Multi-Media drawing

For this assignment we were asked to create a piece of artwork. But for this piece, we were asked to use an image and recreate it using charcoal and ink. I made two projects but was very unhappy with the first piece, so I made a second. The one seen in the images below are the second. I chose to do a sunset because I always thought sunsets were very pretty and had a lot of meaning. For my first image, I did an alley way in either Boston, Massachusetts or New York City. I was unhappy with this creation because I felt I didn't do my best work. I also felt as if the image had much more detail than I was able to portray in the artwork. To create this piece of artwork I used an image to go off of, I also used charcoal and ink. I also used a 2B, B, and a HB pencil to create outlines and directions for me to follow to make sure I didn't mess anything up.

Some elements of art that I used to complete this project were texture, shape, line, and finally value. I used texture when I used a smudging tool called a tortillon. Using this smudging tool, I was able to create different values of the black and white and any color in between, I used shape when I was creating the sun and person who looks like a shadow in the picture. I used line when I created the separate sections or color. For example, the top section is the lightest gray, the middle section is medium gray, and finally the bottom section is dark gray which looks close to black. Finally, I used value. I used value in this piece whenever I used one shade and merged it into another shade. Meaning, I used value whenever I created different and lighter shades than what was compared to th e darkest section on the piece. I used principles of art as well in this piece. For example, in this piece I used balance, contrast and emphasis. In my artwork I used balance because I showed and created a distribution of weight throughout the project. I used contrast when I shaded the different colors creating a difference in the elements of composition. And finally, I used emphasis where the sun and the suns light is. I believe the sun causes a bit of emphasis because it is the lightest thing on the page meaning it drags your attention over to it. I also created emphasis with the shadow of the person. This is because, the person is dark in an area of light making your attention go to that too. My project evolved over time because at the beginning i only had an outline of what I wanted to create emphasis on. But the final project now has all the shading and different parts included in it.

For me, the meaning behind the artwork is about peace. This is because, personally for me I find peace when watching sunsets because they are aesthetically pleasing. This project relates to my life because I was there watching this sunset happen. This sunset was in Cape Cod, this project relates to my life because I was there in the moment this photo was taken. In this work I am proudest about how I made the sun and the reflection it had on the water. This is because, I feel that is where this project needs the least amount of work. I struggled when I was making the water and all the shading in the sky. This is because the water had many ripples and different colors involved making it harder to create. The sky had many different shades making it hard for me to make the shades look good and correct. One specific thing that bothers me is the direction of the charcoal marks. This is because the direction indicates a lot, and in my piece the direction of most of the charcoal is wrong, therefore if I could I would change that.