This archived Art and Design scheme of work video is part of a lesson in which pupils transform photographs into portraits inspired by British artist Julian Opie.

Children begin by tracing around a photograph placed inside a plastic wallet. Using only their fingers to guide them, they identify where Opie would use strong, simple lines and trace along these shapes. With marker pens, pupils outline features, reducing them to the distinctive dots and lines of Opie’s style. Once complete, the photograph is removed and replaced with white or coloured paper, creating a bold Opie-style portrait. More confident pupils may extend their work by adding blocks of colour with paints, pens or cut paper. Through this activity, children learn how artists simplify and stylise features to create a unique visual language.

This video is part of Kapow Primary’s archived Year 2 Human form unit.

See more of our original Key stage 1 Art and design scheme of work.

Art and design, Key stage 1, Human form, Lesson 4: Opie style portraits.