Scholastic Project #3

EARLY DINNER

NOV. 16, 2018 — pen and paint on toned paper

For this project, I decided to expand my portfolio for the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition.

I knew that I wanted to switch things up a bit, so I decided that it might be interesting to draw a picture that was from the monsters point of view. I initially was going to have the setting be in a fast food diner, and maybe have the monster eating some sort of burger, but I scrapped that idea in favor of another one: soup. I thought that it might be a bit easier for me (and a bit more interesting overall) if the monster was eating some sort of soup, so I went with that instead. I chose to use toned paper, and after sketching everything out with a pencil, I went over all of the lines in pen. Then I did the base colors with a mixture of watercolor and (watered down) acrylic paint. Finally, I used white pen to add some highlights and black watercolor to do the shading. With that, I was done.

I had fun with this project, although I'm a bit conflicted on the outcome. On the one hand, the fact that the paint is kind of streaky is irritating (it's clear that I have no clue how to use watercolor); on the other hand, I think that that streakiness gives the overall image a texture that it otherwise wouldn't have, and it's also a change from my usual art (since I tend to prefer having solid, streak-free colors). Other than that, I feel as though I did a pretty good job adding texture in other ways (such a the lines on the wood, which took forever), and the hair on the monster's arm and hand (which also took forever and which killed my pen). I'm also fond of the tint that the toned paper gave to the piece—it gives it more depth, I feel, than doing it on plain white paper would have. Additionally, the fact that everything is sort of beige-toned means that the details that I added in white pen pop more, so that's a plus. Overall, I guess that I'm pleased with this piece, even if it's not exactly what I intended for it to be.