Art
Creating a Portfolio
First, we created our working portfolios. These would store all the things we were working on. I themed mine off of machinery and gears. This is how it turned out. I like my portfolio because it is simplistic but cool.
Creating Collages/Book Binding
First, we cut out our pictures. We looked through magazines and books for a week or two, cutting out things we liked. Then, we planned our collages. We took pictures that we wanted to be part of our collages and laid them out in the order we wanted. We tinkered with the design a little bit and then used masking tape to hold them in place. When we were satisfied with our designs, we used sealant and brushes to adhere them into place. When it dried, we put another layer to seal the collage. We repeated this this process on the back of the collage and then created another one. When all the collages are done, we put a black tape border around the collage to make it look nicer. This is what mine look like:
Overall, I am really happy with how my collages turned out. I enjoyed making them and I think they represent me and my creativity.
Book Binding
Once we punched out holes in our collages and signatures, it was time to make them into a book. I was intimidated by what everyone said about Coptic stitching, but when I got into it I found it fun. With some instructions from Anne, I got it done in less than two hours. I am really happy with how it turned out and I plan on using it in the future.
Pinch Pot Animals
For the next project, we made pinch pot animals. A pinch pot is a piece of clay that is rolled into a ball and pinched into a bowl shape. When we sculpt our animals for this project, a pinch pot has to be part of it. I decided to make a dog rolled over on it's back. I started by making the pinch pot. I made it as even as possible to that I could attach the legs and head later. Then, I made the legs. I started by rolling a little ball of clay into a cylinder and smoothing one end. I bent it a little bit to make it look more like a leg. I added little marks on the smooth end that look like claws. Then, I scored and slipped the place where I wanted the leg to go on the pinch pot and the other end of the leg. Scoring and slipping is where you make scratch marks on the place where you want to attach two pieces of clay and then add a little bit of water. This ensures that the clay won't fall off. I made three more legs and attached them. Then, I made the head. I rolled a little ball of clay and then smoothed it out. I made little ears and attached them by scoring and slipping. I added some final details and smoothed it a final time, and then turned it in. Anne fired it in the kiln, and now we paint them. I painted mine ochre. I put three or four layers on it, and made sure to not get the bottom so it wouldn't get messed up. It turned out amazing and I am really happy with it. This is what it looks like:
Drawing What We See
This project was the hardest out of all of them. For this project, we had to make drawings based off of images while following them as close as possible. I chose to draw a cat and a dog merged. I started off by sketching the outline. The cat side was pretty easy, but it took me four or five tries to get the dog side. In this stage, I did not do any details. Once I perfected the outline, I started shading. I started with the face of the cat. First, I shaded the ears. I spent a day or two shading that area, and I am really happy with how the ears turned out. I spent the next week and a half shading the face because of all the details. I think it paid off because it looks really good. Next, I moved on to the neck area. This area also had a lot of details, but I spent less time on the details because I was behind. The legs were pretty easy to shade because they don't have as many details. I spent the next few days shading the back. The back was easy to shade, but was very tedious. The legs of the dog were pretty simple, and I didn't spend too much time on the chest. I drew most of the head in one day, but I am really proud of how it turned out.
Overall, I am really happy with it. I never thought that I could make something this complex and detailed. This is definitely the hardest drawing that I've ever made, and I love it.
