A Study In Gameboards

I didn't like this project very much. I'm not sure why, but I wasn't interested in perspective, and it wasn't an easy thing to do. That might by why I wasn't interested, but it doesn't change the fact that this wasn't one of my stronger projects, nor was it one I liked. The final isn't that good, I think that I messed up, the lines aren't parallel somewhere, and it throws the whole picture off. I liked the watercolours, even though I might have gone too dark, I started over after the first time I butchered it with the watercolours (I didn't do a light wash, it was too dark), and I think that I went a little crazy also with the coloured pencil, it's too dark and the colours aren't blending and there is no value and no highlights or shadows, none of that. There should have been gradation between the colour transitions, instead, I just coloured really hard over other colours, and it sort of blended, but not much.
I would spend more time and effort with the colouring of the picture, the sketches were fine, all that was okay, but the colouring is what looks bad, and also I'd add more details; if I had the chance to do it over. The most difficult part for me was keeping everything in perspective, carrying lines out to the horizon lines, even the overlapping ones, which were confusing and not something I was good at. I couldn't keep a fix on where the vanishing points where, and that made the whole picture out of perspective and not good-looking. I learned not to color too hard, and I learned that I don't like perspective and I can't draw in perspective very well.

A Study of Stencil

1. Explain how you changed your photo in the lab to create a stencil.
We found the picture on the internet, then opened it in Photoshop and edited the picture, creating more contrast though the positive and negative space through the Threshold effect in Photoshop.You then had to make it in black and white to create more difference between the parts of the picture.

2. When creating the collage background explain your choices of colors, materials (magazine paper, books pages, etc), and placement. How does it relate to your topic? If no relation discuss general idea.
My collage backround for the stencil was the Las Vegas sign, so I wanted to go with bright colors and flashing lights and things you;'d see in Vegas: half-naked women and bad ideas paired with drinking and drugs. I layered it with light watercolours because Las Vegas is a bright city, and then it was done.

3. Discuss the way positive and negative space was used to create your stencil.
It showed the major contrast between what you needed to cut out, to show the spray paint color, and what you'd keep, the parts that would show through the background. The black, for example, would be everything you'd cut, and the white keep, or vise versa.

4. When using the xacto knife, explain the safety procedures, how to use the knife and any challenges you had to overcome while cutting.
The Xacto knife was scary. You had to make sure you always cut away from your fingers and body, and trying to do so without being cut. You had to push the knife down hard though the paper, but you had to make sure it didn't cut though the blackboard or cutting board or whatever underneath. I kept cutting out the wrong parts, so I had to use tape to fix it.

 5. How was your experience with the spray paint? Discuss how color choice is important, placement of stencil, and any other concepts you noticed while creating this.
It was okay. I mean, I sprayed too close and too hard the first time, which messed it all up, but I did a layer of blue over the background, then black for the stencil, and then white over it to define it. The composition was in the middle, so you could see the original background, the blue, the botched white layer, and then the black. Even though I messed up, I think it looks way cooler. The colors had to define the thing, and contrast with the background too, in order for you to see the stencil.

A Study in Perspective

1. Describe the process you went through to change your object into the correct perspective to create the drawing. This is when you were in the lab.

First we found our picture online, then, using Photoshop, we transform,ed the picture so it was more elongates and stretched-out b y the top, and skinnier and normal by the bottom. We printed it out, then drew a grid on both the printed picture, and the blank page. Then we put the printed picture, grid square by grid square, onto the paper, scaling the image to fit and create perspective. We used colored pencils to create shadows and shade in value, to make it look 3-D on the paper.

2. How did distorting and stretching the object allow for you to create a drawing that would look different to the viewer?

The picture created by the stretching created an anamorphosis picture by stretching it to make it look like you were looking at it in a different way than straight on. The shadows underneath added to the affect, and it made my anchor look like it was standing upright, off the paper.

 3. What were the most important concepts in the project to make it successful?
To stretch the picture over Photoshop the right way, to stretch it so that it was way wider than the bottom parts, then to create the grid and transfer the picture over just like it was in the printed picture. Finally, one of the other most vital parts was to create value and the correct shadow, to make it look like it's coming off the page.

A Study In Printmaking

1. Describe the overall composition of your artwork (balance, unity, rhythm and movement). 
 The composition is all right, it's sorta balanced. It's got a lot of textures in it, but it also has a lot of blank space. There is little rhythm, but the patterns in the feathers are all the same and the patterns in the peacock's body is the same. There is no movement, it's stationary.

2. How did you add texture and contrast to your print? Is this important? Why? 
You added textures by cutting out parts, and every part you'd cut out wouldn't catch the ink, so whatever you left is what showed up colored on the paper. It's important to add texture but not add so much that it hurts to look at, but you needed to add enough to differentiate between parts. Without texture, the print wouldn't work, because the texture (the bits you left/cut out) formed the picture.
 
3. Explain how you used positive and negative space to show your image. 
The positive space is the parts you leave in, and the negative is the cut out parts, because the cut out parts define the image's boundaries and patterns and such. Whatever you cut out, wouldn't catch the ink, and formed any patterns and lines in the image, and the parts cut out around the lines made up the solid blocks of color, once it was printed.

4. Describe the craftsmanship of your print. (How good the project is technically crafted) 
It's not very good. The print wasn't in the registration marks, it was crooked or splotchy. On all of them, I think, have smudges on the edges or fingerprints in the print. There was no cut out space to hold it very well by, which messed up the aiming of placing it and the smudges and splotchy parts, where my fingers were.
 
