Pen Tool Pet Portraits - Vector Art for Our Local Humane Society

I don't remember when I saw it, but I LOVED the idea of my students creating portraits of adoptable cats and dogs at our local humane society. Fortunately, our humane society has some cute photos to work from. When I first tried this project, I had assigned my Art 1 students to complete portraits in watercolor. That had mixed results. This semester, I decided instead of self portraits using the pen tool, I'd have my graphic design and digital art 1 kids make pet portraits. What a world of a difference! Students honed their pen tool and brush skills in Adobe Illustrator CC and made some beautiful work!

Photo from https://www.pawsandclaws.org/

Photo from https://www.pawsandclaws.org/

Lola the dog!

Tia the cat!

This was also a great lesson to reinforce artistic license--- I told students we won't be copying the photo EXACTLY. We determine what parts should be included (background, body angles, lighting, etc). Seriously-- when they started to get it, I think I heard angels sing. 

The pen tool is notoriously tricky for my students. They have just learned the basics of Photoshop, so suddenly working with vectors can be a little overwhelming for some. I find big projects like this really force students to sit and practice. They HAVE to use the pen tool in order to score well on the project. Not to mention, the result is for a good cause! My plan is share the artwork with the humane society so each new owner gets an original portrait of their pet!