Color Design

The assignment we had to was called a "color design". Our first step was to create a color scale using a primary color and then a scale using a secondary color so we could get used to mixing colors and saving them to create more. After this practice formative, we moved on to our summative where we got creative. The only thing required was we had to use 84 colors, three shades, and three tints of red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, yellow, and so on. I decided to paint something that included my favorite passion, dance. So in black, I painted 12 silhouettes of dancers and left a space blank where the tutu would be; this is clearly where I put the colors and their shades and tints. The final step I took was to add little detail to the back so it would be "boring" or too simple. Therefore I added "confetti-like" color to the back which matches the color of the dancer's tutu, all around each of the dancers. In this project, I used a pencil to outline the silhouettes and acrylic paint for the actual painting.

In my artwork I clearly use elements of art such as color and shape to define each detail in my painting. Color is definitely the strongest element since that was what the assignment wanted to highlight. Color is shown in each of the tutus along with the three shades and the tints of the color and the confetti in the background. The color really draws attention to the dancers, especially when they only consist of the color black. Which brings me to my next point which is how I used shape. I mentioned before that I only used the color black for the dancers because they help emphasize the color in the tutus. Which means, that I really needed to make sure that the shape of the dancer's torso, arms, head, and legs are all realistic, so that someone who didn't know what I was painting, would know that these shapes are dancers. Another challenge that I encountered during my process was how I needed to use space. Some principles of design that I focused on were balance, and pattern. Like I was saying before, space was another obstacle that I had to work on during this project which also defines as balance. I knew that I needed to paint 12 dancers to paint each color required for the project. And I needed to make sure that the dancers could all fit on the page, but have enough space. Also, I wanted to make sure that the spacing was pleasant to the eye and was evenly balanced on each side of the page. After attempts of different spacing and keeping balance, I finally figured out a way to reach all of my personal requirements. I also mentioned that I used was pattern. Clearly, Pattern was used in many different ways like how the colors move through the rainbow across the page, and all of the silhouettes are dancers using shape and space.

This artwork doesn't have a "story" or "meaning" to it, but it does relate to my life. I've been doing dance since I was three, and it is my greatest passion. I really love the different shapes dancers make and how they move in the space and thought that it would look cool if that was the subject of my creation. I especially love the dancer with the blue-green tutu, I really love the shape it's making and It's one of my favorite colors; I'm really proud of all of the dancers I drew and how it looks all together. As I've mentioned before, the only times I struggled was coming up with an idea and making sure everything was balanced and had space on the paper. I clearly overcame these obstacles, but only with careful planning. If I could go back to change something, I would probably add more layers to all of the colors since they aren't completely filled in and look a little bit messy. But overall, I really love this project and the way it turned out.