Sustained Investigation #1

Sustained Investigation #1

Flames 2.0

7" by 10"

Materials: felt tip pen, watercolor, salt, photography, multimedia paper, digital editing

Artist's Statement:

Jillian Wight

Medsker

2D Design

17 December 2020

In my work, I wanted to focus on the idea of the human body, and use unique lighting to highlight a face in an unexpected way. I focused on angles, shadows, etc. to trap the attention of the viewer on the page rather than leading their eyes off with a weak composition. On a deeper level, I really wanted this piece to illustrate unconventional beauty. This type of pose would make many girls uncomfortable and insecure. It is not flattering by society's standards and has a very bizarre element to it. However, showing that these traits make it valuable enough to recreate in the form of artwork validates the idea that beauty comes in all different shapes and sizes. Commercial beauty is not the same as editorial beauty, and in general, beauty shines from confidence within. If our sense of self is strong, it will illuminate our faces and we will be beautiful to ourselves and to the world. This project relates to my life because it allowed me to explore this type of editorial modeling, and encouraged me to explore my angles and practice making small adjustments in my face to convey a message. This is all beneficial to my future because I am interested in working in the modeling industry. Photographing myself is also beneficial because it allows me to work from an artistic point of view. I have the combined power of the person behind and in front of the camera.

To create this work, I started by putting on makeup that would portray the kind of feeling I wanted. I used eyeliner to accent my eyes and add contrast to my face, I added blush so that even in black and white, I wouldn't appear washed out or 2-D, and I used a lot of highlighter in order to draw out the lights and darks of my face. I finished by rubbing Aquaphor on my face and shoulders because it creates an oily sheen that I knew would provide some nice highlights. I then set up a hairdryer, two headlamps, and my Panasonic digital camera on the bathroom windowsill and recorded a video of me trying different angles, lighting arrangements, and facial expressions. Once I had gone through the video and took a still photograph of the pose I thought was most effective, I used photoshop to make the image black and white as well as increase contrast and drama. To finish, I used the paint bucket tool to simplify the image into three shades of the grayscale. Finally, my reference image was complete! I printed the image and gathered materials for my next step. With a graphite pencil on multimedia paper, I sketched the outlines of the whites, greys, and blacks present in the image. I then went over these lines with a felt-tip pen. After the outline was finished, I used an eraser to remove pencil lines and then hung the piece up on my window. Behind it, I hung a piece I completed when I was much younger, which used salt and watercolors to illustrate a fiery sunset. The light shone through these pieces, creating a unique effect. I photographed my work and using photoshop, filled in the black sections of the portrait. At last, I had a finished product.

I used a number of processes to create my piece. First, I had to play around with lighting a lot so that the line definition in the reference photo was clear. This helped me to create a reproduction of the image with a focus on simplicity. To this part of the process, line was extremely important. I chose to trace the areas of black, white, and grey so that depth would still be conveyed on a 2D level. I think that this method created a lot of movement through the piece, as the various lines drew the eyes towards the subject. I also think that emphasis was an extremely important part of my design because it highlighted the facial features and made them stand out. I created emphasis using black, which drew out the shadows and took the piece from an abstract level to a more cohesive and purposeful illustration. Adding black to the piece also created contrast, and I think that it did a nice job of combining the layers of the piece and making them appear as one. Finally, space was a very important element of my work. Because I chose to focus on a small section of the human body (the face), I needed to come up with a composition that was still intriguing and gave off less of a sense of portrait and more a sense of exploration and experimentation. I used space to do so, which is demonstrated in the way that I played around with lighting, outlining, and arranging my face. Overall, I think this project evolved from a very vague concept to a piece that I am really proud of! It was out of my comfort zone, but I embraced producing a work that I really like. I think my next steps should be to experiment more with photoshop and incorporating modeling into my pieces. I also liked experimenting with light and layers!

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