Scholastic Project #5

MONSTER AND SOUP BETWEEN SAINTS

DEC. 14, 2018 — oil-based marker, acrylic, and pen

This project was done with the intention of being submitted into the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition.

I was heavily inspired by art history with this project. I based it off of the encaustic Virgin (Theotokos) and Child Between Saints Theodore and George. I had several variations of this project—in the beginning, the composition of my piece was very similar to that of the encaustic, with the monster in the middle and the other things standing on either side, holding forks. However, after trying (and failing) to color it to a point that I liked, I scrapped that version and started a new one, which also had a similar fate (since I didn't like the background, into the trash it went!) With this final variation, I grouped the creatures together more so as to have less empty space, and I also left the background solid black—I figured that there was so much going on in the foreground that to have a patterned background would be too much. After I sketched out the initial drawing with pencil and went over the lines with a fine-point pen, I used oil-based markers to color in the cloaks of the creatures on either side, and I also used them to add the halos around the creatures' heads. After that, I added some smaller details with the oil-based markers; when that proved to be too difficult, given that the markers weren't fine-point, I went in with watercolor and acrylic to add more shading and details. With that done, I added some small details with black and white pens, and then I was finished.

I had fun with this project, although I don't necessarily like the outcome. I did enjoy creating something based off of an image that we learned about during art history (especially because the original depiction was very religious, and the one that I made... isn't), and I liked the effect of the metallic markers in regards to the halos and details of the clothing. I also attempted to add some shading to the eyes and the folds of the clothing, which turned out bad in some places and good in others. However, I don't like how messy the border is (I know that it'll be covered by matboard, but still), and also it was really difficult to add color in some places due to the fact that the oil-based markers that I was using weren't fine-point and were, in fact, pretty big. Other than that, I'm pretty neutral about this project. I don't hate it, but I don't love it, either.