Artist Reference: Picasso
Full Name: Pablo Ruiz Piccaso (1881-1973)
Source of work: Link to Artwork Source
Title of Work: Self Portrait
Year: 1906
Medium: Oil on Canvas mounted on honeycomb panel
Size: 26.7cm by 19.7cm
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
SEE
(Describe what you see)
THINK
(Analyse & Interpret)
WONDER
(Develop Curiosity)
What do you see?
I see the self-portrait of a man, he is facing to the left based on our perspective and 3/4 of the man's face is visible.
What are the subjects in the Artwork?
The male figure is the main subject of the artwork. He has short cropped hair and looks like he is wearing a collared white shirt.
What are the Elements of Art used in the Artwork?
One element used in the Artwork is colour, there is not much contrasting colours, only a few dull colours like orangy-yellow, olive green, black and white. There is not much of a variety of colour but the shadows are shown with the different thickness of lines.
What are some subjects in the foreground, middle ground and background of the Artwork?
There is only one subject in the foreground which the man's head, since it is labelled a self-portrait, the man is probably Pablo Picasso. The background is a plain olive green colour.
How are the subject matters arranged?
The subject (head of man) is the focal point of the painting, and is in the middle of the painting, standing out from the background.
Why did you think the artist arranged the subjects in this manner?
I think the artist arranged the subject in this manner so that it stands out from the background, allowing the audience to see the subject clearly and focus on the subject.
What do you think the Artist is trying to communicate in the artwork? How does the artwork make you feel?
I think that the Artist is trying to depict the melancholy of his life, as the picture is quite plain with no much vibrancy and he seems to be staring at something. Thus, this artwork feels slightly curious as to what he was staring at.
How do you think the elements of art were used to convey the Artist's intentions?
The colours are quite dull. Other than that the lines that we drawn are not perfect, mostly sketchy and rough lines. The artist seems slightly careless and does not reallyy care, just using many brushstrokes to outline the subject.
How was principles of design used to communicate and idea/ emotion?
There is not much contrast of the subject with the background since similar colours are used. The subject is proportionate to the background in the way that even if they are quite similar in colour with not a lot of contrast, the subject takes up a lot of space so it still stands out.
Why do you think the Artist emphasised certain element in the work?
I think that the Artist wanted the subject to blend into the surroundings, but still stand out and be the focus of the entire painting.
What are you curious about the Artwork?
- What was the subject looking at?
What are you wonder about the Artist's thought processes?
- What was the Artist feeling and thinking when making this Artwork?
- What motivated the Artist to create this Artwork?
What is interesting to you about this Artwork? And why?
- Why was the right eye fully black while the left eyes only has a bit of black in the centre? Was it on purpose or does it have a hidden meaning and what is the hidden meaning if so?
Are there any areas such as the title, style, or medium of the artwork that you are unsure and would like to know more?
- Nope
What do you like to keep, destroy or replace? Why?
- I would possibly replace the background so that the subject stands out from the background more. But this might possibly be the Artistic choice of the Artist and means something?
MY WORKS AND PROGRESS
Double Faced Portrait
I first drew the front facing left side before the side profile right side. I think that one area for improvement is try to make the side profile better and more defined.
Outlining Portrait
I basically traced and outlined the key parts of the portrait. This process was quite easy but I needed to take note of add the parts of shadows and highlights like under the eyes and on the nose.
Outlining the Print
Adding the shadows and colouring in the darker parts like the hair and eyes. I actually quite like this piece of because I liked that I had included some elements of art such as dots and lines to define the shadows but it will not be totally filled in.
Skin Tone Mixing
From making violet from blue and red before making brown then adding yellow and white. I think that one mistake that I had made and can be improved on is making the colours less dull, and adding more white since at the top of the page, the skin tones were not pale enough.
Shade Matching
Experimenting after last week and adding more white and testing. I am quite satisfied with how my shade matching turned out, since I found a few skin tones that were very similar to the colour of my skin after testing.
Painting Part 1
I was going for a more blended style of painting, making a smooth transition between each colour, especially for the skin. I think that my skin tone is also a bit dark.
Painting Part 2
Overall, I think that it looks good but maybe next time for the skin I can put more obvious shadows and highlights to give it more dimension.
Final Painting
Tracing the final painting with black permanent marker definitely made the subject which is my face stand out and outline the features like the nose and mouth.
Silkscreen
First time using the light and I think that it turned out quite nice, with all the shadows coming out properly and turning white for printing later.
Silkscreen Print 1 (Black)
The first silkscreen with plain black. I like it because there is a clear contrast between the white paper background and the black ink.
Silkscreen Print 2 (Red)
This time I used red instead of black to print the picture with the Silkscreen. This was slightly messy because there are some streaks of paint but overall the print looks good because the colour is quite bright.
Silkscreen Print 3 (Blue)
This was the last print that I did using dark blue ink paint, but I do not really like it because it was a bit smudged but it still turned out okay. I think that the slightly blurred out effect still looks good.
REFLECTION
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PRINTMAKING (SILKSCREEN PRINTING) AND PAINTING? WHICH DO YOU PREFER AND WHY?
My Reflections:
The difference between printmaking and painting is first of all the time needed and the type of art you can produce out.
The time taken to make the silkscreen printing takes longer, and needs more precision such as using the light box in the dark room, you have to leave it for exactly 3.45 minutes if not the results will not be as good. The process takes much longer, but it is very easily much more like the picture, since I am tracing the picture directly onto the paper using the transfer paper, so it will be exactly the same. Other than that, there are only a few colours you can do the silkscreen printing in, and only the shadow parts can be coloured to contrast the paper.
Doing the painting takes slightly less time (around 2.5 lessons to complete), but there are some preparation practises to be done such as the skin tone mixing and matching. It is also very important to try to have some fun with the colours but still making it realistic with the appropriate skin tones. There is definitely more colours to choose from for me to use my imagination but it might not turn out exactly like the photo reference.
In conclusion, they are very different types of arts but I enjoyed doing both. If I were to choose, I prefer the printmaking. This is because I have never done it before and it is very new to me. Thus in art lessons, although it takes some time to make the final product silkscreen prints, it is very satisfying to the see the final product of my prints!
HOW WOULD I LIKE TO IMPROVE MY WORK IF I WERE DO MY SILKSCREEN OR PAINTING AGAIN? PLS SPECIFY ONE TYPE.
For the Silkscreen:
- I would want to try and experiment with more colours, possibly making a gradient with the different paint ink colours like my friends have done.
- Another thing is to try to make the print come out clearer, while the blur effect with a few smudges still looks fine, I would still like to make the print come out more defined (like the black ink print was better than the red and blue one because it was not blurry/smudged)
For the Painting:
- One way that I want to improve it is to add brighter colours into the painting. Now, the painting looks very similar to the reference pictures because all the colours are the actual colours in real life. However, I hope that next time I can make the hair purple and the shirt pink and blue so it would be more fun and pop out more.
- Add more highlights and shadows so it will be more like pop-art with more vibrancy.
- Possibly play with different shapes, instead of everything being kind of rounded, instead add more harsher shapes like triangles for the shadows just for fun.
THANK YOU!