Self Portrait

Description: There were multiple steps taken to create this piece. First, we had to draw a grid over our reference picture as well as the paper we would be drawing it on, only in a larger scale compared to the reference picture. Then, we had to sketch out an outline of the picture and erase the grid. Following that, we had to cover it in a layer of sepia. After that, we went in and defined the darkened areas as well as the lighter areas to create a baseline for the shading. Finally, we went over it and added more detail to create the full drawing in shades of brown and red, followed by black and while for shadows and highlights.

Challenges: I struggled the most with time management. I had to bring the drawing home to finish it, and kept forgetting to bring it in after finishing it, so it was pretty late. I also struggled with the final layers of the black and the white. It was difficult not to smear it and ruin the drawing.

Favorite part: My favorite part of the drawing would have to be the eyes, or more specifically, the shape of the eyes. I thin that I managed to capture the shape of my eyes accurately, which is something I was doubting that I could do.

Autobiographical Drawing

Description: This image shows my pill bottle laying on it's site with a heart shaped necklace coming out of of it. On the left you can see the cap to the pill bottle with a pencil sharpener on top of it. The pill bottle represents the struggles with I've had with mental health and how I try to work past it. The heart necklace coming out of it represents how I'm very sensitive and can sometimes think with my heart instead of my brain. The pencil sharpener represents my enjoyment of drawing and creativity because it's the pencil sharpener that I use for sketching pencils when I draw rather than regular pencils.

Composition used: I used Eye Movement in this piece. This is shown with how the objects are placed. They way I played then out makes the eyes travel from left to right, or vice versa. 

Challenges: I struggled with accurately shading the drawing and doing the detail work. I think that this shows through mostly in the cap of the pill bottle due to it's lack of shading.

Successes: I believe that I succeed the most with portrayed the proportions and perspective of this drawing. The drawn objects all maintained a similar proportion to their real life counterparts in the reference picture. I also succeeded in keeping the perspective of the reference picture similar to that of the drawing. 

How did I grow as an artist: This project helped me to better understand the importance of proportion in a drawing. If the proportions are not accurate in a drawing, it could be confusing to the viewer and throw off the whole perspective of a piece.

Charcoal Still Life

Composition used: The composition used in this piece was Variety in Unity.

How it is displayed: Variety in Unity is shown in this piece through the placement and sizes of the objects. They are all placed near each other, but there is also a separation in the placement. The heights of the object all vary as well, which creates variety in the piece.

Successes with the value scale: I believe that I was overall successful developing a full range of value. Shadow tones, mid tones, and highlights are all visible within the picture. Shadow tones can be seen in th shadow cast by the onion, the outer parts of the apple, and the background of the piece. Mittens can be seen in a majority of the picture, suck as on the paper back, the onion, and the board that the objects are sitting on. Highlights are also achieved, most notably on the apple and the onion, but there is also one on the cup.

Medium used: The medium that was used to create this piece was charcoal. It was difficult to get used to due to the fact that it was easy to smear and had a powdery texture, but once I got the hand of it it was somewhat pleasant to use. I personally found that it made shading easier because it helped to achieve the darker tones of the value scale easier. 

Challenges: I had the most difficulty with detail work to achieve the more realistic style of the piece. The places in the drawing that I struggled with this the most was the folds in the paper bag to make it look like an actual paper bag. 

Successes: I was successful at making the piece accurately portray the general look of the objects because it's easy to tell what they are rather than  just blobs, so it has a look of realism about it. I was also able to successfully shade the piece accurately, as shown with the highlights and shadows in the piece.

Element and Principle Drawing

I used the element of Color paired with the principle of Contrast. 

Color is shown by the use of black in the hair, the white of the eyes, background, and skin, and the red on the dress and the splatters in the background. The black and white in the picture also contrast against each other. Another way that contrast is shown could be the red in contrast to the monochrome in the rest of the drawing. 

To make this drawing, I initially sketched it out and outlined it with outlining pens, which can be seen with the black outlines. I used colored pencils to color most of it in (which might be obvious by looking at the dress). The only things I didn't use colored pencil to color in was the hair and the visible eyebrow, which I used a black marker to do. For the splattered affect in the background, I used red acrylic paint that I splattered on with a few paint brushes. 

The most successful part of the drawing was the overall outcome. I was careful not to get paint on the girl in the drawing or to have the marker tear through the paper. I would say that the hair came out nice as well, especially the parts where there are separate sections and it drifts away from the majority of the hair. 

My main challenge was coloring it. More specifically, with the dress. I tried to make it look less patchy, but I couldn't get it to look better beyond the point it's at now. I also had some issues with drawing the shoulders, and I feel that they still look somewhat boxy. If I could redo the drawing, I would fix those two things.