Donate Life

This project was to create something that can be used to raise awareness of organ and tissue donation. I did a pair of lungs with a sunset in it, a heart with flowers in it, and a kidney with a mountain scene in it. This project came with some requirements including the size of the border, a foreground and a background, and it had to include the phrase "Organ and Tissue donation". I started out by doing some sketches of ideas. My first one was a pair of hands handing a heart to another pair of hands but that wasn't very unique, it was just the first image that came to mind. Then I did another sketch that I didn't like and couldn't figure out how to make look right. My third idea was the one I ended up choosing. First I drew the realistic heart with flowers in it and I liked that so I added two more organs to it with other forms of nature in them.

I used multiple different materials to help me figure out how I wanted the final piece to look. First I drew it in colored pencil to figure out the colors. I had to add the wavy lines to create a background because the organs are the foreground and the pictures in them are the midground. I was planning on doing the final one in acrylic paint but I didn't have time to start it in class so I worked on it at home over the weekend. I only managed to do the background in paint and then I didn't have the motivation to set up everything to paint again after school. I also didn't know how I would be able to do all of the detail well in paint. I decided last minute to do it digitally on my iPad and that worked out really well because I was able to zoom in on the details. I really like how this turned out and I am glad I switched to digital art for this project.

The elements of art that I used in this project are line, color, value, shape, and texture. I used line in the wavy lines in the background and I used color because the whole thing is in color. I used value in scenes in the organs to make the back ground darker and give it a little bit of depth. I used shape for the shape of the organs and texture on the vains of the lungs. The principles of art that I used in this project are balance, contrast, emphasis, pattern, and unity. I used balance by putting three organs so there is one on each side of the heart. There is contrast because the organs are brighter against the dark background. There is emphasis on the organs because they are right in the middle of the page and there is a simple background. I used pattern for the background and there is unity because the organs are the same pink color.

The meaning behind having nature scenes in the organs is to show that when you donate organs and tissue you are giving people the opportunity to experience these things. That's why I made the text say "Give Life with Organ and Tissue Donation." When people donate their organs and tissue, they are giving a someone the chance to have a life. I chose to do the words in a handwritten typewriter font because I thought it looked cool even if it was a little messy.