Romero Britto Portraits

There is a video at the end of this post to help you get started!

Our objectives or goals for this lesson are:

*I will create a self portrait in the style of Romero Britto focusing on bold black lines and vibrant or colorful patterns. 

*I will illustrate how I hope to grow, what I hope to learn or what makes me happy in my portrait. 

First we create 4 idea sketches.  Some are closer up (just my face) and others are further away (my whole body). I have thought about the background as well. Take only 3-4 minutes per idea sketch. Once I have 4 ideas, I will choose one to enlarge or make bigger for my final piece. 

I chose the one in the bottom right corner to make enlarge. I made sure that all of my shapes were nic and big to give me lots of opportunity to add in my colorful patterns and still be able to trace all my pencil lines in black. 

I wanted to break up my background of water so I added some wavy lines so that I could put in more than one pattern to make it more interesting. 

Then I started to add color. I started with me and the fish putting a different pattern in each shape I found. I even changed my pattern a little in my seaweed as I crossed my wavy line. 

Then I finished coloring it in. Changing my patterns for each shape between the wavy lines. I like this but I think I could make my colors a little more solid to make it look more vibrant. I think I could make me stand out more if I chose a different color for my suit. I also think my bold black lines could be darker and maybe a little thicker. 

I like how solid the colors are on this other Romero Britto inspired piece I did. The bold black lines stand out better and it is much more colorful.

I can't wait to see what you create!!

Here is the video, giving you instructions,

Romero Britto brings the happy!

Our first project of the year, school-wide will be based on the work of Romero Britto, a Brazilian born artist who has found a way to make money doing what he loves.  His work appears on Disney, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, lots of other merchandise, and even on cars!

He has done portraits of many popular people including Martha Stewart, Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Michael Jackson. His bold lines and colorful patterns are everywhere!

While Britto is a great artist, he is an even better man.  You can learn more about him in his bio found here. Much of his philosophy of life surrounds helping people wherever he can and sharing his art because "it is too important not to share."

Britto is always working hard to grow as an artist, so that he can use his talent and knowledge to help others in need, especially children.  He has even won a Humanitarian award for the good work he has done to help others.

He is quoted saying,
"Through my art, I try to express the things I would personally like to experience on a daily basis, such as positivity, energy and joy. I don't want to depict events like death and tragedies which we see in the media every day. I wake up every morning with the goal of being a source of hope and inspiration for everyone, including myself. I want to feel good and I hope that this is reflected in my art."
I hope that you have found something that makes you as happy as Britto!

Here is a presentation about Romero Britto.  There is an interview video at the end that is very good.

What do you hope to grow into one day?  What is it that makes you happy?

It's Your Turn!!

Draw a simple portrait of yourself as what you hope to become  or do when you grow older or draw yourself doing what makes you happy.  Keep your lines simple and don't color anything in...yet.  Leave room to add some colorful patterns like Romero Britto.

Here are some of Romero Britto's simpler portraits for inspiration.