Print Making

1. Describe the overall composition of your artwork (balance, unity, rhythm and movement). 

 I think my overall composition flowed together nicely. The positive and negative space defined the piece well and there weren't any rough shapes or anything that stood out in a bad way.

  

2. How did you add texture and contrast to your print? Is this important? Why?

I added a lot of different lines to show all the feathers on the parrot. Yes, it is important because without texture and contrast, the print would look plain and wouldn't catch the viewer's eye.  

3. Explain how you used positive and negative space to show your image.

I used negative space to outline all the shapes. The positive space was used to fill in the different shapes. 

4. Describe the craftsmanship of your print. (How good the project is technically crafted) 

I think the overall craftsmanship of my print was good. The only things that didn't really look good were the big pieces i had to cut out. It was hard to keep all the pieces leveled and it just looked really messy. But when I printed, it didn't make a difference so it was fine.

5. Were you able to achieve depth by showing a foreground, middle ground and back- ground? Explain.

Yes, but unlike most of the other prints, my animal was in the foreground. There were some buildings in the middle ground and the river and the rest of the city was in the background.

6. Explain your experience with Printmaking. What were the obstacles and advantages?

The hardest thing was making the print look realistic. You can't shade and add value so you really have to pay attention to the different shapes in the print. In my print, there were also a lot of little details that were kind of hard to carve into linoleum. Figuring out which parts of the drawing to cut out was also a challenge.

 

Print Making Sketches

1. Why is texture so important to have in your sketches?

You can only use two colors in print making and if you don't include texture, you won't be able to see the different parts of the drawing. If I had just done an outline of the parrot I drew, then you wouldn't be able to see the all the different feathers because I can't color them all different colors. You also have to include texture in the background because there would be too big of a contrast between the animal and the background if you didn't.

2. Why is it necessary for you to have several references of each animal and each background? Explain.

If you don't have references, then you don't have anything to base you're drawing on. I didn't know off the top of my head what a parrot looks like when it's flying or how it's feathers overlap. References are necessary because they help make you make your sketch look more realistic.

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?

Yes, because the strongest print will have the most texture, the best contrast between positive and negative space, will be the easiest to crop, and will look the most realistic.

Interactive Chalk Murals

1. Explain your experience working on a team and executing your ideas for the mural.

Working on a team was a lot more enjoyable than working alone because you don't have to do all the work by yourself. We agreed pretty quickly on what our mural would be of, and everyone found a piece of the mural to work on. I think the only problem was that we almost didn't finish and had to get help from someone from the other class.

2. Explain the importance of collaboration when working on a team

You have to collaborate in order to complete the project or the project won't be finished. You have to compromise on the ideas you have in order to please everyone on the team and you have to make sure everyone has a job to do so the piece gets finished on time.

3.  How successful was this project? Explain how and why.

I think this piece turned out okay, but it could have been more successful. I think making the 3D objects actually look 3D was the hardest part. The shadows could have been a lot thicker, and also we could have used different values for the clouds. Although, I think we did a pretty good job.

4. Explain how you feel about creating artwork that others can interact with. Ex. Involving the whole school? 

I thought it would be weird at first, but my friends looked really excited to see all the murals on the wall. So it just seemed normal after that.