Painting & mixed media: Portraits
Investigating self-portraits by a range of artists, pupils use photographs of themselves as a starting point for developing their own unique self-portraits in mixed media.
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Painting and mixed media: Portraits
Important update!
The Year 1–6 Painting units have been updated for 2026–2027 to provide a clearer progression of painting skills and knowledge.
An updated version of this unit will be available from August 2026. The current version will move to the Content archive area, where it will remain permanently available.
Explore the Art and design, Long-term plan for 2026–2027.
Unit outcomes
Pupils who are secure will be able to:
- Outline a portrait drawing with words, varying the size, shape and placement of words to create interest.
- Try a variety of materials and compositions for the backgrounds of their drawings.
- Communicate to their partner what kind of photo portrait they want.
- Show that they are making decisions about the position of a drawing on their background, trying multiple ideas.
- Create a successful print.
- Use some Art vocabulary to talk about and compare portraits.
- Identify key facts using a website as a reference.
- Explain their opinion of an artwork.
- Experiment with materials and techniques when adapting their photo portraits.
- Create a self-portrait that aims to represent something about them.
- Show they have considered the effect created by their choice of materials and composition in their final piece.
Suggested prior learning
Painting and mixed media: Light and dark
Get startedLessons
Lesson 1: Poem portrait
Lesson 2: Developing drawings
Lesson 3: Self-portraits
Lesson 4: Changing faces
Lesson 5: Mixed-media portraits
Key skills
Key knowledge
Related content
Unit resources
Knowledge organiser: Art & design – Y5 Painting and mixed-media
Aimed at pupils, two pages providing key facts and definitions from the unit. "Painting and mixed media: Portraits".
Vocabulary display: Portraits
A display version of the key vocabulary from the Portraits unit.
Cross-curricular opportunities
English: Handwriting and presentation
Computing