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My brother in law gifted me this very odd vase.  At first the thought was "What?" but the longer I looked at this disturbing mass of faces the more excited I became.  I have found the perfect model for teaching feature placement in portrait.

Most students struggle with placement when it comes to portrait.  We think in symbols instead of looking at the face as a series of forms that can be measured. If a model is turned away from a student the tendency is too draw the model straight on.  The same is true if the model is in a 3/4 view, most beginners will draw them in profile.  Measurment is as simple as using veritcal and horizontal lines and comparing how features lay along these lines.   These plumb and landscape lines help line up the features correctly and will give the illusion of the head turning. Using the vase I can hold a stick up to the tip of the nose (noses) to see how it lines up vertically with other features such as the eyes or lips.  I often ask models to hold a stick up to the end of their nose and turn their head in different directions so the class can view the changes.  Using the vase I can show all views of the head at the same time, weird but effective!

Here is the pot with some vertical and horizontal lines drawn for comparisson.