1. Define which techniques you tried and mastered? Struggled?
Value, line, direction, and color were big keys that were important for me to think about and use throughout the process of my self portrait. One struggle was knowing exactly where something was and spacing it out on the grid. Another struggle was how much value to use and finding shadows rather than an actual line that wasn't there.
2. How did you draw inspiration from other artists techniques or aesthetics in your work? In what ways did you derive meaning or gain historical perspectives from their work? Why these artists?
Other artists I used were from students in class and getting ideas of how to use the willow charcoal as well as the white charcoal. They helped me get the idea to use words around my head as well as how dark or light I needed to shade my piece.
3. Describe the evolution of your piece. Decisions made. Compositional elements.
The first step I took was drawing the eyes and shaping them in the center of the grid and from there I outlined the lips, eyebrows, nose, chin, head, hair, and then my neck and shoulders. I struggled the most with drawing my nose because i was uncertain of how much value and lines needed in it looking similar to the actual picture. I chose to draw it last that way I could see how big or small to place it.
4. If you could consider doing something over, explain why you would do this and what you would do next time?
The only thing I would redo would be the shading of my skin and using the brown paper more rather than have using all white charcoal. I did mix the white with the willow charcoal which made a big difference highlighting more shadows and value to the piece. The brown would have identified more natural color and helped identify more shadows.
5. Elaborate on how this piece links with your other pieces? What is the common thread?
The common thread this piece has in relation to the still art is drawing what you see and using value to create the piece. Knowing how to use the willow charcoal to create the shapes and lines needed plays an important role.
Project 2: I am From Photo Gallery
1. Define which techniques you tried and mastered? Struggled?
One technique I tried was using tissue paper to make different types of papel picado. There were some that were easier to make than others but it was very challenging to make each different type because they were all very time consuming. Cempazuchitl de papel is one type that I had made which was very easy but took a long process. You had to be very delicate when you held the paper so it wouldn't tear otherwise it looked would ruin the detail of it being a flower. Another type of papel picado that I made were the butterflies which were a lot easier since I was able to create the designs for them with a pencil however it was very time consuming since the details were very little and there were many of them. Taking the pictures up close of each person was another technique I used actually getting the physical features of just their face which was a struggle because when I cropped them they were all not similar and some faces were closer and bigger than others after cropping them.
2. How did you draw inspiration from other artists techniques or aesthetics in your work? In what ways did you derive meaning or gain historical perspectives from their work? Why these artists?
I drew inspiration by watching other artists make different types of papel picado so I could learn how to make each style and how to use my own designs and colors for each one. From watching these videos it gave me the inspiration to make the butterflies in different way making one more simple than the other. I specifically chose to watch other artists to get more inspiration and more ideas of what kind of papel picado I could make and the different techniques of how to make them.
3. Describe the evolution of your piece. Decisions made. Compositional elements.
The evolution started with the pictures, After taking them and printing them they needed more than just a simple face which is why I added a different colored frame to each of them in the end. Then the poems came along and because of their powerful messages I thought it would be more creative to leave some of them black and white with no color or design to show the message is more powerful. Since the poems came from the IBLA club and from Ms. Kristy's class there are some that are colorful while others are more simple. Finally came the decoration of the photo gallery which were the papel picado, mariposas, and Cempazuchitl de papel which made the photo gallery more colorful especially since the background of the panel is dark grey. Placing each piece of the photo gallery together to make it all fit and organizing it to where there is unity among each panel that way there werent too many pictures on one and too many flowers or butterflies on another.
4. If you could consider doing something over, explain why you would do this and what you would do next time?
If I could do something over I would use my time more wisely to have more decorations and more papel picado types. I would do this so that it brings in more color and shows more unity with the overall message.
5. Elaborate on how this piece links with your other pieces? What is the common thread?
This piece links with my self portrait because they both represent who I am and where I come from. The common thread is the overall theme within both pieces as I not only see myself through them but get an overview of who others are as well.
Project 3: Gun Violence
1. Define which techniques you tried and mastered? Struggled?
Techniques I tried were using pen to create different styles of different words. This was a struggle because it was very time consuming and I made a lot of the words smaller than the other which was not my intention. I also used acrylic paint to paint the background and make the words stand out more. This was more of an experiment than it was a struggle which I think I mastered because I did not want to paint all of the background red and I wanted it to look more like a poster to advertise than creativity.
2. How did you draw inspiration from other artists techniques or aesthetics in your work? In what ways did you derive meaning or gain historical perspectives from their work? Why these artists?
I drew inspiration from other artists by using the different words within my piece. Because there have been so many school shootings since the Columbine shooting there have been many protests so I tried to make my poster look like a protests poster which I drew inspiration from other posters tying them into my piece.
3. Describe the evolution of your piece. Decisions made. Compositional elements.
I started with an outline of the US and then I drew the letters which were very time consuming and again it was not my intention to make them so small. I painted the background and when we had other students feedback after I got feedback I added the statement to the very bottom so it was more clear to what my art work is actually about.
4. If you could consider doing something over, explain why you would do this and what you would do next time?
I would redraw the words and add more different colors of red just so that the words stand out more and maybe instead of the statement at the bottom draw a gun that way it is easier to tell what my piece is talking about.
5. Elaborate on how this piece links with your other pieces? What is the common thread?
This piece links with my other topics such as the photo gallery because it raises awareness about a social issue in which social issues interest me. It also relates to my self portrait because it also defines me in certain ways which creates a common thread by having gun issues especially in school be an issue to my perspective.
Project 4: Eres Mas Grande Afuera que por Dentro
1. Define which techniques you tried and mastered? Struggled?
I tried to use water color and I mixed certain colors together to get the color that I actually wanted and although this was a struggle I believe using different colors really helped make the piece.
2. How did you draw inspiration from other artists techniques or aesthetics in your work? In what ways did you derive meaning or gain historical perspectives from their work? Why these artists?
I got a lot of inspiration from many artists one of them being Shepard Fairey with his piece of Guns N Roses where he has flowers, specifically roses coming out of guns. I used his work because many of his pieces are based on social issues. I got the inspiration to use flowers in my piece which I wanted to paint a heart. At first the piece didnt really have any meaning to me but as I continued to create it I made every shape a symbol for something.
3. Describe the evolution of your piece. Decisions made. Compositional elements.
I used a heart based on a drawing I saw but I did not trace it I drew each element myself looking off of ideas from other hearts. The heart represents the Earth and it is painted brown because its supposed to be the soil and dirt underground. I then drew the eye shape making the piece more abnormal than a regular heart. The eye represents society and how we view society, again making it abnormal I painted the eye with water color miking dark purple and white to make a light purple. I drew the flowers next and each of them represent how the Earth is growing in the soil and each flower is different to show the different ways our society and Earth are growing as a whole. After using water color to finish the piece I added more details and different colors to highlight every piece.
4. If you could consider doing something over, explain why you would do this and what you would do next time?
I would consider using lighter colors and making more flowers and making everything around the heart more colorful. I would do this in order to emphasize the message of the piece. I also would add more color to the background allowing each element to pop out more.
5. Elaborate on how this piece links with your other pieces? What is the common thread?
This piece links with my other pieces because it also raises awareness and sends a message about our Earth. It connects to the gun violence piece because although there is violence in the world, the earth is growing in many different ways. It also connects to the I am From piece because although immigration is a problem it raises awareness about how it has evolved within this piece. The common thread between each piece are the vibrant colors symbolizing social issues.