Black and White Unit
Self Portrait, Untitled
This was probably one of the most challenging pieces for me to draw. Overall, I have trouble looking objectively at my own face like I do for portraits of other people. I think a part of it stems from how familiar I am with my face and how it has changed throughout my life. In the same sense, I would probably face challenges drawing my sister or mother's faces, because my knowledge of how they looked when they were younger would cloud my judgement of how they look today. This task taught be to try new things, however. While I only used pencil and a blending stump, I watched as friends used graphite powder -- a medium I had not previously considered. I also learned, funnily enough, not to trust my instincts. In other words, if I think or remember something to be one way, I need to check, and draw what I see instead of what I think I see.
One With Nature
This task taught me the opposite of what the last one did. While with faces I feel the need to be structurally accurate, as it is the best way to show what you see, but drawing figures is often the opposite. In this piece I decided to draw yoga poses with charcoal amidst India ink-sprayed leaves and plants. When drawing these yoga poses, I found it better to capture the motion and feeling of the pose rather than the accurate bodies. I think this is because, when looking at such a rough, un-detailed sketch, we can better understand feeling and more abstract concepts from smooth, sweeping lines instead of carefully measured ones. In terms of supplies, I wasn't aware of how pale charcoal is in comparison to India ink. I think I will keep this in mind for mixed media projects in the future. When spraying and painting with the plants, I found value in letting the ink run wild, in a sense -- not trying to control it as much as see where it would go on its own. I tried not to test what plants would do what when dipped in ink to make the piece feel more natural, which I think paid off.
Outdated
In an art class at OCAD, another student told me that typography was the hardest part of design because you need to capture a feeling with only the element of line. I thought, because she had worked very hard on her typography, that she was bragging. In this assignment, however, I learned that she may be right. When my table group had set out this set of still-life objects, I noticed that we had used only old-looking objects. I wanted to take advantage of that, but when I got started, I realized I wouldn't be able to shade in rust or sheen, or colour it neutral greys and browns. This challenged me a lot. I don't think, at this given time, that I am very good at displaying shape with only line. To be fair, I hadn't considered that there would be a time where I wouldn't even be using a grayscale. I learned that line is a valuable skill I will need to get a better handle on for the future.
A Dull Seaside
To be blunt, I am not proud of this piece. I really disliked drawing such curved, natural objects. I think I need to -- like I said in my self portrait -- start really paying attention to the proportions of what I draw, and draw what I see instead of what I think I see. I did like painting with India ink, however. It is just similar enough to watercolour that it feels just as natural. It really helped me add some dimension to the work. I did learn that blending is a little different form watercolour, though. If I want to blend shades, I need to work faster, because the ink doesn't always lift when you add water. I do think this could be a good thing, though. It would make layering very easy, and I could do some interesting effects.
Things Are Looking Up
I felt a little rushed while completing this project. Similar to the previous one, I was discovering the differences between India ink and watercolour, so some mistakes were made. I also had trouble seeing the lines I had drawn to follow, so sometimes I would put the ink the the wrong spot. If given another chance I would use a darker or coloured pencil to sketch. I did, however, really like the style. I think I might, in my own time, work on this piece further or use the same style again to experiment with India ink and the possibilities of painting on news articles. I think, before making some mistakes painting over the sketch, I did a good job keeping accurate to the photo I was drawing from. It makes me wonder if I have an issue with drawing what I think I see in general, or only with still life. It will be very interesting to find out, and to delve into why I might have trouble drawing from life versus photo.
Unfinished Buisiness
While I didn't manage to complete this work, I still feel the need to add it, because I am quite proud of it nonetheless. Oil pastel is a very unfamiliar medium to me, so it took a while to work the skull into a realistic, three-dimensional object. Then, I had to figure out how colour worked. All that being said, the new medium allowed me to really slow down and pay attention to my work, and though the process was slow, it was effective. If I have a chance I will absolutely finish this. In this piece I learned how effective it is to measure, proportion, and carefully shade work for effective results. If given the opportunity, I would experiment with using more colours than purple, white, and black, to see if I could make it look more realistic.
In this unit, I learned a lot that wasn't really related to this unit. I really like drawing with black and white already, so maybe this unit forced me to think beyond the colour, seeing as I only really use a variety of graphite pencils. I do, however, think I could've spent weeks more on this unit, to really explore these new and unique mediums. Trying out familiar mediums with maybe too familiar subjects helped me see where I draw what is in front of me, and where I draw what I think something is meant to look like. Drawing with nature and various mediums helped me experiment with shades and shapes, and drawing loose poses helped me see where accuracy is necessary, and where it isn't. Using only line for a piece was a very new challenge that taught me how to take advantage of a limiting element or art. I got to try new ways of using India ink, and compare it to mediums I am more familiar with. Other new mediums really let me pay attention to shape, value, and form. Overall, this unit -- for me, at least -- was about learning how I currently create art, and how I can improve on this, as well as opening my eyes to new mediums I could use.