WatchamaDRAWit

For this assignment, I was given the prompt, "Draw a scarecrow that is scared of crows." I drew a scarecrow hiding behind a plow in front of a cornfield with crows standing next to the abandoned post. I used graphite and ink pen for my media.

To create this piece I first sketched the plow, scarecrow, and corn in graphite. I then did the outlines of the crows and the post. After these outlines, I began my work in pen—going over all the corn in two different shades of green, the plow, post and scarecrow, the crows, and the barn. It was at this point that I added the coloration of the grass and background. The composition of this piece focuses on the crows with the post in the nearer foreground, the scarecrow in the middleground and the corn and barn in the background. I think the pen adds an interesting and freeflow texture to the piece. This texture created from the thin lines of the ink works to unify the piece. This piece evolved in that originally I was going to make the crows scary looking but thought it would add to the humor of the piece if the crows looked harmless and innocent.

I chose this prompt because I thought it would be fun to draw and because I was able to formulate a mental picture of what I could do for the piece as soon as I read it— I wanted to show the scarecrow's irrational fear with the abandoned post and having him hiding behind a piece of farm equipment. This piece relates to my life in that I like humor and so this was a fun concept to play with. The most challenging part of creating this piece was drawing the plow. I decided an old plow would be the best thing to have the scarecrow hiding behind but had difficulty making it look realistic. I think the piece could be stronger if the plow was more recognizable and if the corn stalks appeared more plentiful. I am most proud of my depiction of the scarecrow and of the hay and fabric hanging from the post. This piece illustrates my strength as an artist in the unique style defined by the textures and it illustrates weakness in some lack of realistic dimensions.