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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

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Self portrait, 2010

by Jing Ling Tay

Self portrait, 2010

Year 8, International School of Western Australia WA
charcoal on paper

This drawing was created to show the playful side of my personality. I used charcoal to create a high contrast self portrait, while exploring various drawing and shading techniques. I started with a black and white reference photograph, and then I captured all the main features using a pencil. I filled out my portrait with vine charcoal to block in areas of shadow and created highlights with white chalk. To make the portrait pop forward, I added an interesting background using line and value. Through direct observation drawing, I translated the three-dimensional form of the human figure to a two-dimensional surface.

Headspace 10

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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

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