Art II Final Portfolio

1. My most successful project in my opinion was the first project we did, the scientific sketch. The theme was scientific, and we were instructed to use drawing pencils or charcoal to create contrast on our final piece. I came up with the idea to draw a skull as I researched science on Google, and saw a picture of a skull. I have not had much experience with other materials such as charcoal, so I did the project using drawing pencils to start out the year. I drew different thumbnails of a skull at different angles, and drew more thumbnails of flowers because that was my second idea. In the end, I ended up incorporating the two together, with flowers and roses on the skull and vines wrapping around it. I feel as if I chose the best materials for me, because charcoal could not have created the look I was going for.The size of the piece was just big enough, and the rose I believe is a perfect size and balances the drawing. I did not use a particular technique, except for using my art skills to determine which parts needed more or less shading. 

2. The project that had the most obstacles to overcome was the Mixed Media project of the clown. The first obstacle I faced was when the tissue paper and water was not creating the desired look for the dark midnight sky. I hoped to make the sky different shades of black and grey, but it was only turning out pitch black. I flipped my cardboard canvas over and used a mixture of black and white paint to make the sky look like the creepy background I was aiming for. Then, the hair on the clown was not looking like hair. It just looked like a red blob of watercolors on his scalp. I considered the options, and eventually ended up gluing cut up tissue paper onto his head. I believe these obstacles helped me become a better artist because I learned how there are so many techniques and materials that it does not matter if you mess up. A good artist can always use mistakes to better his artwork. 

   3.  At the beginning of the year, we did a project called Up Close and Personal. My final piece was a picture of a Butterfly resting on a lonesome flower. It was a simple yet elegant drawing where I used colored pencils on a brown piece of paper. This piece helped me grow in the application of colored pencils. I learned that white pencils help to smear, and that it takes time, patience, and a lot of colors to create your desired look. I learned techniques such as blending, which I used on this piece quite frequently. I definitely improved my colored pencil skill set. I also learned that simple elegant artwork is just as beautiful as artwork where there is a lot occurring. My second piece was a project we did later in the year, and the theme was Sticky Situation.

This painting helped me with mixing paint colors, painting on canvases, and showed me a lot about perspective. The artistic vision I had was the perspective in this painting  that is low on the ground which is different than usual paintings. I learned the technique of painting a solid color background and then painting your piece over the solid color (I used blue). It also helped my painting technique, the way I held the brush, the pressure I put on my canvas, and the stroke I used. This piece was special to me because I came up with it without seeing a reference, and believe it turned out well! 

4. I believe the techniques we were taught and guidelines we were given, along with artistic freedom were a perfect teaching and learning method. The techniques that were taught to us helped us grow as artists and the guidelines gave us a base to create our ideas and we got to experiment with different materials and get out of our comfort zones. However the freedom to choose which materials to use helped us grow also, to become independent artists and not to rely on others for ideas. For example, my favorite drawing which was the Skull (Scientific Sketch)

taught me the most about art. We were taught techniques on how to shade properly, and were given the guidelines of "Scientific Theme" and using only charcoal or drawing pencils. But the broadness and freedom of the guideline "Scientific" and the requirements on material helped us gain familiarity with those materials.