Multiple Personalities: A Lesson Plan by Alison King

Objective: Students will learn that the copy, paste, scale, and rotate functions in HyperStudio are fundamental manipulation techniques for turning a self-portrait into a seriated digital painting showing their own multiple personalities.

Software: Digital camera or scanning software, Hyperstudio of Photoshop

Classroom Management: Students may use the same photographs from the lesson "I'd Rather Be...", or if time permits, students may wish to take an entirely new set of photos. Each student should have at least two good photos to choose from.

Motivation:

Ever feel like you were two people inside?
(The good side and the naughty side, the studious and the playful side, mom's side and dad's side)

Dialogue:

If we used one of your photos to show the ______ and ______ sides of your personality, how could we use the same photo and make it look different enough to show both sides?

Demonstrate the manipulation techniques of copy, cut, paste, scale and rotate. Use one student photo to demonstrate, and prompt the student and their peers with the following questions:

Demonstration Dialogue:

How could we manipulate this second portrait to make sure we know it's the same person, but a different personality?
Is there only one other side to your personality or do we need to make a third copy of your portrait?
Will every portrait be exactly lined up or can they be scattered around?
What should I do if I want to see how a third or fourth portrait will look on this page, but I'm hesitant to ruin the hard work I've already done?

Demonstrate ways manipulations can be copied and pasted from one window to enable further risk-free manipulation.

Dialogue:

Why do you think artists and printmakers call this technique "seriation"?
What does it mean to make art in a series?

Transition:

How many times do you think you might repeat your own portrait to make sure we see all your different personalities?

Extension Activities: Discuss the silkscreen seriations of Andy Warhol, visit Warhol websites. Play the song "Images" by Lou Reed and John Cale (a song about Warhol's obsession with repetitive images) and invite students to write their own lyric to go with their digital paintings from this sequence.