Art 1 Final Project
1. Which project was your most successful? Describe the theme and or topic and the process you went through to complete the project. Were the choices you made regarding subject, design, and technique beneficial to enhancing this project. Do you feel you needed more instruction for success? Explain or did you feel that the instruction given was enough to ensure success? Explain.
I think that my most successful was my Matisse inspired cut paper design. In this project, we were supposed to cut the negative space out of the black paper, exposing the white paper behind it. This created the design that was supposed to have good composition. We had to choose something involving a specific culture or a specific style of music, and base our design on that. I chose American culture, and my design involved famous landmarks, cities, mountains, and other aspects of American culture like transportation. I started this project by drawing thumbnails for each idea. Then I drew a final sketch for culture and for music. I shaded black where I would leave the paper and left whites the parts that I would cut out. I then traced the drawing onto the black paper, and colored the parts I was going to cut out with white colored pencil. From there, I cut out the negative space using an X - Acto knife to create my design. During this project, one choice I made that led to success was to incorporate as many aspects of American culture as I could. I included subways, cities, mountains, and famous landmarks. Another choice I made that helped my project be successful was incorporate different techniques and aspects of art other than just composition. I tried to include perspective in my design and having something in the fore, middle, and back ground. For example, the subway train went off into perspective. There was the train and river in the foreground, the city in the middle ground, and the mountains in the background. These choices allowed my project to be more detailed and complex, along with having a better composition. This led to my project being more successful. I do not think I could have used more instruction, but I could have used more practice with the X - Acto knife. More practice would have allowed me to make cleaner cuts and as a result the project would have looked neater and been more successful.
I think that my most successful was my Matisse inspired cut paper design. In this project, we were supposed to cut the negative space out of the black paper, exposing the white paper behind it. This created the design that was supposed to have good composition. We had to choose something involving a specific culture or a specific style of music, and base our design on that. I chose American culture, and my design involved famous landmarks, cities, mountains, and other aspects of American culture like transportation. I started this project by drawing thumbnails for each idea. Then I drew a final sketch for culture and for music. I shaded black where I would leave the paper and left whites the parts that I would cut out. I then traced the drawing onto the black paper, and colored the parts I was going to cut out with white colored pencil. From there, I cut out the negative space using an X - Acto knife to create my design. During this project, one choice I made that led to success was to incorporate as many aspects of American culture as I could. I included subways, cities, mountains, and famous landmarks. Another choice I made that helped my project be successful was incorporate different techniques and aspects of art other than just composition. I tried to include perspective in my design and having something in the fore, middle, and back ground. For example, the subway train went off into perspective. There was the train and river in the foreground, the city in the middle ground, and the mountains in the background. These choices allowed my project to be more detailed and complex, along with having a better composition. This led to my project being more successful. I do not think I could have used more instruction, but I could have used more practice with the X - Acto knife. More practice would have allowed me to make cleaner cuts and as a result the project would have looked neater and been more successful.
2. Discuss one project where you felt you were least successful. Explain why you felt this way. What would you do differently to change this piece? Explain.
I think I was the least successful in the clay tile biome project. In this project, we had to choose a biome, then make a clay tile representing that biome. There had to be good texture, along with something in the foreground, middle ground, and back ground, creating a tile with a good composition. I chose to do an alpine biome on my tile. More specifically, I chose a view of a mountain in Yosemite National Park. There were pine trees in the foreground, the mountain in the middle ground, and less detailed mountains further in the back ground. I think it was unsuccessful because I chose a difficult view to incorporate a lot of texture and detail in the tile. It was a very zoomed out, large scale view of the biome, and it did not have a lot of visible textures. This made it difficult to make a creative and detailed tile. Also, the technique I used to make the trees was difficult to do and make the trees look realistic. It was hard to score and slip every individual piece of clay, and it was hard to arrange the individual pieces to look like a tree and tree branches. Next time to make the project more successful I would choose a biome with more visible textures, or I would choose a more zoomed in small scale view of the biome. This way, there would be more details and textures to incorporate in the tile. If I had done this, I would have been able to add make a more detailed and an overall more successful piece.