5. Were you able to achieve depth by showing a foreground, middle ground and back- ground? Explain. 
Sort of. I think. The peacock's body was the foreground, the feathers in the middle and any (there wasn't much) blank space in the back was the background. I hope I did a good job with the middle and foregrounds at least, but I think I didn't. You can, however, see a distinction, so whatever.
  
6. Explain your experience with Printmaking. What were the obstacles and advantages? 
Printmaking isn't something I especially enjoy. It's tedious, to cut out the linoleum. It's nerve-wracking to place the inked final copies onto the paper, and I screwed it up on every one of them. Printmaking isn't something I'm good at, it's something I could use more work on, I'm not very experienced.

A Study in Chalk Murals

1. Explain your experience working on a team and executing your ideas for the mural. 
I think working on a team was all right. It was intresting and cool, however, to see everyone's take and interpratation of the mural. Also, it was a good help to have other people working on things they, specifically, were good at. People who were good shaders shaded, people who were good at colouring the solid blocks of color for the foundation did that, and people who outlined and added detail did that.  

2. Explain the importance of collaboration when working on a team. 
It's a big help. But at the same time, it makes no diffrence. It's a help in the way that it would take forever for someone to do the whole mural completly by themselves, and it was good to have people do what you weren't good at, but maybe they were. It dosen't make a diffrence when your teammates don't do anything anyway, or they have nothing to add or help with. When that happens, it's just like working alone.  

3. How successful was this project? Explain how and why.
I think we were sucessful. It think that the project turend out the way we wanted it, or close to it so that it didn't matter anyways. It looks good, and everyone on our team halped out with it at one point or another.  

4. Explain how you feel about creating artwork that others can interact with. Ex. Invoving the whole school?  
I think it's really cool, atucally. I went to Panter Creek last year, and the art program there never interacted with anything. So at Apex, it's really cool that we got to draw on the walls of the school and that we got to have people see our art all around school. I think it's awesome that eveyone and anyone who walks by it can participate in it.

The Study of Printing Sketches

1. Why is texture so important to have in your sketches? 
Because when you carve out of the linoleum, you won't have the shading or value or anything. You need to have texture to show lines and to show the animal to the best of your abilities. To make it look good once you carve it out. 

2. Why is it necessary for you to have several references of each animal and each background? Explain.
So you can get a look at the animal from all sides. Also, it prevents copying the picture exactly, if you have multiple examples to pull from. It means that you can get a better view of your subject from more than one example.  

3. When you look at your sketches are you able to see which sketch is the strongest and will make the best print? How do you know this?  
I think so. It depends on which has the most texture and has the most detail, and it needs to have a good balance between detail and negative space, so you don't overwhelm the print with tons and tons of little lines.

A Study Value In Portraits

1. Explain the process you went through to develop your drawing. 
First, what happened is that pictures were taken of the people in the class. Then, we went and chose a picture to draw randomly, afterwards, we traced the values of the picture on tracing paper. To transfer the value on the tracing paper to our sketch book, we coloured hard on the back of the tracing paper and then re-drew the lines into our sketchbook. Then, depending on the original picture, we shaded the sketchbook drawing to make it look realistic. That's pretty much how we made the final product.

2. Explain how you found the different values in the portrait? How?
The difference between the light and dark values in the portrait, where the sun was shining or reflection off somewhere, or where the shadows crossed her face. Those lines in light/dark dictated where the values were diff rent. It depends all on the light and where the differences between the light and dark are.

3.Did you achieve a full range of the different values within your portrait?  How?
With the drawn portrait, not really. I could have done better, because in what I drew; the hair and the skin under shadow are the same colour, but in real life it was diffrent. I tried to go really dark, but that looked really bad. Then I tried to make the differences in the face less severe, because the way they looked wasn't looking good, but in the end, the values in the face were sort-of all monotone.  

4. Describe your craftsmanship.Is the artwork executed and crafted neatly? 
Neatly? Sure, I guess. I don't think it's one of my better drawings, but that's because I am not good at drawing portraits. It's all neatly contained in the outline of her head, and all the values correspond almost the same, if not in a lighter shade of the color. It's like, there was a whole range of values, but not as dark shaded as the ones in the pictures where.But I do believe that I did what the project meant for us to do.

5. List any obstacles you had to overcome and how you dealt with them.
I had the obstacle of what shade to do. It's not so much the shapes of the value, or the tracing and re-tracing, that was easy. It's more like I had a hard time of making sure that I didn't go too dark too fast, (I did that the first time and then I started over), but I had to make sure that I stayed true to the values in the picture.

The Study of Value

1. Describe your overall thoughts on the final piece.
It was intresting, I like blending, it's something I'm good at so I wasn't that upset or whatever or dissapointed with the final outcome. 

2. If this was a group project, what was your contribution?
It wasn't. 

3. How successful do you feel this piece is and why?
Pretty sucessful, I guess. It dosen't look too awful or anything, so yeah, sucessful. 

4. What worked about this project? What didn’t work?
The colors and the blending was easy for me. I wasn't fond of the oil pastels, only because I get them all over my hands and smuge them all over the place. Plus, I didn't like doing the shadows of the shapes. 

5. If you were to do this project over again, what changes would you consider making?
Diffrent and more unique color combinations.  

6. What was the most difficult part about completing this piece and why?
Getting the shading and the light source right, plus casting the shadows and blending the other shadows in well.  

7. What did you learn from this piece?
How value changes with the position of the object.