adjust it and fix it before starting on the final project.

Paper Maché or Cardboard Sculpting
You have two options: Cardboard Sculpting - where the final product has cardboard on the finished surface - or Paper Maché - where the final product has been covered in paper and paste (optional: paint).
CARDBOARD SCULPTING
  • Using cardboard, sculpt all of the details of the face. 
  • You can use one of the four methods (videos on left): waffle, cardboard strips, head form, or scoring/folding/bending.
  • Use small pieces of cardboard for the details
  • Pay close attention to the proportions of the face of your grandparent (measure the spaces between eyes, nose, mouth and ears, eyes, nose, etc. to get the most accurate proportions)
  • Your facial details should be dimensional (eye sockets are recessed in face, nose protrudes from cheeks, eyebrows protrude from eye sockets, ears stick out from side of head, hair sticks out from forehead, etc.)
PAPER MACHE
  • Using your prototype form as a base, apply layers of paper maché to the face. You can build up the form in between layer of paper maché for parts that protrude (like the nose). 
  • Cut newspaper strips about 1" wide (not wider than 2") and about 6" to 8" or so long.
  • Use a plastic cover for your table to protect it from the paste.
  • Dip the paper strip in the paste and then run in through two fingers to wipe off most of the paste.
  • Apply the next strip so that it overlaps the one before to create a section of the face.
  • After you've covered the prototype form 
  • Pay close attention to the proportions of the face of your grandparent (measure the spaces between eyes, nose, mouth and ears, eyes, nose, etc. to get the most accurate proportions)
  • Your facial details should be dimensional (eye sockets are recessed in face, nose protrudes from cheeks, eyebrows protrude from eye sockets, ears stick out from side of head, hair sticks out from forehead, etc.)
  • OPTIONAL: Paint it 
Documenting

One Step-by-step Option: Abridged Waffle Construction

3 Photos of your Sculptural Portrait

  • Use a solid background (no distracting lines, shadows, table, or other stuff) like the photo cube
  • Use quality lighting (soft shadow from artwork only)
  • Photo should be in focus, with artwork centered
  • One photo of the frontal view
  • Two photos of 3/4 view on the wall - left and right
  • Three photos in total

Email an Image of Your Project

Grading Criteria