Art 2: Final Portfolio

 

1.     I believe my most successful project to date has been the  "Up Close & Personal" project. The literal depiction of up close and personal led me to choose a picture of myself that I liked the colors and contrast of. The bright bandana contrasted the neutral tones of my skin and hair. 

       Regarding the size and cropping of the picture, I scaled it up a bit from life-size proportions and used tape to make a fine edge on the sides, which was a very good idea. The masking tape was great when I worked with watercolor and I have used this technique at home as well to make a smooth edge. 

       However, my choice of medium helped to enhance this piece. The tones in the hair could not have been accomplished in the way I wanted without the layering ability of watercolor, and of course the bandana's tie dye would lack the proper depth without colored pencil. Also, the tie dye would not hold the same tones and vibrancy of colors, while still coming off as smooth. This project turned out a lot better than I expected for my first time working with watercolor and I enjoyed the process very much. 

2.   My very first project, an ink pen drawing of a dog in the foreground with a fence in the background, faced me with the most struggles and risk-taking. I had never put much thought into my artwork before then, and I gave minimal depth and shading to all of my pieces. However, Mr. Sands encouraged me to not leave the dog white and shade it in. I debated on this, because I thought shading with an ink pen would look tacky. While my line art wasn't the cleanest and I probably could have cropped the drawing more, I really like this piece as the beginning of a new take on how I do art and the risks I am willing to take now.

    Also, I planned on not doing very much with the background. Instead, I shaded the fence and put paw prints on it. I originally wanted to put the paw prints in charcoal to give the "rough, dirty" look, but this didn't match the ink pen and I realized that some mediums can't be mixed under certain conditions.

    The reason I chose this project to represent obstacles overcome is because I believe it started me on the way to creating art that I was very proud of. I also worked my hardest to turn it into something that I genuinely liked.

The planning for the final piece.

 3.     One of these two projects that exhibits how much I've grown this semester is the questionable 3D project. I showed my knowledge of the human anatomy in a different position and learned how to use clay efficiently. I learned how to keep the clay moist and shape it, as well as apply the water to joints in order to keep the clay from breaking apart. It was a huge learning experience. 

The torso of the beginning piece.

   On the more artistic vision side of the project, I started with the plan of two girls fighting. However, I felt like I wanted to showcase a different emotion/position of the human body. This piece of my work shows a lot of uniqueness, while maintaining the natural form of the human body. 

Line art

          The second piece I believe shows how far I've come from the beginnings of Art 2 to now is a piece that I did at home, self-guided. I went for a theme of contrast, but in the more abstract sense. It was a mash-up of realism and extreme hyper-realistic, almost cartoon features. I finished this piece about three weeks ago. I have always been inspired by anime art, and I like taking the good things I find in it and applying these notable features to my style of art. I think the contrast between the realistic trees in the background and the neutral colors in the background is a noticeable change in styles, which I can appreciate. I also applied a pattern to her hair, which stemmed out of a decisions to pour more creativity into the picture. (I took inspiration from the Photoshop feature of applying textures and patterns to your piece.)
          I did this piece completely in watercolor, which I learned a lot about from this class. I applied it in layers and shaded by strengthening the layers and I enjoyed using my experience with watercolor to create a painting I really liked.

Semi-finished product; still needs more depth and shading in the background.

  

4.     This year in art, I think I learned more than I have from any class in a long time. I learned many new mediums that I would be too timid to try other wise and I learned how to start a project and finish it strong. The choices I was provided with were always plentiful and I never felt pressured to go a certain way with my piece, which was extremely helpful to the creative process. 

         I would have never decided to use plaster, or even know what it was, unless Mr. Sands brought it up in the unconventional portrait project. I really enjoyed working with something so messy, fun, and hands-on.

         I didn't even realize a lot of mediums were available to me until this year. I learned which sort of paint suited me best and how to use clay properly, as well as how to use clay on a potter's wheel from a class of Mrs. Sudkamp's. A lot of opportunities were given to me and I'm glad I was able to take advantage of most of them. Most of all, I am excited to experience another art class in this same format (hopefully) because I have a lot more mediums, projects, and ideas I am very excited to try out.