Self-Portrait Update

I had finished a sort of rough draft on the Strathmore paper and experimented with some techniques I wanted to carry out, and then I moved onto sketching it out on the Rives BFK. I wanted to start on the what is the hardest part, the connection between my neck and my face. Because my head is tilted up there is no clear line of a chin and I decided to work in vine charcoal for that part in order to layer the color and smooth it out.

I am stilling working on the mouth to shift the emotion. In the picture I took my expression was more calm and serene, and not necessarily anger. But, the way the mouth is turned in the drawing is coming across as more angry than anything; so, I will need to go back and reevaluate what I was doing. I am also experimenting with color theory in the other square and exploring inks with a stippling technique. I wanted to try something new and colorful, and to break away from some of the darkness of my other drawings.

Materials: India Ink, Charcoal Pencil, White Charcoal Pencil, Conté Crayon
Size: 22×30 in.

Midterm: Composition

I wanted to try something new for the midterm piece. From the beginning when I began researching and trying to find inspiration for the piece, I knew I wanted to divide my space with a broken glass effect. I was drawn to the skeleton in class and I wanted to balance something anatomical with the gentleness of flowers. It was unintentional in the beginning, but the mixture of skeleton and flowers became a theme throughout the piece. I experimented with India ink, a medium I have never used before, in conjunction with black and white charcoal. I have to say that I did like how the combination turned out because the mediums create contrast with each other.

The biggest problem with the piece in my opinion is how dark it is and how the glass theme did not translate as well as I wanted it to. Aside from the right section of the spine and flower, everything else is a little too dark. I wish I would have lightened the ink in some places a little more than I did to provide some stark contrast, especially at the bottom. That lightness would have probably brought out the glass cracking effect I wanted in the beginning. I think going too dark is a problem of mine and it is something I want to try to move away from because at times it drowns some elements that I want to bring out.

Though the glass effect did not translate like I wanted it to, during critique others saw the division as something else entirely. Some saw it as ripped pages from a book, and other saw the division as being part of a bigger pattern of fracture lines on a skull. It was interesting to see how other interpreted the pattern differently from I did because before I saw it as a failed glass effect and others saw it in an entirely different way.

In general, I think I did step out of my comfort zone with the piece because I used a medium I have never used before and I have a slight dislike of painting. Going forward I would like to work on translating my ideas better and exploring new ways to use mediums together while also trying to create contrast in different ways then just stark black.

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Subtle

Subtle- Muted, Subdued, Soft, Faint

Materials: Vine Charcoal and Charcoal Pencil
Size: 7×4.5 in.

Elusive

Elusive- Slippery, Evasive, Intangible

Materials: Charcoal Stick and Mars Lumograph
Size: 7×5 in.

Introspective

Introspective- Introvert, Brooding, Reflexive

Materials: Sanguine Conté, Sharpie, and Vine Charcoal
Size: 7×3.5 in.

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First Critique

Drawing 1- Materials: Graphite Stick, Ebony Pencil, Charcoal Pencil Size: 7×12 in.

Drawing 4- Materials: Charcoal Stick, Mars Lumgraph, Ebony Pencil, Charcoal Pencil, Vine Charcoal Size: 9×12 in.

Drawing 5 -Materials: Conté Crayon, Mars Lumograph, Vine Charcoal Size: 10×9 in.

I think creating texture is an area that needs improvement. Drawing 3 drew me to it because of the texture that I create, and the element of texture is something that I think is lacking in the majority of my drawings. I think that I could try being a little bit more spontaneous with my techniques.  For the majority of my drawings I used a blending technique, but in Drawings 2 and 6 I tried to venture out into using some of the drawing techniques that was taught in class. I like the continuous contour drawing because it was something out of my comfort zone and I the drawing was not as planned as the other ones. Moving forward I would like to explore using more spontaneous techniques because I actually liked the outcome of the Drawing 2. I also think that I need to improve contrasting the background from the foreground. In Drawing 4 there needs to be more contrast between the foot and the box and the piece of wood behind the frame that is farther away in space. From far away the objects seem to blend in with each other.

Drawing 2-Materials: Sharpie, Vine Charcoal Size: 8×9 in.

Drawing 3- Materials: Conté Crayon, Charcoal Pencil, Charcoal Stick, Vine Charcoal Size: 7.5×10 in.

Drawing 6- Materials: Sharpie Size: 8×8.5 in.

In general, I like most of the drawings that I did. I found that the more I drew, the more I liked using charcoal and the mars lumograph. I think that the drawing that drew me the most would be Drawing 3. The work pulled me into it because of the texture I was able to create within the egg shape. I explored using the charcoal and conté crayon with the kneaded eraser to create more shadows and depth. The drawing I liked the least was Drawing 6 because I was using a technique I was not familiar with and I think my line work could have been neater overall. I have to say that during the critique when others pointed out that they like the fabric in the drawing, I began to like it. The fabric does look like fabric with the lines and contrasting white. Moving forward I would like to try different things in my art.

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