Value Portraits

1. Explain the process you went through to develop your drawing.

First, you take the portrait and put tracing paper over it. On the tracing paper, you outline the different values that you see. Once you're done tracing values, you transfer the shapes from the tracing paper onto a page in your sketch book. You do this by completely coloring the back of the tracing paper, putting the tracing paper on top of a page in your sketch book, and then re-outlining the values that you found on the tracing paper. After your outlined shapes are all in your sketch book, you shade in the values as dark or as light as you see on on the portrait. You blend the different values as you go, and then your portrait starts to look like a real person.

2. Explain how you found the different values in the portrait?

Finding different values was hard because the portrait was in black and white and all the dark values and light values looked the same through the tracing paper. Holding the portrait and tracing paper against the window helps because the light makes the portrait more transparent, and then you can find different values a lot easier. I started out without the window and just did a rough outline of all the values I saw. Then I held the portrait and tracing paper up to the window and outlined in a little more detail.

3.  Did you achieve a full range of the different values within your portrait?  How?

Yes, I used my value chart to help me. Also, using your pencil with different pressures creates different values. Using your pencil lightly creates lighter values and using your pencil with a lot of pressure creates a darker value.

4. Describe your craftsmanship.  Is the artwork executed and crafted neatly?

Yes, I think it is. I worked really hard on this portrait and it looks life-like. The only thing I would change is the smudge marks. When I worked on the portrait, I got pencil all over the side of my hand, and as I worked, some of that pencil transferred to the portrait. I would also change the shape of the jaw so that the face doesn't look too squished up. Overall, I think the shadows and highlights turned out really well.

5. List any obstacles you had to overcome and how you dealt with them.
I think the hardest part for me was getting the hat right. When I was tracing values, I thought the hat and the forehead were the same thing because through the tracing paper it looked like the same thing. When I was about to start shading the hat, I realized my mistake. Instead of using the tracing paper, I just drew in the shape of the hat because it was easier to see without the tracing paper. Overall, I think through the tracing paper a lot of the values looked the same, so when it came time to shading I had a hard time because I couldn't see the difference between some of the features.

Oil Pastels

1. Describe your overall thoughts on the final piece.    

     Oil pastels are a lot easier to use than pencil because its quicker and it looks nicer. I think my last shape turned out the best because I had the most practice before that.

3. How successful do you feel this piece is and why?
      I think this piece wasn't very successful because it was a practice piece and it was my first time trying forms & shading with oil pastels.

4. What worked about this project? What didn’t work?    
      Overall, the forms worked pretty well, but the shadows of the shapes didn't work. In some of the forms, the blending didn't work that well, but in other shapes it did.

5. If you were to do this project over again, what changes would you consider making?

     I would use different color combinations so that the transitions between the colors wasn't so harsh.

6. What was the most difficult part about completing this piece and why?    
     I think the most difficult part about this piece was blending the oil pastels so the transition between the colors was smooth. This was difficult because some of the colors were a lot darker or lighter than the others and that makes it harder to blend the colors.

7. What did you learn from this piece?
     I learned how to use oil pastels to give a simple shape a 3D effect. I also learned that you need to use a lighter pressure when blending oil pastels.