Advanced Art & Design

Semester 1 Reflection

This semester, I believe I have been most successful with creating ideas and really being able to portray what I have in mind on my paper. I've always struggled with figuring out ideas but because Ive been mainly focusing on politics (especially for my sustained investigations) I have had a better time thinking of current events that I want to recreate in my art. I feel like I think of very broad ideas that may be out of my skill level, yet I want to execute them as best I can, so I try my hardest to replicate the visions in my head on the paper as best as I can. So far, It's been working out really well and I feel like every piece of artwork Ive made this semester has been something I wanted and I am happy with the outcome.

I think Ive been struggling with time management. I give myself too much credit when it comes to time and I think I can complete a piece of artwork in a small amount of time when In reality I can't or really don't want to cram all my art in a few hours. I like to take my time and get in the moment to feel creative cause I feel I produce the best products when I'm focused. At the beginning of the year, I was doing my art a day before it was due, now towards the end of the semester, Ive been taking my time and splitting up what parts of my paintings I'll be doing, and If I want to do more, then I will. Sometimes when I'm almost finish with my art and am adding small details such as outlining or fixing blemishes, I can feel myself start to rush, I get excited and want to finish quick cause Im almost at that point.

My artistic goals for the second semester are to try and push my composition more in order to strengthen my skills and create stronger works of art. I can already see myself expanding my compositions from the years before compared to now, and Its made me really happy with how all my work has been turning out. I want to kind of step out of my comfort zone the rest of this year and try more difficult ideas so I can learn and grow, and therefore become a better artist.

Final Reflection

Compared to where I started at the beginning of the year to now, I believe my work has improved. This year, I was able to pick up new techniques and focus more on what I was doing to create the best work possible. I didn’t want to make projects to complete them on time, I wanted to make projects I was happy with. From the beginning of the year, I put my full attention on all my artwork. Looking back, I can see I used a lot of colors because I wanted my artwork to stand out so your eye would catch it. I can see my lack of detail, I had a clear composition in all my work but there wasn’t technique, shadows, highlights, and details overall. Throughout the year, I wanted to improve my technical skills by adding more detail to make more realistic pieces, and I figured out which materials I liked using most and which materials I didn’t. Slowly, each of my sustained investigations improved more on detail and composition. There was more of a story on each painting, and because I focused more on detail, my art was getting stronger and looking cleaner. By the end of the year, I wasn’t rushing on any of my artwork, I was taking my time because I wanted to create a piece I was fully happy with. I spent a lot of time focusing on shading, highlights, and contrast to create work I was happy with.

I definitely think my strongest pieces were made with acrylic paint, my favorite medium. I was able to add more shading, make personal colors and add contrast that a medium like watercolor wasn’t able to do. Using acrylic paint made me want to add more detail because I was able to blend more easily with all the colors I was making, and my art was starting to look more realistic instead of cartoonish and bland. My work shows that the material I used impacted how strong a piece was overall. I also think the more interested I was in the topic my art was revolved around impacted how well it was executed because the topics I was most passionate about turned out to be the strongest artworks.

I think the most challenging part of this year was coming up with project ideas for my sustained investigations. I revolved around the topic of politics but I wanted every piece of artwork to be different and something I was interested in. All the sustained investigations I came up with I was happy with the topic but there were some I wasn’t happy with because I wasn’t sure how to execute my passion into the artwork. I wanted to show how certain topics were important to me by making paintings of them, but some didn’t have a strong composition. I was able to revise those though at the end of the year with my new revision projects. I also think the lack of time we had on our projects. To create the best work possible, you want to take your time and not rush, but I always felt like I was being rushed because projects were due every week. I think I got used to it though by the end of the year.

I am most proud of how I was able to bring in an outside interest of mine into my artwork which was politics. I am very passionate about this topic and I am very happy I was able to make art revolved around things that were important to me. I am also most proud of how I was never disappointed with how my art looked. Sometimes when I went back to them a few weeks later I wished I changed a few things but for the most part I was always satisfied with what I was making. I also learned a lot of time management techniques, putting aside time every day to work on my project so I didn’t feel compelled to rush and create something I wasn’t happy with just to turn it in on time. I am also proud that I wanted to focus more on strengthening my composition and detail skills for semester 2 and I was able to do that.

I am hoping to continue taking art classes in school and my goals are to continue making projects I am happy with and making sure to add detail and have a strong composition to create compelling art. I like how my art looks when I focus on adding more detail and I want to continue with that. I was able to improve from the beginning of the year to now, and I only want to improve more by making more realistic pieces.