Gridded Value Self Portrait

For this unit, we drew gridded value self portraits. We started by making small value grids to practice blending and matching values. We then had the choice of choosing a picture of ourselves from our camera roll or taking a new photo to be the basis of our self portrait. I elected to take a new photo because I didn't have any good photos directly of my face on my phone. I took my photo in the dark room with the door propped open to create heavy contrast on my face. I then used a 12x18 piece of paper to create an 8x10 grid to match the size of my photo which I printed out. On the print out I drew the same grid, each grid square of the drawing paper and the photo being 1'' by 1". This way I was able to use a 1" by 1" viewfinder to isolate grid pieces of my photo to focus on in my drawing, making it easier to match proportions. I started working with 2B, 4B, and 6B pencil in the upper left hand corner and working my way up and down the page as not to smudge the blank part of my paper. I used the viewfinder/grid method to match the proportions of the photo to the proportions of my drawing, but once I got to shading I used this method less and less.

In my portrait I used the element of value to create principles of contrast that were true to the picture. We started by practicing this concept before our self portraits in the graphite value grid. I made sure that I pushed some areas to black (such as the shadows created by my hair) and kept others white (such as the light on the right side of my face) to include a full range of values. I also used elements of form to create emphasis and unity by forming the shapes of my nose, eyes, lips, hair, etc.

This project is a self portrait of me. In it, I have almost no expression with dramatic contrast in the shadows and highlights of my face. This self portrait of my face relates to my life because I am somewhat attached to the face in the portrait as it is in fact of the face I have had for the past 14 years. Although the emotions I feel towards this face may change on a daily basis, this face has always been a part of my life, much like a family member or a chronic illness. I am proudest of the left side (viewer's POV) of the hair because I think it looks very realistic and I liked the technique. After making the first draft of my portrait, I realized my eyes were too slanted even though they matched the proportions of the photo. I realized this was because my face was slightly slanted in the photo. Even though I wanted to stay true to the photo, I found that, for my drawing to look normal, I had to make a few adjustments.

In our next unit, we returned to this project. This time, we planned to add a background to our self portrait inspired by an artist of art movement. I chose Melissa McCracken, a contemporary artist from Brooklyn. Melissa has a rare condition called Synesthesia which causes her to see color when she hears music. She then translates this into paintings. After reading about her and her condition, I decided to choose a song I liked and imagine what I thought it would look like in color if I had synesthesia. I chose Cello Suite No.1 played by Yo-Yo Ma, and used acrylics, brushes, and pallet knives to paint by background. I pictured the song as a hole to have reddish undertones, and the primary notes of the Cello to be yellow lines. Other climaxes in the song I showed in the form of bright blue bursts or green lines.