My entry for the project was contour drawings of plants on paper plates. For the assignment, we were supposed to document the progress of our projects every class and every evening, which was supposed to include experimental drawing surfaces, invented textures, and experimental lines/mark making. I used the backs of paper plates for the project, and I made contour drawings of plants as well and used plants around my house, and I added invented textures into the negative spaces of the drawings. I used a pen to trace the lines for either the contour lines or the invented texture lines, and I thickened the pen lines where the lines met to give the picture more depth and detail. I had to find plants that wouldn’t be too hard to sketch on the plates for the project, so I had to find plants that would be good for the project. Finalizing each sketch on each plate was probably the most successful part of the project because I was able to come up with invented textures for each drawing, and choose to use an ink pen on the drawing or the invented texture. For the final project, I punched holes in the creases of the plates and strung them together with grey thread in a diamond-shaped pattern, in a sort of collage-like project. I had to make sure the string was strong enough to hold the plates together, and I hung the final project on the wall to finish it.

For this project, we had to demonstrate skills in shading on an object of our choice. We had to show variety when doing the project, and show different styles as well. I chose to draw a kalimba that I owned, and I used different styles of shading on all of the nine drawings for the project. I used shading with a graphite pencil, a sharpie, and one of the drawings had colored pencils as well. I used regular shading on some of the drawings, but I used hatching, cross-hatching, stippling and scribbling on a couple of the drawings as well to show variety. For each drawing, I started them by drawing the kalimba first, then adding any shading to the light and dark areas that were seen on the kalimba. It was hard choosing angles for each drawing, so that I could find good areas to shade. I also struggled with drawing the keys, because I had to have them be a certain size, and there were seventeen of them as well, but I managed to understand how to draw them correctly. The details on the front of the kalimba were some of the easiest parts of it, because the detailing seems very simple, and I was able to get the proportions correct as well. For the next project, I would improve on drawing proportions so that the drawings will look accurate.

For this project, I chose a political topic that is a big issue in society: Women’s Rights. I chose to do a picture of the silhouette’s of women rising from flowers, letting their voices be heard. First, I drew out the planning sketch using a graphite pencil, then I used the light table in Ms. Laux’s room to transfer the picture to a new piece of paper. I chose to make the color of the women’s hair be seen, but the silhouettes of their bodies remained. I wrote the words “Women’s Rights are Human Rights.” in the main woman’s hair, and I chose an assortment of colors for the flowers on the bottom. I made the background blue, with a light blue spotlight coming down as well. I also drew beams of light coming from the women’s mouths, as to represent their voices being shouted out. For the project, I learned how women were suffering great injustices, such as sexism and sexual harassment, and how women wanted equal rights, such as in political status. I chose to communicate Women’s Rights through different aspects, such as the beams of light representing their voices being heard. I chose colored pencils for this project because I’m more familiar with using them. The challenges I faced were getting the colors completely filled in for certain parts of the drawing, and I fixed these by using a blending stump on certain parts of the drawing. The most successful would probably be the flowers, and the women’s silhouettes, and the least successful would probably be the balls of light in the background. Next time, I would make sure to get the shapes and colors right for future projects, to make sure that the project looks successful.

For this project, me and my classmates put together a large mural in the hallways, showing different elements and colors. I did orange, blue and purple pieces for this mural. We chose to go for puzzle piece shapes for this mural, and they each had their own shape for this one too. Each person each had their own drawings done on each piece, as long as we used the correct colors that were assigned to us at the beginning of the project.

For Exercise #6, we had to draw from perspective using objects provided by Ms. Laux. We had to use graphite pencils at different levels for shading as well, and had to get the proportions right for each object as well. I made sure to pay attention to each object, and get their values down correctly as well.