I think I was the least successful in the clay tile biome project. In this project, we had to choose a biome, then make a clay tile representing that biome. There had to be good texture, along with something in the foreground, middle ground, and back ground, creating a tile with a good composition. I chose to do an alpine biome on my tile. More specifically, I chose a view of a mountain in Yosemite National Park. There were pine trees in the foreground, the mountain in the middle ground, and less detailed mountains further in the back ground. I think it was unsuccessful because I chose a difficult view to incorporate a lot of texture and detail in the tile. It was a very zoomed out, large scale view of the biome, and it did not have a lot of visible textures. This made it difficult to make a creative and detailed tile. Also, the technique I used to make the trees was difficult to do and make the trees look realistic. It was hard to score and slip every individual piece of clay, and it was hard to arrange the individual pieces to look like a tree and tree branches. Next time to make the project more successful I would choose a biome with more visible textures, or I would choose a more zoomed in small scale view of the biome. This way, there would be more details and textures to incorporate in the tile. If I had done this, I would have been able to add make a more detailed and an overall more successful piece.
3. Look at your body of work over the semester and choose 2 pieces that show your growth as an artist. Discuss each piece and how you grew in the following areas: application of materials, techniques and skills, artistic vision, use of the principles and elements, creativity, intuition and subject matter.
Two pieces of art that show my growth as an artist are different hand drawings (including the hand animal) and shore drawing, and the perspective city drawn towards the end of the year. In the hand drawings, we had to put our hand in a position and draw every line, the contour lines, that we saw. Then, we drew an animal in the hand that we just drew. I chose to put my hand in a fist with two fingers sticking up and drawing a dog face in my hand. Also, we had to draw a modified contour drawing of our shoe. The perspective city was where we had to choose a theme and then draw a city based on that theme in one, two, or three point perspective. I chose cell phones, and drew my city out of things relating to cellphones. These pieces show how throughout the class, I got better at drawing more realistic drawings. They show that I learned new techniques to improve my drawings, like perspective, depth, and shading with colored pencils. At the end of the year, the city shows I was much better at executing these techniques, as there was much better shading and depth in the city than there was in my hand drawing. These pieces also show my growth in artistic vision. At the beginning of the year, I would draw my hands in the easiest position possible and tried to draw the simplest and easiest pictures. However, I grew as an artist and at the end of the year, I took risks and tried to draw as much detail as possible, even if it was complex and difficult to achieve. The city chows this because of all the buildings in the background, and the different shapes I tried to draw, like a cylinder for a building. The city compared to the hands and shoes shows hoy my creativity, confidence, and use of art techniques and principles grew throughout the year.
Two pieces of art that show my growth as an artist are different hand drawings (including the hand animal) and shore drawing, and the perspective city drawn towards the end of the year. In the hand drawings, we had to put our hand in a position and draw every line, the contour lines, that we saw. Then, we drew an animal in the hand that we just drew. I chose to put my hand in a fist with two fingers sticking up and drawing a dog face in my hand. Also, we had to draw a modified contour drawing of our shoe. The perspective city was where we had to choose a theme and then draw a city based on that theme in one, two, or three point perspective. I chose cell phones, and drew my city out of things relating to cellphones. These pieces show how throughout the class, I got better at drawing more realistic drawings. They show that I learned new techniques to improve my drawings, like perspective, depth, and shading with colored pencils. At the end of the year, the city shows I was much better at executing these techniques, as there was much better shading and depth in the city than there was in my hand drawing. These pieces also show my growth in artistic vision. At the beginning of the year, I would draw my hands in the easiest position possible and tried to draw the simplest and easiest pictures. However, I grew as an artist and at the end of the year, I took risks and tried to draw as much detail as possible, even if it was complex and difficult to achieve. The city chows this because of all the buildings in the background, and the different shapes I tried to draw, like a cylinder for a building. The city compared to the hands and shoes shows hoy my creativity, confidence, and use of art techniques and principles grew throughout the year.
4. Choose a piece or artwork where the subject matter reflects you as an artist. One that you have a personal connection to. Please explain your choice. Include photos and explain thoroughly.
One piece of artwork that reflects me as an artist is my print making project. In this project, we cut pieces out of a sheet of linoleum to create an animal in a certain environment. We then rolled ink on the linoleum then pressed it on a piece of paper, creating the print. I chose to do a giraffe on a beach. I do not think this was my most successful piece, but it represents me because of the details I tried to add, the textures in the piece, and the risks i took while making it. Though out the class, I tried to make my projects as detailed as possible. I would try to add small details wherever I could, even if it did not end up looking great. The details added in the trunk of the tree, the leave of the tree, and the giraffe's pattern represent this portion of my art work and me as an artist. I took a lot of risks this semester in my art. I tried to do things that might look good if they worked, and would not look good if it did not work. This project shows those risks. I tried to make a wave in the background, and that did not work out how I wanted. However, the texture of the tree trunk and leaves did look good, even though it was a risk and it could have been bad if I did not execute well. I have a personal connection to this piece because thorough most of the project, I was doubting how good it would look , and if it would look very realistic. Once I made the prints though, I was very happy with it and really liked the way it looked. I am proud of this piece because I could have settled for it looking bad, but I didn't and I made it look as realistic and detailed as possible, and it turned out good in the end.
