Final Works

Process and Sketches

Since many of my creations are usually unfinished, my sketches and thought process is an opportunity to illustrate my ideas and what the be a final product should be. Before I start on any of my projects, I first write out my ideas and then select which I think will work best. Second, I will draw a (quite detailled) blueprint of what the final will look like. This step involves understanding how to draw a certain object (which can require research and countless drawings— Like Roger Federer) and getting my thoughts down on paper. This process is very time consuming, since everything has to be just the way I want it to look on the final paper, just in a different proportion. A great example of this meticulous process is the Headline project. I chose "At Top of Game and Seeking New Adventure" since I knew I wanted to do something with tennis. I wrote the headline at the top of the page and then began to write down ideas. The first thing I did was chose the top tennis stars, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray. Each of these players have a distinct feature about them that I wanted to include in the project. Since over the summer I had taken an adventure to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, I wanted Roger Federer to endeavor on the same journey. I knew that I wanted to have Federer in his famous winning position and I spent a lot of time tracing, sketching and observing this pose. After about 30 un-proportional drawings, I got a good one and understood how to draw him like he was. I also planned his famous "RF" symbol to be in his frame for better identification. Secondly, I knew that I wanted to have Rafael Nadal doing a fist pump and showing off his massive muscles. So, I had him ski racing and he had just won so he could be showing off his guns. Lastly, I wanted to have Andy Murray's huge scream, so I though the Iron Man would be an appropriate adventure for him (I had originally thought soccer, since he is good at soccer too). The distinct emblem on his shirt and also huge mouth gives him some identity.

Although the planning stages were time consuming, they were extremely helpful when I approached the final paper, since I had a detailed plan in my head. In some sense, the sketches and planning were just a smaller version of the final project itself.

Still Life Drawing

The Final Still Life drawing for me was a major break through in my drawing from observation and my "art-career" all together. Throughout the year, I had gradually understood that it was best to "get everything down" first and then worry about detail. At the start of this particular project, I thought that this assignment was going to be just like every other one had been: frustrating and overly complicated while I watched everyone else successfully create a masterpiece in front of my eyes. For the first 10-15 minutes, it was just that. I began to give up and started the "Ms. Roberts, I need help" whine. After these frustrating minutes, however, I realized that this difficult set-up was an opportunity to experiment, since I had nothing to lose. I did not worry about details, became intensely focused, and began to just draw and put everything in. As soon as I had a couple of items in the sketch, the proportions made sense and so did locations. Once I had everything planned out on the paper, I was then able to focus on the details and shading. During the ten minute break of the double block, I went around to look at everyone else's drawings and see what I was lacking. After seeing Emily's (or maybe Hanna's, I forget), I got inspiration on how to make the basket's actually appear woven. Further observation and I was able to understand the light and shadows to begin to give a 3-dimensional look to the art piece.

Although it is not completely finished, I believe that this piece illustrates my progress and understanding of drawing since the beginning of the year. From barely having one object on the sheet to being proud of my nearly-complete artwork is really rewarding to me. It shows artistic growth and development of cognitive and physical skills throughout the year and I am very pleased with the final product.

3 Places Project

Although I did not get far in this place project, the assignment itself was fun and the "final" product was rewarding to me. The artwork is very simple and with not much detail, but I am proud of the three different "places" that are shown.

Process:

After sketching aspects of the three locations, I knew that I wanted to make sure that the drawing itself was not complicated or complex, since I did not have the right amount of details from the sketches. After sketching a blueprint of the drawing itself, I realized that I would have to change my ideas, so I ended up making the window bigger and took out some of the other objects that I had drawn from observation.

Artwork and My Comments:

In the top left corner, the kite came out really well and I was really happy with that. The neatness of the window really brought a clean and nice aspect to the drawing and made the sculpture in the front stand out. The "shell-tornado" sculpture from the Visual Arts center took a while to draw, since I had originally spent more time drawing another object and only a minute observing the sculpture. In the end, however, the sculpture came out better than I thought possible after some extra work.