Children aged 7 to 11 explored how to make chalk portraits. They looked at chalk and charcoal portraits from the Ben Uri collection including work by Jacob Kramer and then learned how to colour mix skin tones using chalk pastels. The children finally drew their portraits using chalks on black paper, drawing a white outline first and then carefully filling in the colour.

1. Making the line drawing

Following the self-portrait instructions, make a large line drawing, this time using white chalk on black sugar paper. The black paper will make the chalk pastel stand out.

Chalk Pastel Self Portraits

2. Choosing Colours

Experiment with the chalks to produce the right colour for your skin tone. Do this on a piece of scrap paper, remembering to write down the colours used, so that you can easily do it again.

Start by making a brown (from red and green) and then carefully add very small amounts of yellows, reds and whites to achieve the right colour.

Use your fingers to blend the colours together.

3. Filling in the portrait

Once you are confident that you have made the right skin colour, fill in the face, leaving the eyes and mouth blank.

Add touches of white for shine, or darker chalks for shadow.

Finally fill in the details, like the hair, eyes and mouth using white chalk to define (as you would with a pencil or fine-liner).

4. Adding a coloured background

Choose one brightly coloured chalk and fill in the rest of the black background.