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.

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.