7th Grade Greek Mythology Self Portraits

7th grade students study Ancient Civilizations, including Ancient Greece.  I thought it would be fun to create a self portrait incorporating some of the mythological gods and goddesses.  Kinda like Percy Jackson and that book series (note to self - borrow the books for display next time), where his father is Poseidon, what would your self portrait look like as a combo of you and a Greek myth character....?
We studied facial features and measurements and value shading, then students picked the god or goddess of their choice and creatively incorporated them into their self portraits.  Coloring was optional, I showed some exemplar models, we discussed criteria for our artworks.  (note:  students are really good about coming up with criteria!)  We negotiated, we decided and then we were off.  Total time was about a week.  I would like to incorporate a writing piece or an Artist Statement at the end so students could write about the god/goddess and the features they incorporated.

Reflections:  Include the books in the class for a feature.  Artist Statement (Enduring Skill Creating #6).  Try on black or grey paper with white/black charcoal pencils.  Students are so scared to go super dark!  Need to collab with Social Studies teachers for an Arts Integration with this!