UWM-Illustration
The worlds colliding
Illustration 30 X 40 cm December 2019 Exhibition Text This artwork "The worlds colliding" represents two pieces of myself to fit in the theme identity. That I will be following throughout all my art pieces. I wanted to represent a past version of myself that I always was. Then I wanted to show the positive change and growth that became of myself. The two pieces represent opposite personalities of myself. |
Planning
Inspiration For "The worlds colliding" I was inspired by very two different styles of art. I was also inspired by different techniques. The first piece was actually inspired by the artwork "Saint Francis of Assisi in his tomb". I saw this artwork on a field trip to the Milwaukee public museum. It's a huge painting and caught my eye right away, I liked the style and how the person was portrayed. I actually never thought I would be able to tie it in a actual art project for school, but it fit perfect for myself and the illustration. The original artwork portrays dark values and has many forms created because of the values. I thought it would be perfect for my style of techniques because I tend to focus on values and forms. I interpreted the piece as showing isolation and featureless space with loneliness. The man is very reserved and closed off, by being covered and showing little of his face. I thought this concept was perfect to show the shy reserved person I used to be for so long. The identity I had was closed off and I isolated myself from people and was never really outgoing until I got over being shy. The artwork 100 percent portrays that identity at the time. Since the two illustrations are meant to be opposite, I wanted to show that closed off person and the new growing outgoing person I became. I felt an art period that was known for being bold and happy like was pop art. I chose a piece that is from a artist in this generation to show the transformation of new worlds and identities of myself. I picked this piece "Girl applying a lipstick" because her facial expression shows a fierce look. Also the woman is the main focus and pops out. I really liked that because it shows that I don't mind being the center of attention and that I'm not closed off anymore. It shows the growth I had. Also I felt like the makeup concept matched, because I'm into makeup and I apply makeup when I get ready for a fancy event or for a really good outfit. It makes me feel ready and prepared and I feel that shows a different mentality than being closed off and not caring. Then I wanted to show my two inspirations of art techniques I used in the different artworks of "The worlds colliding" for my first piece that shows me closed off, I used line and value a lot to give off a harsher theme to it. I was inspired by Impressionism for it. I really like the line technique to show the space in the art and the harsh and thickness. I felt like it fit the theme very well for it and brought together the concept. Then my other technique I used for the pop art style was stippling, that is commonly used in pop art. I really like the stippling technique and felt it was compatible for the piece because the technique is softer and gives off a softer look. Which fits perfect for the concept of happiness and outgoing, to not show intimidation. |
Planning Sketches
These are my ideas for the first piece of artwork. At first I started with the base as in the person and myself. I wanted to focus on the cloak first and make sure my details were matching with the original painting. Then I moved on to the face structure and how to import my features and myself in the drawing. I added my main features such as my bangs, lips, and skin tone. Then I portrayed the expression of the original painting. Then I came up with the idea of a latern in the corner, to show brief light. The latern is gonna be like a connection to the next piece. I wanted to show that light was there, but it was far from me. The light from the latern, or the latern overall represents the happy outgoing personality that is going to appear. I chose light because the overall piece is gloomy like and has very dark contrasts like the original.
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Then for my second piece I also focused on inserting myself to the piece. But I wanted to make it my style as well and add the important symbols. So for the circle background I wanted to turn it into a sun. I made that decision to show that the “light” from the first piece was now huge and surrounding me way more. I really wanted to portray the pop art style as well, so after I finished sketching I add dots to the skin with a 0.5 ink size pen. This technique is known as stippling. Then to even make the artwork more pop art, for the background behind the sun I made it pop with color and made it bold. I kept the original facial expression in the original piece, to show the new fierce identity I have. I also feel like the expression is bold, which I really liked.
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Process
Experimentation For my first piece, I experimented with colors a lot and tried to figure out which ones corresponded the best with each other. I used a lot of browns, just like the original painting. For the skin tone I used an orange colored pencil and contoured and darkened areas to show depth. Then for the lips I experimented with different colors and how they blended, I wanted the outside of the lips to be darker, while the inside is brighter. To show different radiance of shade. Then I focused on the inside of the cloak, I wanted the black tone to be really dark to show the depth and 3D illusion, then I also outlined which really helped create the illusion. Then for the top in the original painting it’s more of a Carmel brown with the casting shadow. So that’s exactly what I wanted to create. So I mixed the browns with yellow and orange. Then the bottom body piece was more of a orange brown, which I created with lines. Then for the background I used a more rubbing shadow type texture. To give it more background depth and show it’s the darkness, where there is no texture. Then I created the latern for the light connection and made it shine a little on me. I used the same technique to create the light, that I did with the shadow background. Then for my second piece of artwork, I focused on myself and trying to figure out how to draw me like the original painting. I also focused on composition a lot because I wanted the structure to be balanced and placed right. I first drew everything in pencil to give me an outline and base. But then I went over it with colored pencil and erased the pencil and inked the drawing. Everything didn't start coming together till I started coloring the artwork. Which was a later process. |
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Process
For the first piece I sketched it out on the final piece of paper with a base line art of what I wanted based on the sketch that I made previously, I used black and brown colored pencils to make it blend in nicely with the colors that I put into the image. From that point on I colored in the first piece by making small brown lines within the cloak of the character to imitate the Vincent Van Gogh impressionist style, to give a sort of texture to the cloak. afterwards I made a skin tone by coloring lightly with orange and brown colored pencils so I could make the figure human like. I then colored the facial features then the top of the hood on the cloak, which I colored with dark brown, black, yellow and a bit of orange, to give varying color depth and difference in the hood and to show where the light is coming from. after coloring the lantern a nice and warm set of yellows and oranges to show the brightness of the fire, I created a hesitant glow around the lantern, to give depth and placement. From there I colored in the background with a black colored pencil, and made the left side of the piece much darker than the right side to show dynamic lighting for the lantern that was place on the right side of the figure
The Second Illustration started the same way, with sketching in colored pencil as to not make this a mixed media piece, I sketched a basic outline of the sketch from my notebook, trying to keep it as similar to the original sketch as I possibly could to not mess up my intentions. From there I proceeded to color in the skin tone with orange and browns to make sure that it would look as close to a human skin tone as I could, then I colored in all of the noticeable facial features trying to give them a thick outline to compliment the Pop Art style that I was going for. coloring the hair from that point on, making it look textured and full, then creating a smooth and bright sun behind the figure (based on me) to bring contrast to the piece overall, and finishing out with a bright light blue background to make the whole piece really pop out of the paper, with lines that draw the attention of the viewer to the center of the piece.
