Clay Piece: During the creation of this project I learned about all the techniques of using clay! One thing that I thought was cool is that the watercolor paint sinks into the cracks and really makes the texture I made stand out. This piece is successful because it turned out just how I wanted, complete with kissy fish lips and realistic looking scales. If I were to try this again I would consider making the tail and fins look more realistic.
Land Art: This activity was really cool because it taught me that you can create art out of anything! It was really cool to use grass as our medium instead of normal materials such as paint. This piece turned out successful because all the random things we used came together really nicely. If I were to create more land art I would consider using something less messy than grass and rocks.
Newspaper Art: I liked this mini lesson because the newspaper/magazine turned out to be really easy to work with. I also chose to use random magazine pages because they were so colorful
I Create Original Ideas! My idea for the Artist Steal Project was to do a tree with peacock feathers as the leaves. I chose to use oil pastel as my medium because I knew from a previous warm up that they are very easy to blend. Since oil pastels are a barrier to water color, I deciding to paint the background. I used saran wrap to give it a little bit of subtle texture. I believe that my picture is original because not many people would think of it. The final product turned out really well and I really like it! We Collaborate! While creating this project I frequently asked for the opinions of the girls that sit at my table. They guided my decisions and kept supporting me with positive feedback throughout the whole process. They were helping me stay on track as well; sometimes I started getting out acrylic paint when I really needed watercolor :)
Remixed Character: During the process of creating this piece I learned about watercolor and texture techniques. (I used salt with watercolor paints to give the background the look it has.) My remixed character turned out successful because the two characters that I combined (Daphne from Scooby-Doo and Disney Princess Belle) blended together really well. Next time I do a project like this I will consider focusing more on the key elements of each character and displaying them evenly in the final product.
Daily Monster: While creating this picture I learned how much imagination and creativity influences art. We had to be really open minded in order to create a monster out of our ink blots. I think my "Daily Monster" was successful because of how original it is. Everyone else in my class was so worrying about making their monster different from the rest, while I on the other hand didn't even make a monster! The next time I make an ink blot picture I have to consider spreading the ink all over the page so I have less white space to fill.
Spray Paint Stencil: I really enjoyed learning about using spray paint as a medium and how to cut out a stencil. My piece was successful because the finished product turned out looking relatively similar to the photo I chose to be my stencil (a dog yawning). If I was to do another cardboard stencil I would consider taping down the edges so that the lines wouldn't be as fuzzy and the picture would turn out clearer.
In art class for the last three weeks we've been learning about many techniques and mediums for sketches and drawings! One my favorites was contour lines. We practiced this by drawing our hands and upside down images in our sketchbooks. Mine turned out looking really realistic. We learned about the multiple kinds of contour lines (there are about 3 or 4). Contour lines are successful because they make it easy to focus on shapes and not the whole picture at once and if I were to do them again... that's exactly what I would focus on.
We also practiced some scientific drawing as one of our sketchbook warm ups too! We rotated around the classroom and sketched feathers, shells, turtles and other items on the tables. Afterwards we chose our best one (I chose a feather) and added color to it on a really cool app. Scientific drawings are very successful because they are what are put into textbooks and are observed for medical reasons. If I were to do another scientific drawing I would definitely do a still life, rather than a squirming turtle.
One activity we did was perspective drawing... first we went into a hallway and attempted to draw it. Then Mrs. Sudkamp taught us about how all lines go to a point in picture and different types of perspective (1 point, 2 point and 3 point). In groups, we went around the school and took pictures to make sure we fully understood. Perspective drawings are successful because they make things like urban sketching more realistic. If I were to do more perspective drawing I would try to draw a really interesting street instead of just a hallway.
I took a risk by using charcoal as my medium. Originally, I was planning on using pencil as my medium because I thought it would be easier since it could be easily erased and wasn't very messy. But since I was going to make the background completely black, I figured that charcoal would be a better idea. Even though I ended up getting black all over my hands, clothes, phone and a pretty much everything else....in the end, I'm glad I chose charcoal. Making the background black was also a risk because I knew I would have trouble keeping the white areas clean, and I did, but it turned out making a great contrast in the end!
For my Artist Observe project I decided to draw a picture of a picture of a polaroid picture, using charcoal as my medium. I believe that my artwork is original because my final product turned out very unique. What also makes it different is that the original photo that I was observing, or my inspiration, is not the photo I drew, but is in fact two photos in one! (see photo of artwork in the previous post) In the original picture the polaroid has a picture of me and my friends. But instead of drawing people, I decided to draw a picture of some flowers I saw on a field trip last year. I chose to combine the two because I couldn't decide which picture to use.