Independent Project #1

This is a self portrait that I created for my first independent project. I used permanent marker for my medium.

To create this piece I first took a photo of myself, shining a light on one half of my face to obtain a full range of value. I then edited and posterized the image to give myself only a few distinct shades of black and white. I formatted the image to a large piece of paper and copied it using a grid. I separated the two halves of my face to increase contrast between the light and the dark. I then copied all of the lines between color variations onto the paper and used them as guidelines for the coloration of my face. For the lighter side I chose lighter, cooler colors—blues, and for the dark side I chose warmer colors—reds and oranges. I used different colored permanent markers to satisfy this. After imitating the shades of black and white through color, I was faced with what to do for the backgrounds on either side. I used a dark reddish purple for the dark side because the red I had used for the darker shades wasn't dark enough to give a full range of value. I used gray for the background of the light side to give more contrast to the bright highlights on the face. Color and value are the most important elements of the piece because they give it the expression that I was looking for in creating it. This project evolved in that I was initially going to create a self portrait in a more freehand style, using oil paint sticks. But as I began to sketch outlines, I found myself wanting to create something more structured and detail oriented. This was the result.

I chose to create a self portrait because I enjoyed creating the expressionistic self portrait (see previous page) but wanted to experiment more with color. I ended up creating this because I wanted to make something with more structure and detail, but still able to be expressive through color. I feel that the cooler colors give a more positive feeling while the warmer, darker ones give a more negative one, but I like these colors because I think that the emotion expressed through either side is up for interpretation. This piece relates to my life in that I am very detail oriented and I like that this self portrait reflects that about me. I think this piece could be stronger if the lines made by the individual strokes of the sharpie were less visible. The most challenging part of the process of creating this piece was designing the contours of the dark half of the face because the shapes are somewhat abstract but have to represent facial features as a whole. I am most proud of the eyes which I think came out really well on both sides of the piece. This piece illustrates my strength as an artist in detail and understanding of color values. It shows my weakness in slight lack of uniformity of colors.