For the first piece I sketched it out on the final piece of paper with a base line art of what I wanted based on the sketch that I made previously, I used black and brown colored pencils to make it blend in nicely with the colors that I put into the image. From that point on I colored in the first piece by making small brown lines within the cloak of the character to imitate the Vincent Van Gogh impressionist style, to give a sort of texture to the cloak. afterwards I made a skin tone by coloring lightly with orange and brown colored pencils so I could make the figure human like. I then colored the facial features then the top of the hood on the cloak, which I colored with dark brown, black, yellow and a bit of orange, to give varying color depth and difference in the hood and to show where the light is coming from. after coloring the lantern a nice and warm set of yellows and oranges to show the brightness of the fire, I created a hesitant glow around the lantern, to give depth and placement. From there I colored in the background with a black colored pencil, and made the left side of the piece much darker than the right side to show dynamic lighting for the lantern that was place on the right side of the figure
The Second Illustration started the same way, with sketching in colored pencil as to not make this a mixed media piece, I sketched a basic outline of the sketch from my notebook, trying to keep it as similar to the original sketch as I possibly could to not mess up my intentions. From there I proceeded to color in the skin tone with orange and browns to make sure that it would look as close to a human skin tone as I could, then I colored in all of the noticeable facial features trying to give them a thick outline to compliment the Pop Art style that I was going for. coloring the hair from that point on, making it look textured and full, then creating a smooth and bright sun behind the figure (based on me) to bring contrast to the piece overall, and finishing out with a bright light blue background to make the whole piece really pop out of the paper, with lines that draw the attention of the viewer to the center of the piece.
Reflection
I think I did very well on my pieces, they were constructed well and have very well structured concepts. I was able to stick with my theme, and I conveyed my message very well through the contrast of the two pieces being darkness and hiding and brightness and expression. My usage of materials and staying true to my inspiration really payed off and I really enjoyed challenging myself to try new styles of art that I am not extremely familiar with, It was a lot of fun to try to imitate the work of impressionism style of painting but translating it into colored pencil medium. I stayed true to the form of my inspiration, by including the cloaked figure (myself) and making it have dynamic lighting to really pull together the piece. In my opinion I could work on making the two pieces have more in common, like putting a moon in the back of the first piece to contrast with the sun, but maybe use purple as a background to the first picture to compliment the blue used in my second illustration. There are some small issues I have which are the brightness of the left side of the hood not matching up with the brightness from the lantern, but that is a small issue I can fix later on in my gouache painting next semester. I enjoyed the process the whole way through and really enjoyed challenging myself with only using colored pencils to sketch, color, and to finalize with, It was interesting and I enjoyed putting myself out there to be able to work on this. After this piece I cannot wait to start on the gouache painting version of this, where I can fix my minor mistakes and make my praises from this one, shine even more.
ACT Responses
1) Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork:
The inspiration that I took from really had a cause-effect relationship with my work, because a lot of things from my inspiration showed up in my pieces, along with how they were made and the skills and techniques I used to make them.
2) What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach the authors from my research have regarding my topic, are the textures and styles I used and created within the pieces.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I made some pretty easy Generalizations and conclusions about ideas because I had to take some liberties with my research for the first illustration, as I wanted to convey a specific message
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central Idea was coming from a dark age in history and blossoming to a bright and happy and influenced future, the evolution of human mood and technology. The modern world vs the historic world
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Some inferences I made was how different the styles were. I saw how pop art was very bold and out there. That's exactly what I wanted for my pop art piece.
Bibliography
“From the Collection–Francisco De Zurbarán's Saint Francis of Assisi in His Tomb.” Milwaukee Art Museum Blog, 27 June 2017, blog.mam.org/2017/06/27/from-the-collection-francisco-de-zurbarans-saint-francis-of-assisi-in-his-tomb/.
Tamashova, Yana. “Vector Color Pop Art Comic Style Illustration Of Girl Applying A Lipstick. Stock Illustration - Illustration of Advertising, Adult: 130875604.” Dreamstime, 7 Nov. 2018, www.dreamstime.com/vector-color-pop-art-comic-style-illustration-girl-applying-lipstick-young-attractive-woman-does-makeup-beautiful-red-image130875604.
Tamashova, Yana. “Vector Color Pop Art Comic Style Illustration Of Girl Applying A Lipstick. Stock Illustration - Illustration of Advertising, Adult: 130875604.” Dreamstime, 7 Nov. 2018, www.dreamstime.com/vector-color-pop-art-comic-style-illustration-girl-applying-lipstick-young-attractive-woman-does-makeup-beautiful-red-image130875604.