One piece of artwork that reflects me as an artist is my print making project. In this project, we cut pieces out of a sheet of linoleum to create an animal in a certain environment. We then rolled ink on the linoleum then pressed it on a piece of paper, creating the print. I chose to do a giraffe on a beach. I do not think this was my most successful piece, but it represents me because of the details I tried to add, the textures in the piece, and the risks i took while making it. Though out the class, I tried to make my projects as detailed as possible. I would try to add small details wherever I could, even if it did not end up looking great. The details added in the trunk of the tree, the leave of the tree, and the giraffe's pattern represent this portion of my art work and me as an artist. I took a lot of risks this semester in my art. I tried to do things that might look good if they worked, and would not look good if it did not work. This project shows those risks. I tried to make a wave in the background, and that did not work out how I wanted. However, the texture of the tree trunk and leaves did look good, even though it was a risk and it could have been bad if I did not execute well. I have a personal connection to this piece because thorough most of the project, I was doubting how good it would look , and if it would look very realistic. Once I made the prints though, I was very happy with it and really liked the way it looked. I am proud of this piece because I could have settled for it looking bad, but I didn't and I made it look as realistic and detailed as possible, and it turned out good in the end.
5. What medium was your favorite to work with? Explain.
My favorite medium to work with was paint. I enjoyed working with paint for many reasons. One reason is that it just came naturally to me, and my best skill this year I think was painting. Mixing the primary colors and then secondary colors with primary colors, painting different textures, and making shapes exactly how I wanted them to be came easily to me. For example, making the trees in the background on the mountains far away on my landscape painting and making them look realistic was easy for me. Also, mixing different colors into the clouds, trees, and mountains was natural for me, and I knew what colors to mix to make it look good. The second reason I enjoyed painting was that I did not have to paint every detail exactly how it looked on the picture to make the painting look realistic. I could paint with any colors I want and paint any way that I want and the painting would still look good and realistic. For example, on the mountains in the mid ground i did not paint every tree branch and leave individually. Instead, I just dabbed the brush on the canvas with different shades, tones, and tints of green, yellow, and brown, and it still looked like trees. I thought it was interesting how I didn't have to paint every individual detail and branch, but the painting would still have the detail and texture form the original picture. Also, the mountain in the background was painted purple. Although mountains in real life are not purple, that color fit in the painting, and that is why I enjoy painting. The third reason I liked painting was because I could mix my own colors and I could choose what colors were incorporated in each part of the painting. I liked working with the color theory, and choosing whether to use warm or cool colors, and mixing different tones and shades of tints of the same color into the painting. I liked this because the colors of brown and green mixed into the mountains in the middle ground were exactly what I wanted, and that made the painting look exactly how I wanted. I liked painting because I could paint however I wanted, and the painting would still turn out good.
My favorite medium to work with was paint. I enjoyed working with paint for many reasons. One reason is that it just came naturally to me, and my best skill this year I think was painting. Mixing the primary colors and then secondary colors with primary colors, painting different textures, and making shapes exactly how I wanted them to be came easily to me. For example, making the trees in the background on the mountains far away on my landscape painting and making them look realistic was easy for me. Also, mixing different colors into the clouds, trees, and mountains was natural for me, and I knew what colors to mix to make it look good. The second reason I enjoyed painting was that I did not have to paint every detail exactly how it looked on the picture to make the painting look realistic. I could paint with any colors I want and paint any way that I want and the painting would still look good and realistic. For example, on the mountains in the mid ground i did not paint every tree branch and leave individually. Instead, I just dabbed the brush on the canvas with different shades, tones, and tints of green, yellow, and brown, and it still looked like trees. I thought it was interesting how I didn't have to paint every individual detail and branch, but the painting would still have the detail and texture form the original picture. Also, the mountain in the background was painted purple. Although mountains in real life are not purple, that color fit in the painting, and that is why I enjoy painting. The third reason I liked painting was because I could mix my own colors and I could choose what colors were incorporated in each part of the painting. I liked working with the color theory, and choosing whether to use warm or cool colors, and mixing different tones and shades of tints of the same color into the painting. I liked this because the colors of brown and green mixed into the mountains in the middle ground were exactly what I wanted, and that made the painting look exactly how I wanted. I liked painting because I could paint however I wanted, and the painting would still turn out good.