Found Poems and Illustration

Artist Statement

This assignment was something that I'd never done before and was a little skeptical about as I don't usually write poetry. However, it turned out to be a fun experience and I was able to create some cool pieces. The assignment itself was to create found poems or blackout poetry from any sort of material with text that we wanted. I chose an old book for all four of my poems because, for one, I couldn't think of another base material to use and it also had some really cool words and phrases within it. For every single poem/illustration I used a black pen and for the third one I used a brown, red, green, and blue pen as well. The first poem is probably my best, which is most likely due to the fact that I went in with an open mind and had no standards to achieve. I used a sort of dripping pattern that connected the words which was inspired by a picture I saw online. I added my personal touch when drawing with black pen and added some white spaces to give the appearance of movement and shine. The second found poem consisted only of a single phrase standing alone. I decided on drawing a person's head and shoulders whilst leaving the phrase standing alone on their forehead. For the actual drawing process of this I merely used cross hatching, but somewhat planned out where shadows would fall ahead of time. My third found poem was very similar to the second, as I merely used a few phrases that stood out to me. I wanted more of a comical aspect so I drew various appendages of the face in different colors. I added the brown 'stuff' coming out of the nose as a quick way to try and make it more interesting as well as connect some of the elements. Although the composition seems a bit scattered and unfinished as a whole, I still thought it turned out kind of cool. The last found poem I did is another good one from the poem itself, however the illustration to it does not do it justice in my opinion. At this point I was just trying to get it done and I think I sacrificed the meaning behind the poem by doing such a bland drawing to it. Anyways, just like the first poem I merely used a black pen and essentially the same technique but with a bit of a different shape.

As I worked with one medium for the most part, I think I did a good job using value as well as shape, color, form, and quite a bit of space (maybe too much?). Emphasis and contrast was created by making the phrases or words of the poem really stand out. For instance, in all my found poems I left a blank space around the words, some, like the first and last poems stand out more than the second and third for instance. I would also say I used movement by adding those white spaces in the first and last poems.

The first poem illustration I did does not really convey a message, although I wish I had done something more interesting as the poem itself is quite meaningful. My second poem somewhat relates to the illustration, however it too doesn't really tell much of a story. My third poem and illustration was supposed to be sort of surreal and weird, which I think was somewhat successful as the phrases and words were sort of random. My last found poem was a successful poem in in of itself, however I think the illustration could have been a bit more meaningful. I drew sort of cloud like shapes which were supposed to look dark and heavy as the poem somewhat talks about death. Overall I am really proud of my first poem and illustration as whole. I really liked the movement of the 'squiggle' and think it looks really neat and interesting. In my second illustration I am really proud of the whole drawing, although if I could go back I would try to make the eyes more realistic. I thought I did a good job creating a plastic and realistic face with shadows and highlights by cross hatching. I like the realistic but also comical look I created, however I wish the elements connected better. Overall I struggled with the actual creation of the found poems. I found it difficult to come up with more good poems after completing my first and best one. I also struggled with adding shadows and contrast in the third drawing as I used one color for each of the drawings and didn't want to use cross hatching to create shadows. I overcame this by going over darker areas several times and also adding a bit off darkness with a black colored pencil.