Statements (9th grade works)

Grant Olson "The water mill"

Standard sketch paper, Graphite, 2023 

With this painting (and the others), I wanted to recreate certain scenes and moments I was a part of in my life on certain games, this one, most so far are more references to certain places in the game (I do not copy from photos, I use memory, thus it is original, otherwise drawing anything real would be plagiarism) Luckily, once I have an idea, I am able to easily photograph my idea in my head. Because I was able to picture this so well, all I had to do was follow what I was thinking of as best as I could, I simply used graphite for most of these so far, While these are just structures for most people, I and some others can picture or remember many events that went down in this location and in all others, so really all of these are literal in most ways, my main difficulty is both time and drawing straight lines, possibly due to Improper handling and time management, If I started over I would likely make something different like a different location or time, mostly real, I’m one of the people who will draw or paint things that only people who have done or seen the same thing can really understand, others will see only what is shown, my favorite thing about it is that I was somehow able to create this simply from memory

Grant Olson "The center fort"

Standard sketch paper, Graphite, 2023 

My Idea for this project was simply that I felt like this location could be easily related to by all factions, mainly because as the title suggests, It’s in the center of the island, some parts were more difficult to remember than others, so I made educated guesses on some of them, once again just using graphite (It is my favorite thing to use, it can shade, look good, and fit in with almost anything), while as with all of these, going for a 3D look, These are mainly intended to be seen by those who have played the game, while others can see what it looks like, those who have played can see all kinds of wars, events, and other things that have happened, so really everything in these is literal, I feel that my main difficulty was the 3D design, sometimes it is tough to do with complex or multiple shapes to make them 3D, but, I think I got pretty close and anyone who has been there could recognize it, for the most part I fixed it whenever what I sketched did not add up at all or could not be recognized, if I were to start this over, it would be my main priority to fix a little more of the 3D effects, to give it a more logical shape, and, it seems that most things I make are going to be realistic, this is simply because otherwise I would not know how or what to incorporate into the work to give it meaning, because I like the things I make to be more solid and less emotional

Grant Olson "The eastern gates"

Standard sketch paper, Graphite, 2023 

This piece is based on the eastern gate of my in-game homeland, the monastery, capital of the kingdom of korblox, but because I wanted this to be original, I did not use a photo and instead used memory and edited some places, the floating flag sign above the tower marks the capture point, I continued to use graphite for these, simply because these were also used as sketches, and even if I intended to add paint to these I would need lines to fill in, because paint is harder to remove than graphite, I mainly wanted to create the place where everything began, this faction is one I am completely loyal to, I remember this gate being a peaceful place, and a battlefield, with times we outlast the enemies, or are crushed by them, so I suppose this sketch does in a way have a deeper meaning, but in some way or another all of these locations can have similar meanings to others, that’s why I feel this game is a great one to sketch, while still making some things different, and going from memory because I’ve played for that long, I feel like my main difficult here was getting all the detail, I know I missed some areas, but others I just added things so that they looked less blank and empty, I did not go for drawing behind the gates because there is already one more of them behind the visible one, and buildings behind that, so to prevent too much overlapping, I just stuck with the first gate and lived with it, probably for the better, if I were to restart, I would want to make it a little more accurate, and maybe a bit bigger to add the background of the gate in, it may be realistic, but because I used a pretty empty environment, you can imagine all the things happening here, not having any event in specific makes all events a possibility, thus it is simply realistic, and I feel that my “own personal style” would have to be simply buildings and a fairly empty environment, because I like to look at one thing and imagine more than just that one thing, I say it can give a mysterious or unnerving feel to the work, especially in some of my other creations, like concrete bunkers and corridors, which is what I love about it

(Sorry that all of these are block statements)

Elevator speeches:

Grant Olson "Logo"

This logo works better than other more complex logos, due to it's rather plain yet bold design, it can be used across numerous projects and industries, with the simple symbol being a great design for many types of merchandise.