Drawing

My idea was a winter stoat in the snow. There are small leaves poking out, suggesting that it is one of the first snowfalls of the year. I got the idea from just wanting to draw an animal that I liked. I also wanted to draw an animal that few people would know about to educate others on unique exotic species. At first, I wasn’t going to do clouds or leaves but then I decided that I needed to add something else to make it more interesting. For this drawing, I used graphite, a white piece of paper, and a blending stick. As for techniques, I just blended out graphite after drawing the lines. When an audience looks at my drawing, I want them to ask “what is that animal?” and then I want them to read this artist statement and look it up. I want people to learn about all of the amazing animals in the world and realize how many of them are endangered. I want people to be moved by my artwork and want to protect these species. The most difficult part of this project was the sky. I had trouble with the clouds and making the sky dark enough. If I were to start over, I would want to change how the sky looks. This drawing is in a semi-realistic style. It’s realistic and surreal at the same time. This style is unique to me because I don’t want my art to be realistic but I want some parts of it to look a little realistic. My favorite part of this drawing is the shading on the winter stoat.

 My idea at first was just a waterfall. Since that idea, I added lichen on the rocks and decided to make it a surreal scene instead. This work of art was inspired by forest scenes. To create this drawing I used colored pencils, markers, watercolor, and graphite. I used two different colors of markers to fade out the sky. I also used a lighter and darker shade of colored pencils to make some parts of the rocks darker. When people look at this work of art, I want them to feel the surreal and realistic aspects of the artwork. I want people to feel like they are looking at this scene in real life. The most difficult part for me was the sky, I didn’t know what color to make it. I also wanted the sky to stand out instead of looking boring. I overcame this by making the sky a peachy color. If I were to start over I would probably shade the lichen on the rocks differently. The style of art I drew this in is more surreal. My favorite part of this drawing is the shading on the rocks. This style is unique to me because some parts of the drawing are realistic and others are surreal. 

In the beginning, my idea was to draw a rose. I wanted to practice drawing a flower and I thought a rose was the perfect idea. I didn’t know what I was going to use for colors at first, but I soon decided to use magazine clippings. 

First, I sketched out the rose. Next, I copied it onto a larger piece of paper. Lastly, I cut out magazine clippings and glued them onto the paper. I used a light box to make sure that the pieces were big enough to fit the petals. 

This artwork symbolizes the beauty of simplicity. Although roses are simple, red flowers, they hold vast beauty in their petals. I would like the audience to recognize the beauty in small, simple things when looking at this piece. 

As I was making this piece, the hardest part was fitting the magazine clippings into the petals. I also couldn’t use some of the clippings because there were dark colors on the other side. This caused the light to not shine through, making it difficult for me to cut out the pieces in the right shape. I used a light box to trace the petals onto the magazine. This made it a little easier for me to cut out the pieces. If I could change something, I would use different shades of red to make the petals stand out more. 

My piece is drawn in a more semi-real style. The rose is in a realistic shape, but it isn’t colored realistically. My favorite part of the piece is the different shades and patterns on the petals. 

My first idea was to draw the cherry blossom with a unique angle. I then decided, why not draw some other flowers too? And with that thought, I decided to draw exotic flowers because of their unique shapes. 

I started out with sketching a rough shape of each flower’s petals. After this, I lightly shaded with a pencil to show the shadows and add some dimension. 

This artwork is meant to show off the diversity of different flowers. When you first think of flowers, you think of the most common ones. There’s so many different kinds of beautiful flowers that people never think of! 

  The most challenging part of this piece was drawing the big flower with tentacle-like petals. It was tough to get the shapes of the petals right and to shade them. 

This piece is in a realistic style. I tried to shade the flowers as realistically as possible and I think it turned out great! My favorite part is the flower to the left of the heart-shaped one.

My first idea was to draw a manta ray in water. I was going to use blue alcohol markers for the water, until I couldn’t find the right color of blue. All of the blues I tested were either too light or too dark. Then I thought about using magazine clippings, but I wanted to make the manta ray stand out. If I were to use magazine clippings, the clippings would grab all the attention. So, I decided to use watercolor paints for the ocean. As I was painting, I used a layer of blue. I noticed that there were greens and purples in the palette and decided to add one of those too. I tested them out on a piece of paper, but couldn't decide which to add. Then I thought, Why not add both? I dotted some paint on random parts of the paper and then had the idea to turn the paper. Doing this made the paint drip and created unique patterns. The greens, blues, and purples mixed together to make a beautiful ocean. 

I started with drawing the manta ray of this piece. I transferred the sketch onto some marker paper. After this, I colored the manta ray with alcohol markers and then shaded it using a darker marker. Then, I cut it out using an exacto-knife. I painted the ocean and glued the manta ray to the paper. Lastly, I sealed it all up using glossy Mod Podge. 

This work of art is meant to symbolize freedom from daily life. Self care is important, so sometimes you should take some time for yourself and relax. It’s good to take a vacation every once and awhile!

The most challenging part of this artwork was not making it look too simple. I wanted to draw a manta ray, but just drawing it in water was too boring. To overcome this difficulty, I added different greens, blues, and purples to the water. This made the water look more intriguing rather than it being a simply blue background. 

This piece is my personal spin on surrealism. While the manta ray looks more realistic, the ocean looks like something you’d see in a dream. I love how the whole piece looks tied together, it’s definitely one of my favorites.