Chalice Arts UK Limited

Unit 2

Friendship

Inspired by the Story of

the Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde

by

Stephen Bruce

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© Stephen Bruce 2015

General IntroductionThis unit forms part of a scheme of work for art designed to

support schools wanting to develop art lessons based on the

National Societies 15 Christian values that many Church of

England Schools have adopted.

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This scheme of work provides an opportunity for

pupils to engage in making art and at the same time

focuses on teaching and reinforcing the core

Christian values in a visual way.

The units in this scheme have been written by

Stephen Bruce at Chalice Arts UK. Stephen is a art

educational consultant and former head teacher.

Chalice Arts UK provides a variety of art projects for schools. More

information about the author and his work can be found at:

www.chaliceartsuk.co.uk

Displaying pupils artwork linked to the core values is a very

powerful way for schools to ensure they are prominent and

in constant focus.

More information about the National Societies values for

schools can be found at the following website:

http://www.christianvalues4schools.co.uk

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Friendship

The Bible has many sayings about friendship:

‘A friend loves at all times.’ (Proverbs 17:17)

Friends are not afraid to tell each other the truth and a friend’s

loving criticism is worth more than the empty compliments of

someone who does not really care for you.

‘Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies

kisses.’ (Proverbs 27:6)

‘if one falls down, a friend can lift him up’. (Ecclesiastes 4:10)

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Trust, feeling comfortable in each other’s company, being able

to share joys and sorrows are all features of friendship and

these are things of immense value.

True friendship enables each person to grow and ensures that

the unique individuality of each person is recognised. All this

echoes the value placed by God on the preciousness of each

person.

Hymns like ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’ point to a

relationship that is at the heart of Christian believing. Knowing

that God is our friend is to recover something of the acceptance

and close companionship that people of all ages need and

crave.

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The Selfish Giant was a selfish person but he learnt how to be

a good friend.

He learnt the qualities of friendship based on loving one

another, trust, caring, sharing, kindness and thinking of others

before ourselves.

7A painting by Stephen Bruce

inspired by the Selfish Giant.

Some questions to ask children:

• Why is the giants face blue?

• Why is one side of his face

turning pink and yellow?

• Why is there snow in the

garden?

• Why are the trees bare?

• Why can you see green under

the snow?

• Why is the giant smiling?• Why does the giant look like

he is crying and smiling?

This guidance focuses on frontal

portraits.Making a drawing of a face can

broken down into small steps.

Drawing a head shape.Draw an oval slightly wider at the

top than bottom. This is the basic

head shape. (Men usually have a

more defined jaw line but for thebasic principle an oval a good

start).

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How to teach portraits

A series of slides demonstrating how to draw portraits

Marking out key guidelinesDraw a light vertical line down the

centre, then draw a horizontal line

halfway between the top andbottom of the oval. This line will

give you the eye positions.

Divide the remaining space belowin half. This will be for the base of

the average-nose.

Divide the space below that into

thirds. The mouth will be at the top

of those thirds, the rest will be the

chin.

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Drawing eyesThe basic eye shape is an almond

shape with a slight downward point

near the nose. The space between

the eyes is one eye length. Five eyelengths fit across the average face.

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Drawing the noseHalf way between the eye line and

bottom of the face is the bottom of

the nose line. The basic nose shapeis a slightly flattened U shape and a

letter C shape and a backwards

letter C shape.

The width of the nose extends a little

beyond the corners of the eyes.

Noses do vary a lot between

individual so this is just a guide.

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Drawing the earsThe ears are drawn between the

eye line and the nose line and

consist of a letter C shape or

backward C shape.

Ears are wider at the top and come

in towards the face at the lobe.

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Drawing the mouthThe mouth line is either drawn a

third of the way down from the

nose line to the chin or half way

from the nose to the chin. I have

chosen to use a third of the way

down. This means the centre line

between the lips sits on the third

line with the top lip above and the

bottom lip below touching the half

way line approximately.

The corners of the mouth line upapproximately with the pupils of

the eye.

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Drawing the neck and hairlineThe neck is usually as wide as the

jaw line (approximately the

bottom lip line).

The hair line is approximately one

quarter or one third from top of

the head to the eye line. The hair

itself usually extends above the

top of the head depending on

hairstyle.

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Activity 1: Practice marking

out the guidelines.

Activity 2: Use a separate

piece of paper and practice

drawing eyes, noses, ears and

mouths

Activity 3: Put the features on

a face.

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Art Activity Option 1 – Painting portraits of the Selfish

Giant

Example Learning Objectives

• To develop a deeper understanding of the school value Friendship

through linking it to art.

• To use story and a painting as inspiration to make their own paintings of a

giant.

• To understand the basic composition of a portrait and to be introduced

to acrylic paint and colour missing skills.

Resources

• Power point and illustrated versions of the Selfish Giant story.

• Canvas boards or water colour paper, acrylic paints/ or other paints, size

4 brushes, palettes, water pots, table coverings, art aprons, pencils.

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Key Points of the Teaching Sequence

• Children should be familiar with the story of the Selfish Giant and have

discussed the qualities of friendship.

• Discuss the painting by Stephen Bruce. Ask some of the questions

suggested on slide 7 to explore the symbolism within the painting.

• Explain the activity – the children are going to make a painted portrait of

the Selfish Giant to help remember the qualities of a good friend.

• Model drawing a face using the guidance provided.

• Children can practice in sketch books or on paper or go straight to their

canvas board and sketch a portrait of the selfish giant. Have examples

from children’s books available to look at and the painting by Stephen

Bruce.

• Model using acrylic paint and the children can then begin to paint in an

imaginative way to interpret the Selfish Giant and his garden changing

from winter to Spring.

You also might consider using sketch books to work out initial ideas using

pencil drawing and also for making notes about portraits, practicing

drawing facial features and about the properties and safe use of acrylic

paint and colour mixing examples.

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Example of children’s

work – Year 4 St

Peter’s CE Primary

School Hertfordshire

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Example of children’s work – Year 4 St Peter’s CE Primary

School Hertfordshire20

Example of children’s work

– Year 2 St Peter’s CE

Primary School

Hertfordshire

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Example of children’s work – Year 2 St Peter’s CE Primary

School Hertfordshire22