Drawing 1

Matthew Shelby  The Original Jordan

9x12, Graphite and Charcoal on psdsaper, 2023 

My idea for this drawing was one of my favorite shoes that I have.  I got the idea for it because it is a shoe I wear a lot and a shoe brand I really admire. I was inspired by my Jordans, and seeing how much the brand is successful. For this drawing, I used graphite and charcoal on paper. I blended the charcoal at the top, to get a smooth background. This art is about the brand Jordan. This is one of my favorite shoes and I wear them often. This is a brand that has had a huge impact on the world, and seeing what Michael Jordan did in his career, only made the brand bigger. The most difficult part were the laces and the stitching. They were so precise, so there were a lot of mess ups. I overcame the difficulties by using different rulers and measurements to get the stitching right, and making sure the laces looked right. This style of art is pop art. This piece of art is unique because of all of the different textures and the style of it. I love how it looks like a real Jordan on a wood floor, and it shows the dark background, which brings out the shoe more.

Matthew Shelby  The Lonely Dog

9x9, Graphite, Graphite Powder, and colored pencil on psdsaper, 2023 

My idea for this drawing was my sisters dog that she just got.  I got the idea for it because when she got the dog, I immediately wanted him for myself, and now I love every time I go over to her house just for him.  Dogs are my favorite animal, so that is another reason that I chose to draw him. I started out with the outline of the ears, and tried to get the ears and face symetrical. After that, I finished the head, and started to work on the eyes. When I was done with the outline, I did cross hatching to shade in the ears, and for the body, I did long pencil lines. This artwork means a lot cause I have had many dogs in my life, and even though this one isn't mine, my sisters is still my favorite. I want the audience see my drawing of my dog, and think of their favorite pet they have had, and remember good times they had with their pet. The most difficult for me was getting the head and eyes of the dog symetrical. They were very off, and kept looking lopsided. I overcame the struggles by using measuring tools and eyeing it to see how good I could get it. If I started over, I would re do the nose, because it looks kind of sloppy. This is realistic art, and it makes it unique to my own style because it looks like my sisters dog, and because of how it is all dark and only the eyes are blue. I love that the drawing is based off of my sisters dog, and how real he looks.

Matthew Shelby  Flowers

9x12, Ink and Paper, 2023

My idea for this was to do an assortment of flowers. They are simple things to draw, but yet at the same time unique and different from every other one. I started out by drawing the big flower, and surrounded it with different flowers and leaves. I want to show the artist that all flowers are unique and beautiful in their own way. What was most difficult was to draw the lines and make sure they are distinct enough for the ink to go through. If I would start over, I would change the amount of flowers I did, cause the bottom is really full, but the top is kind of empty leaving a lot of room for blank space. This style of art is printmaking, and we took them to the back and rolled them, on the colored paper. What makes it unique is the different colors and how they all stand out in their own way. I love the different colors about it, and how they all are cool. 

Matthew Shelby  The Old Tree

9x12, Graphite, Oil Pastel, and Newspaper on psdsaper, 2023 

 My idea was to make a tree but the leaves were out of newspaper. I know that in class we had to complete a mixed media collage drawing. I didn't know what to do, but I thought it would be cool, to have a bunch of different old newspaper, and combine them all, and use them as leaves. It was very hard to do this piece without getting it very messy. I first made the outline, then cut up and ripped different pieces of newspaper. After that, I had a pile of glue, and dipped them in it. Then I put it on the outline, and kept adding layers, until I thought it was good. Furthermore, I colored in the grass and tree trunk. There wasn't really much meaning to the piece except for the fact that it shows all the old newspaper and shows how important those times were and has newspaper from a lot of different places. I want the audience to think about how each generation is different, and how newspaper affected the world.  The most difficult for me was cutting and ripping the perfect size to fit all of the paper on the tree. I would change the background. Looking at it again, it seems very boring in the background, so I would add more to it, to give it more depth.  This is realistic art, because of the tree, and the added elements in nature. This piece is unique to my own style because I haven't seen a lot of drawings use newspaper like that, and it adds really good texture. I love all the different types of newspaper on it, and showing different newspaper, even though they are one drawing. 

Matthew Shelby  Bright Sky

9x12, Graphite and Graphite Powder on psdsaper, 2023 

My idea was to draw the firework in the sky on fourth of July. This was one of the many pictures I took on that night, but this one was my favorite. Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays, and last year was one of the best firework shows I've been too. I used a lot of graphite powder to get the background, but other than that, I just used a pencil and drew out lines coming from the firework. I did different style of lines for the trees. For the white streaks in the firework, I used my eraser and took away some of the grpahite powder to make it look like that. This was one of my favorite nights of all last year. This picture is also one of my favorites. This art brings me back to that fun night. This art piece makes the audience think about their favorite firework and think back on fun times they have had on Fourth of July. The most difficult was the trees by far. It was very hard to get the trees branches to look right. I overcame it by using different style of lines and shading, so it could fill the tree and make it look better. This also is realistic art because of the background and trees. It is unique because I experienced it, and I remember watching the firework go into the air, and explode, and that is why I love that picture. I love how real it is and how close it is to the picture.