Sustained Investigation #7

For this project I continued to follow my sustained investigation but I also had to include two figures and not have any front view portraits. I did a couple of sketches with different perspectives and different subject before choosing this idea. The perspective is from a hole in the ground and you can see the two boys looking down from above. The idea behind it is that their curiosity helped them discover something interesting in nature. The boys and their environment are in black and white but the flowers are colorful to show that this discovery of nature is good and brings more color into their lives. This relates to my life because I always find it fun to discover interesting or pretty plants.

The materials I used are pencil, watercolor, and gouache. I started with a pencil sketch and then covered the plants with masking fluid. I first used black watercolor to paint the boys and the sky. Then I used brown and black watercolors for the ground. I started with lighter colors and then layered the darker ones on top to create some depth. Then I removed the masking fluid and painted the plants with gouache. I had planned to go over the details in pen but I liked the softer look that the pencil gave it so I just went over all the lines with a mechanical pencil again to darken them.

I experimented with making the watercolors fade from dark to light when painting the ground and with using different values in the flowers. I also experimented with value when painting the black and white part with different values of grey. My project evolved when I was trying to figure out what style to make the people. My first sketch had them looking very simple with just dots for eyes. I did a couple sketches of what I wanted them to look like before I chose a final style. I placed the two people on either side of the hole to create balance. I also painted them in black in white to create contrast between them and the colorful flowers. There is emphasis one one of the flowers because it is placed right in the middle and it is much more colorful than the grey sky behind it. I used small brushstrokes when painting the ground to help it go from dark to light and to create some texture. I added even more texture with the pencil. My next steps could be to continue with the idea of discovery and to include multiple figures in other projects.