Self Portrait

Finished Self Portrait

Size: 18"x12"

For this project, the process began by choosing a photo of ourselves that had shadows as well as highlights. We edited the pictures so that they were black and white, played a little with the contrast, and printed them out. Next, we gridded the picture with a one inch grid. On our drawing paper we sketched out the border of two and one inches. The rectangle on our final paper was now the same as the printed out picture. Using the same measurements as before, we gridded the other sheet of paper as well. For the actual drawing process, I used simply graphite pencils, ranging from HB to 4B, and tortillions to smoothen the shading, and a viewfinder. I decided to begin with the hardest area, my eye. The viewfinder helped with proportions and we were able to mark the paper easily. The process continued by drawing and shading square by square. I experimented with the different values of the pencils, and also erasing rather than shading lighter. This made the whole process a lot quicker, and didn't leave behind any dark or ''sketchy'' lines. From the first square I felt pretty good about how it was turning out. In the past my self portraits never really looked like me, yet this one did. It was actually quite satisfying, seeing it evolve square by square.

As this is a strict graphite and value drawing only, I only used some elements of art. These included value and texture. Value can be seen in the different darknesses of graphite that I used. Specifically, the shadows and highlights on my face. I also included texture in both my skin, hair, eyes, shirt and more. The principles of design that were created out of this are contrast, emphasis, and movement. Contrast and emphasis can be seen in the different values, for example the skin on my forehead versus that on my neck, as my neck is in shadow. Movement is evident in my shirt as I added some wrinkles and folds due to the way my arm was.

As this is simply a self portrait, and not yet fully complete, there is no story evident other than my face. The project relates to my life as the drawing is of me. Also, the photo I chose is very natural which reflects my personality. I am very proud of both how the shirt looks very realistic, yet also that the drawing looks like me. I see myself and my personality reflected in the drawing. Overall, I am very proud of the improvement from past portraits or self portraits I have done. At first, I struggled with using the grid by grid technique. It was hard to image the bigger picture when I'd only drawn two grids with my eyes. After using the viewfinder and grid a couple of times I got the hang of it. I will definitely use this technique more as it ensured everything would be in proportion to the picture. Overall, I really enjoyed this project and have learned a lot about portraits and realistic drawings.

Once we had finished our graphite self portrait, we got to choose an artist or art movement to inspire our background. Stuart Davis, an american cubist and modernist, attracted my attention by his use of geometric shapes and bright colors. In Davis' art, he typically represented a cityscape or another scene, however it was abstracted. For one, my self portrait did not offer much room for a scene, also, I did not want my background to be to busy or distracting from the self portrait itself. My initial inspiration came from the shapes and colors Davis used. I created my own design with some of his elements in mind. For example, although I did not create an actual landscape behind me, the blue shapes at the top of the drawing are inspired by clouds, and the orange circle in the corner is inspired by the sun.