Beautiful Oops

The subject of this drawing is a 3/4 view of a girl. There is not much of a setting, but a considerable amount of the background is taken up by her hair. I used pencil to sketch her face, various sizes of pen to shade it and color in the hair, and my white and silver gel pens to add highlights to her hair. I chose to create this specific drawing because the ink splatters I started off with looked like an eyebrow with small dots around it. I used the ink splatters to dictate the style in which I drew this. I used shapes to show lines. I used the density of the shapes to show value. I used value to show texture and form.

I used the rule of thirds to lay out my drawing. I used informal balance, sharp focus, and high key lighting. This started out as a paper with an ink splatter on it. Then, it became a pencil drawing. Then, I slowly built up the contrast by adding more and more dots to the face. After that, I colored in the hair and added highlights.

The meaning behind the artwork is that the girl is wearing many beads and extensions in her hair so that it looks like the night sky. This project relates to my life because I have improved a lot in my composition, technique, and proportions. Last year, I made a similar beautiful oops project and I am really proud of the improvement I have made. The following are issues I have with the piece:

• Some of the highlights in the hair are too bright
• The highlights and beads do not get covered up by the hair
• The neck shadow is too abrupt
• The ear is half finished
• The silver mascara and eyeshadow looks strange
• The edges of the hair make it look like a block
• The face is not shaded dark enough
• The cheek is a bit lumpy
• The lips are not long enough