Picasso you!

Here is my Picassohead self portrait! Here is the original link.  Create your own here!

This was an activity I remember from two summers ago.  Being an Art History major myself, I find this very amusing. I actually have employed a lot of hands-on digital drawing programs in the online course I developed.  The hands on activities are a part of why I get positive feedback about that course. I did have some difficulty rotating eyebrows for some reason, so I had to do it over several times. Trial and error for an assignment like this not only teaches students to learn from their mistakes, but also affords the opportunity to see what they can do differently. I like programs like this where one can revisit over and over again with different results. It also reinforces choice and what happens when you make different choices.  Did I make a portrait that looked like? Did not look like me? Why? Students can experiment with concepts of self-perception. Picassohead also takes the risk out of art. Staring at a blank canvas can be scary. ART itself can be scary.  People can brush off concepts as being too high minded when they might be afraid of making a wrong interpretation or they do not understand it.  There is no "wrong" in art.  Which is why I like this program. Students can also get interested in a pretty complicated artist and art movement, or the history behind it. So many things going on with something so simple!

NETS T standards associated with this are:
1) Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity

How creative is this?  This is good for many age groups, it offers choice, but not a complete blank, it offers and opportunity to research historical people and movements, and the philosophies and cultural influences of, it offers students a chance to reflect on their self-perception, and could even be used as a tool for foreign languages! So many things rolled into one!
This post is still evolving!