Before starting our full size paintings, we did a set of practice paintings to experiment with the new media and processes we had just learned. This included zips, paint pours, using gel mediums, staining, and more. The first practice painting focused on learning zips. I started with a light greenish color and then put strips of tape and painted a dark blue layer and additional "drizzles" of white paint all over. Once this dried, I removed the tape leaving behind the green stripes. For the second painting, I did multiple layers of dark blue and purple paint and did gestural white marks in a semicircle in the right corner. I experimented with gel medium and brushstrokes in the bottom left section and then drips in white and yellow from the top. I think this helped me decide what type of piece I wanted to do for my final and gave me more insight into the processes. I currently do not have photos of my practice paintings but will add them ASAP.
1 Comment
Final Comparison:Today I finally finished the project and put my finishing touches. I started with the neck and the hair after finishing the shirt. Next I started on the face, with the nose, mouth, and eyes. I was really happy with the nose and the right eye, I think my left eye looks weird but it seems accurate to the photograph. I struggled with enough contrast between the face and the neck, as well as the direction and curve of the lines. In Raphael's drawing he used a mix of straight and contour lines so I tried to do the same. I went back into the face and attempted to add more overlapping lines to create a darker value where my face is in shadow. For the mouth, I decided to not draw the lines of the teeth as past experiences had led me to believe it can lead to an odd overall look. Underneath the slideshow of progress today I have my final work, my Raphael recreation, and the original Raphael drawing. Overall, I am so happy with how this drawing turned out. Unlike my recreation of Raphael's that had a lot of proportional errors, this seems to be accurate. I know the values and contrast may be not perfect but without comparing to the reference photo I don't think it would be that noticeable. I felt like I used Raphael's mark pretty well, I tried to use lines and line quality to create value and avoid blending out the lines the best I could. I really enjoyed this process as I had always struggled with cross-hatching and this definitely helped a lot and I am much more confident with conté as well. Today I finally got started on the mark making focussing on the hands and shirt and started on the hair. I am overall pretty happy, I struggled with figuring out how to layer the conte in order to make the most accurate values and making parallel marks. When I started I really struggled with the hands but I think the overall effect works. I might want to go back and darken some areas as I continue the drawing. The hair was a bit of a challenge as the photo seems to show the hair as dark but I wasn't sure how to show that value. The direction of the mark was also difficult as I didn't want to draw each strand but I wanted to get the overall values. I am definitely planning on saving the face for last as it will probably be the most challenging part and I'm not sure how to begin.
A lot of progress has been made this week, I finally decided on a photo and did my first outlines! I'm so far really pleased with how my outlines are going. They seem to be in proportion and accurate. The hardest part is going to be the mark making with the conté so I should get started on that soon. When deciding what photo the use, I thought about the composition, movement, and how it would translate into the style I'm using. I also brightened the photo and edited it a little which you can see in the photos below. So last Friday, we had our planning pages due. I was not able to take photographs by then to choose from but I decided that my drawing would have something to do with me drinking coffee, one of my favorite things and definitely representative of my personality. In the photo, I think I want to be sitting and holding or drinking out of the cup in a sort of static position. For the composition, I want to avoid it being too centered in the frame but maybe off to the side a little. More updates to come as I decide on my photo!
Starting on October 10, I have been working on a recreation of an "old master's" work of art. I chose Raphael's Phrygian Sibyl. Below is a progress report based on what I did each day. 10/10: Today I just started working on the project, drawing the grid lines that I placed on the original photo and cutting it to the right size. I began proportioning parts of the clothing and face although it is barely visible in the photo. I am already having trouble figuring out the face shape in the grid. 10/22: I continued working on the overall shapes today, drawing in some lines to show the arms and hands, some fabric overlapping lines, and some parts of the face. I'm pretty pleased with how the right arm looks overall and the fabric leading into that arm. I feel like I'm struggling with getting the left hand right and I've found that when drawing the fabric sometimes I forget which lines connect which leads to a difficult time matching the original. I definitely need to rework the face and I may try to focus on the body and do that at the end. 11/2: I definitely have not gotten to spend as much time on this drawing as I would have hoped, I did go in for one brief lunch session and was able to lay in some lines for the fabric under the right arm and across.Today in class we realized there was not much time left so I abandoned my original plan of toning the paper and went ahead in with the conté. I got frustrated with the conté mainly because I was not able to get the parallel thin lines Raphael used, but at the end of class Mrs. Mosley demonstrated how to use a knife to sharpen it into a fine point which will definitely be useful. I think it looks pretty good! I'm still tinkering with the face but I decided that it was time to start on the mark making (the focus of the project) but I definitely was hesitating when drawing because it is unerasable which may have led to a few shaky lines. I also realized the neck was completely gone, but I had gone already in with the conté so it was too late to fix it. 11/5: Ok today was the last studio day and I focused on continuing to work with the conté to create value and round out the form. I was extremely happy with how the arm turned out, I think I was able to adequately recreate Raphael's lines to show small details like the muscles and the elbow joint. Once again though, creating parallel lines was difficult for me. I have decided that I like the look of conté. Last minute, I began to add conté to the face which is not looking great so far. 11/6: At home, I finished up the project, starting with adding conté to the part of the fabric that helped to accentuate the form (to the right of the right arm). I was able to get the face the way I wanted and darkened values to increase contrast. Overall, I am pleased with how this project turned out. If I were to do it again, unsurprisingly I would've spent more time in order to be able to completely finish, but luckily this was a practice for our self portraits so it is ok to not be completely finished. In addition, I would have toned the paper but just ran out of time and I think that might have added to the illusion that it was Raphael's drawing. I had always felt like I struggled with hatching and using lines to show value but through this process, I have really improved and have a better understanding as to how that happens. I also need to double check my proportions especially with the grid because the top of her head was basically cut off. I enjoyed working with conté as it was my first experience with it and am really glad I learned how to sharpen it into a finer tip (I'm looking into buying a fine tip conté pencil for my self portrait). Considering the work I did in conté was only over three days, I am proud of how it turned out. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
June 2021
Categories |