Foundations of Art

My experience in foundations of art first year was very positive. I grew as an artist all around, whether it be learning a new skill, refining old skills, or learning new tools and using them. I found that I was good at identifying and analyzing art for example. Whether it be my own or a different artist's work, I could critique it or find out who made it and what movement it was from.

My art this year definitely showed what kind of person I am, and how I have grown as an artist through the past year. My work shows how I don’t put maximum effort into something unless I enjoy doing it, which is not a good thing. I should have put more effort into some of these projects, but I was just trying to get it done in a timely manner so I could get graded and complete my other work. I plan on next year giving myself more time and putting more effort into my work across all classes. However, my work shows how I have improved as an artist despite how much effort I have put into things. Take my independent project as an example, at the start of the year I would have gotten the proportions all wrong and messed up on details such as the hair, but now I know how to scale the muscles and body properly and how to add details with graphite from other projects.

On the other side of things, the hardest project this year had to be printmaking. The whole process was a struggle for me. The first step was the easiest, I just had to make a design on the linoleum block and then go over it in sharpie. I transferred a graphite sketch using graphite paper onto the block, then went over it in sharpie. The next step was where it started to get harder. I had to carve out where I wanted the white to be with sharp tools, which wasn’t the problem. The problem was I carved out the depth at too wide of a range, it was either barely trimmed or half the block was gone, and this proved to give me problems later. I then started th most painful part of this project hands down, the printing. It took me too long to get the perfect print and multiple class periods. I had to go back and trim more off the block, the ink would be too little or splotched, and a bunch of other issues. When I ended up with an acceptable print, I was still not satisfied with it, it didn’t give off the exact effect I was hoping for, it wasn’t black and white fish, the bubbles were too big, and the fish didn’t have matching fins, etc. I didn’t even get to 100% complete this project either, because I was out due to covid and couldn’t get my materials back.

To sum up this year for art, I would say it was overall positive. I did art at home as well which was way more enjoyable than school art, because I like the freedom and I prefer digital art over other mediums. The work in school, however, reflected who I am as a person and my overall growth and skills throughout this year.