Extended Blind Contour Drawing

Artist Statement

The main idea guided in my artwork is the concept of disagreement. The whole idea of right now during the pandemic and recent election. In this, there is an example of a disagreement: masks or no masks. I’m not saying that I’m on one side, but rather just introducing the broader idea of disagreement and its role in society. I’m trying to capture the emotion in each completely random/made-up person I drew. A message that isn't very evident in this piece is that sometimes you need to agree to disagree.

I used pen and watercolors to create this piece on bristol paper. I used color to create a variety and pattern throughout the piece. I used space to create an emphasis on the positive space (faces). I used value and texture to create a balance of color and realistic-looking aspects. I used lines and shapes to create unity around the faces, the mask, glasses, hair, etc...

Originally I wanted to make one of the faces appear older, trying to create a lot of diversity, however, you could argue that the people are similar in age and other characteristics. My ideas varied till basically the end of this project. I was going with the flow and letting things come together. I worked on the face on the left first. Once I had that I was able to think of what I could do with the other face and lines that were drawn (blind-contour hand). I didn’t research much this time as it's already an abstract type of idea. I would use a pencil before I’d add pen to the piece as you can’t exactly revise it/take away pen marks. I looked at some faces I had looked up for inspiration but mainly just used those images for the nose I drew on the person to the left. I experimented with my watercolors, but I’m pretty confident with how they work - they are also really easy as you can fix your mistakes easily by just adding water. I’m really happy with how this turned out. If I were to change anything, I might have added more objects besides faces but overall it came out nice.