Stars and Stripes Design

I wanted to create a piece of what I believe the flag means in America in 2020. Because of this, the flag is representative of the BLM movement, as well as maga supporters whose ignorance takes up a large part of the US, and who often call themselves "patriots." A viewer can clearly see these ideas evident in this work through the way the flags elements are used to cover up the maga supporters eyes, and bind the Black persons mouth, preventing one from seeing and another from speaking. I chose to give this piece a civil rights message because it is hard to show the flag in its glory when right now when it represents so many inequalities in 2020.

To create this piece, I first started with a simple sketch of the black man and white man faces, the stars in the background, and the roses. After this, I went over the pencil marks with a thin sharpie and then erased the graphite to only reveal the pen. Next, with a sharpie, a defined certain places like the stars and some facial features. After the outline was complete, I then went back in with acrylic paint and filled in the outline with areas of color. The last step was touching up any places where the paint went across any lines with sharpie.

To create this piece, I used a surprising amount of different techniques: painting, drawing and using markers. Not only did I use multiple medias, but creating a design piece, I found, to be very different then regular art (where there is more freedom). To make this piece something that could be considered design, I did not shade, but rather used chunks of color and line. At first, the only thing I was going to do was the banner and the two faces. But, after I finished sketching this, I realized how empty the background looked, and how I did not have many elements of the flag. Therefore, I went back in the added the stars in the background as well as the roses to represent those who have died as a result of police brutality. If I were to continue with this piece, I would add more shadows in the faces. Right now, one can see how unfinished the faces appear.