10th Grade — Ink Portrait

⏰ Do Now — Start Here

Look at the example ink portrait on the board. Which parts do you think are the original photo, and which parts were added?

🎯 Today's Big Question

How do we combine images using selections, masking, and layer opacity to create a stylized ink portrait?

📈 By the End of Today, You Will Be Able To

Use the selection tool to isolate a subject from its background.
Apply a layer mask to blend a portrait with a second, textured image.
Adjust layer opacity to control how strongly two images blend together.

🧰 What You'll Need

Computer with Photoshop
Teacher-provided portrait + texture images (project 1)
Self-sourced portrait + texture images, checked against copyright rules (project 2)

📋 Your Plan for Today

Day 1: Guided Project

Do Now (5 min): what do you think a "layer mask" does? Mini-lesson/demo (10 min): demo the selection tool and layer masking.
Guided practice (25 min): using teacher-provided images, practice the selection tool, apply a layer mask to blend a portrait with a textured "ink" image, and adjust opacity.
Save progress (5 min).

Day 2: Independent Project

Do Now (5 min): what images will you use for your own version? Independent work (35 min): repeat the process with your own self-found images, checked against copyright guidelines.
Save progress (5 min).

Day 3: Finalize & Critique

Do Now (5 min): compare your teacher-provided version and your own version -- which blends better, and why? Peer critique (10 min): feedback on how convincingly the two images blend.
Final adjustments (20 min): revise.
Export (10 min).

🖥️ Today's Slide Deck

Short, on-the-board pacing slides — project these to follow along. (The full details are in the handout above, not here.)

📚 Key Words

Selection Tool: A tool used to isolate part of an image so edits only affect that area.
Layer Mask: A non-destructive way to hide or reveal parts of a layer without deleting any pixels.
Layer Opacity: How transparent or solid a layer appears; lowering it blends layers together.

✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include

Both ink portrait versions scored with a rubric: clean selection, effective mask blending, and appropriate opacity use.

Exit Ticket: Explain, in your own words, what a layer mask does that simply deleting part of an image does not.

📊 Before You Leave

Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.

Class Check-In

📤 How You Submit This — For Credit

How you submit today's work depends on what kind of work it was. Physical/paper work (most of this semester so far): photograph it with a classroom camera, upload the photo from its SD card onto a computer, and save it into your portfolio -- that upload is your submission, and the physical piece itself is yours to keep, the same as in Grade 9 (your notebook is the one thing with a home base in the room, and even that's your call to bring home when you want it). Digital work (once you're producing files in Photoshop, second semester on): no camera needed -- instead, EXPORT the file. Export your finished project as a JPG, as a PNG, AND save a copy as a PSD (all three), then upload all three into your portfolio. Either way: the portfolio upload, with a description, is what actually counts as turning the assignment in for credit.

📁 Portfolio Update — Once a Week

Once a week, add your best finished or in-progress piece to your portfolio (the Google Drive folder you started in Grade 9, becoming your Google Sites portfolio in Lesson 10) with a 1-2 sentence caption: what it is, what tool/skill it used, and one thing you learned. Keep it current -- don't save it all for the portfolio-website lesson.

✍️ Example description for your Google Sites portfolio (fill in YOUR blanks -- don't just copy this):

For this piece, I made ______________ (name what you made) for “Ink Portrait.” This project asked: “How do we combine images using selections, masking, and layer opacity to create a stylized ink portrait?” I used Selection Tool by ______________ (explain how you used it in THIS piece). The hardest part was ______________, and I solved it by ______________. I'm proud of ______________ because ______________.

🎓 ACP Exam Prep

This lesson connects to the Photoshop Adobe Certified Professional exam: Domain 3: Organizing Documents · Domain 4: Creating and Modifying Visual Elements

🔗 Want to Learn More?

🚀 The Extra Mile

Cross-Class Connection: The same close-observation skill an Art elective or a Biology sketching lab demands.

Career Connection: Portrait and compositing work is a direct, testable skill in Illustration and Photography portfolios.

Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:

Create an ink-portrait series (three portraits, one style) that could stand alone as a themed illustration portfolio piece. Start here: pick all three reference photos before starting any of them, and check they share similar lighting and angle so the finished series actually reads as one consistent style.
Illustrate a portrait of a historical figure from a Social Studies unit, researching their real likeness first. Start here: find at least two real reference images of the figure's actual likeness before sketching — a portrait that doesn't resemble them defeats the point of the assignment.