This semester has been a lot more stressful but also a lot more successful than I thought it would be. I produced more pieces than I thought was possible, and while I wasn't entirely proud of all my works, I was proud of what I managed to accomplish in such a short time. I found what I'm strong at medium and topic wise, and what I can keep working on. This semester has inspired me to keep working on my skills and keep pushing myself to be a better artist. I'm happy I had the resources I did to push me and make me even better. I definitely have some favorite pieces, even from my concentration. As I saw other people's concentration come together I wish I did another topic, but I think I put in all of my creativity and effort into what I was doing. Pushing through a topic that isn't what you wanted to do in the moment is actually rewarding. I came out of my comfort zone and tried painting and drawing new things I might've not done at home. This semester has really made me strengthen my time managment and planning skills.
0 Comments
This piece is the other ice cream related one I have, and it supposed to be like there's a couple on a date sharing some shakes. Movies are portraying dates from this era as drive in's and diner dates, and I thought that should be part of my concentration. I used oil pastels and I love using them because of the colors produced. I can get the right colors and blend really well and the creamy texture can allow me to smooth things out unlike prismacolor, which is a different kind of smooth. I'm not as in love with the piece as others, and I wish I planned it better, but I was running out of time.
This is a picture of Pricilla Presley, a very popular 50's celebrity. She was influential in hair and makeup trends, and I thought it would be good to do a portrait showing that. Pale lips, big hair, and long dark eyelashes is a classic look, and Pricilla pulled it off effortlessly. I did a close up because I wanted the eyes to be the focus. This one also being in prismacolors made it easier to blend the hair colors together, and add the shadows and highlights to her face. I'm not great at faces, but I want to keep pushing and continue to better myself, and I wanted to show my growth in my concentration. The picture I had was very grainy and it was difficult to get the shadows correctly, but it was a challenge I needed.
I wanted to do a vintage looking Vogue cover, but since I can't use brand names I just made up a magazine cover name. I wanted to include more cars in my concentration because I really love the vintage style. I wanted to include as many aspects of the 50's lifestyle in my concentration as possible. Since I was running out of time I wanted to use a medium that was quicker but produced something worth looking at. I lightly penciled out the shapes I wanted, then outlines the shapes in each color of the sections. Prismacolor makes it easier to layer and blend colors to make shadows and highlights work, and for the car that was super important, and I'm glad it worked out the way it did.
For this piece I took inspiration from old family photos. I wanted to make it look like someone going through old memories and pictures. I remade older pictures into my own and added love letters. These together picture someone sifting through boxes of pictures and letters. It matches my concentration by focusing on the past, and when they were dated. Doing another black and white painting was hard but easier than the first one. Because this one was lighter it was easier to add shadow and be successful.
I wanted this piece to look like an old picture, because while color tv and photos were around, black and white photos were still popular. I started by sketching on the canvas for the face outline and scarf. I forgot to put a wash but I think it ultimately helped me because color would make it difficult to focus on the greys I need to make for this. I started by sketching out the basic outlines of the face and scarf. I forgot to put a wash on the canvas first, but I think it helped considering I'm doing black and white and I don't want to cover up the color. At first the face color was way too dark. I had to basically start over and paint over all the skin I already did. I like how it looks now, but it was a bit of a set back. Mixing the colors was pretty difficult because I had to consistently get the correct shade every time I mixed more paint to finish the face. Everytime I mixed it too dark or had extra black on my brush I used it for around the face hoping to see how contrasted it'll end up being when I paint more. Once the skin was fixed, I worked on getting the shadows and filling in features of the face. I tried my best to get the shoulders and chest to match the face and I think it worked pretty well. I'm going to continue playing around with the shape of the lips and eyes to see if I can make them match a little more. The angle from my reference picture was difficult to work with but I made some changes and I think it worked pretty well.
I wanted to do an old fashioned something for one of my pieces, and I thought what was and has been a popular sign? Ice cream immediately popped into my head when I thought of a family outing or something old fashioned. I started with a pink background and drew the letters to get an idea of where I wanted everything placed. The shapes of the letters were actually pretty hard because I had to get them all to be the same size. I added gesso on the part where the ice cream would be so there's some texture like if it was actually ice cream. I think it was really successful because it really does give it some realistic texture and it makes the painting interesting. I think it's almost easier than painting lighter and darker yellow whites to make shadows where the ice cream would be wrinkled.
This piece is showing the hairstyles in this era. I wanted to leave the faces blank to emphasize the details in the hair. At first I wasn't thinking I'd add a background, but as I looked at it more I thought I should put something , but I wasn't sure what. I had some other people help me out and figured out what would compliment the outlines. I started with outlining pictures to get the major shapes with pencil to get the placement I wanted. I then went over that with pen, and continued to add detail to show where its lighter and darker. I just tried going line by line because I can always add more pen, but it would be really hard to take it away. I wanted to take it slow and make every line intentional. Every face I put down I wanted to match the others, but also make their faces different shapes and turned different ways. I think it makes the piece very interesting. I decided I was going to add comic book blurbs to make everything come together. The back was looking too plain. I used prismacolor markers to get the bright colors and then outlined it in pen to make it more bold. The puffs started as thought bubbles but then I just decided to make them little clouds.
I wanted to include a popular type of car from this time period because it was a well known type, people still are interested in these cars today and collect them, and I love the shape of them. I had fun working on this painting because of the colors. The pale yellow makes the sunset pop and vice versa. I struggled with making the windows look realistic, and I hope to keep trying and learn how to do so. The lighter shadows like on the car was difficult too. I wanted to do a drive in scene, but the idea I had would've taken too long, and I was behind. I took part of my idea and made it into something different.
This piece is placed in a diner made to look like from this time era. I combined multiple pictures to come up with this composition, and I think it was worth it. It was difficult to get the right angle and perspective but I think it worked really well. If I could change it I would push the seat on the left back a little, but because of the picture, that’s the way I saw it and drew it. I kept changing parts of this painting as I went because as I work on these projects I realize its better to have something down on canvas instead of trying to perfect just the outline. I can always change it which I think makes me work faster or atleast have more pieces that I’m working on. The face was hard for me to get because it's so small, and I'm not used to a size like that. Taking my time and using a small but structured brush really helped. I wanted her lips to pop and match the skirt. The woman was wearing pants but I changed it to a skirt so I could make it red a polka dots. Skirts were more popular in this era, and I think it fit better. I think it works with the yellow, and red lips were super popular back then. I wish I could’ve come up with a better teal color in the first place so I wouldn’t have to keep going over it. At this point I just need to fix the seats and do the background. I love how the patterns stand out on their own but also work together. I put the white on the seats so when I paint the teal on top it'll stand out and be highlighted. I might have to go back and put more white so its wet and so it'll blend with the teal. I need to keep going darker with the teal for shadows underneath the seats but the base color is just right.
|
AP Slideshowhttps://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1BsKfc5t1K_w3Tdgd1P_6PtwBsPtxMjCXDZFuRFmWSpU/edit#slide=id.p Archives
May 2018
Categories |