Sustained Investigation #2

For my second sustained investigation following my inquiry question (How can I use color to show emotion and character in people?) I created two contrasting sides— the left portraying depressed and tired feelings, and the right showing happiness and excitement. These drawings are all of photos I took of my friends and family. I chose to incorporate people I care about into this piece because it allows me to feel more connected to my art and I am familiar with their feelings and vibes. After formulating the idea of having two contrasting sides to this investigation, I selected photos that I felt strongly portrayed the emotions and feelings I was trying to capture.

I used graphite to sketch out the figures of this piece, then used Prismacolor markers to bring it to life.

As stated before, I began by finding pictures that captured the sort of energy and emotion I was looking for. I then measured and drew out two boxes on my page, the right being slightly larger than the other to emphasise the outwards feeling of joy we get when we are happy or excited. I then split each box in two and began drawing my subjects. Once I had everything sketched out, I used marker to give it color, using cool tones on the dark side on the left, and warm tones on the bright right side. While coloring, I made long, downward lines with the marker to help portray the mood of that side. In contrast, on the bright side I used quick, outward strokes to give the idea of radiating energy and joy. Another way in which I used color to show emotion that also created unity between the two sides, is the pigment I added to everyone's face in the photos. On the dark side I used blue and purple to express that these people are feeling cool and blue, whereas on the bright side I used pink to show the warmth they are feeling. Although these are contrasting feelings and emotions, the bold swatches of color on the faces unifies the entire piece. As my project evolved, I disliked how much lager the bright side was than the dark and I felt that the dark had too much white border, that took away from the feeling I was trying to portray. Because of this, I added blues and purples "dripping" down the border at the bottom, and thick black lines around the two other sides. Going forward with this project, my next steps could be to experiment with how the background shows meaning in an artwork as well.