Embedded Files
Self Portrait
Self Portrait
Grid Paint
Chuck Close
The artist I researched at the beginning of this project was Chuck Close. Chuck's art style was contemporary art and photorealism. Chuck had found out about his learning disability and that would be when he started his career. He used art as a means of navigating a learning disability. To make his painting he would use the grid method. Close was always looking for new things challenges. Sometimes Chuck would experiment with art supplies he used airbrushes, colored pencils, watercolors, fragments of pulp paper, printing inks, and more. When you zoom into one of Closes grid paintings you can see the different colors and shapes he would use to make the portrait look realistic.From researching Chuck Close he taught me techniques I can use for a portrait. I learned that there are more ways to make a portrait look realistic without using just one color. Not one part of the face is the same, there are different lines, shapes, and colors. From looking at his portraits it would look to be a normal portrait but when zooming in you can see the grid and multiple boxes that have different colors, and shapes to create that realism. My portrait is similar to Chucks because I used his grid method, while using different blends of colors. Using the grid method helps me get all my facial features proportions on my portrait. I used darker values for the shadowed areas and used lighter values for the light areas. I mixed more black with dark blue to get a darker value, sometimes adding a small amount of white. I used a greater amount of white and a small amount of black and yellow to get the lighter values. I spent most of my time trying not to mix the colors, skipping different boxes. I think I did a good job at mixing different shades for each box and creating and mixing the darker values. I would like to learn how to mix lighter values because I feel like having different shades of light would improve my portrait. As I was working on my portrait I changed some values when making a darker or light shade that I thought would be a better fit for that area. As I was working I received multiple compliments for the progress I had made throughout the project, using different shades, and finding a way to make the boxes join together to create the facial features. Even though I received multiple compliments there were still some things that I was told I could change such as splitting the boxes where the hairline and face met. I was also told I could make the darker values more dark, I used this feedback which would help me incredibly when mixing lighter values. When working I would spend the whole class period focused on my portrait, I spent little time messing around. I would use other class periods to come up and work on my portrait to make sure I would have my portrait done when it is due.
Diorama Drawing
Diorama Drawing
Some objectives I have learned from this project would be first starting off with basic shapes, this helped me get the right sizes of the individual objects without putting too much work into them. Another thing I learned was measuring and sighting which helped me make my picture look more realistic.. Using my viewfinder helped me see what objects were smaller and which objects were bigger. I also learned that shading with a darker color creates more of a shadow making objects look three-dimensional. I created my diorama using mainly boxes. I first created a bed that was 3 dimensional and placed it in the middle of the room. I then created the vanity and placed it on the further back wall as well as a fish tank further to the right on the back wall. I printed out a brick wall to place on the left side of the wall to include texture to some of the room. During my drawing process I first started making the layout of the room, cutting down the paper to the correct size, then I started drawing lines between the floor and the 2 separate walls. After doing that I used my viewfinder to get the right placement and size of the objects. I used basic shapes to make sure the placement lined up with the diorama. I used a basic horizontal rectangle for the bed, a vertical square for the vanity, and a vertical rectangle for the fish-tank. After getting the main objects placed correctly I started working on the objects hanging on the wall such as the book shelf,pictures,window, and curtains, not putting too much detail into them. I then worked on the wall and floor just using basic lines to help direct me, knowing that it had to look 3 dimensional meant the lines were not all completely straight and equal sizes. On the back half of the floor the floor panels were more skinny as it got closer to the front the panels started to slightly get bigger, same thing went for the brick wall. After I had all of my basic shapes and lines in the right place I went back through and put a little more detail into the main objects, making the bed, vanity, and fish-tank look more three-dimensional. I then transferred the drawing onto a different piece of paper. This is where I really went into detail creating the drawings on the wall and the detail inside the fish-tank. I shaded the side of the bed darker as well as the inside of the drawer on the vanity to make it look more three-dimensional. I then started creating the wall blending different colors trying to make it look more textured. After the wall I went to the floor and started using multiple colors and lines to make the floor look more realistic. The more I worked on the floor the more I learned how I could make it look better. After all the drawing was done I went through each object looking for shadows. I used a gray and tiny bit of black to create the shadow look. I then went back and erased all the extra things. I created a model of a bedroom, I put all the items that you may find in a bedroom such as a bed and other objects. The main theme of the room is the colors I used which were all different shades of blue. The reason I added the brick wall was so I could add some textures to the model when I drew it out. I left one of the drawers open on the vanity to include a more three-dimensional drawing. I demonstrated objects by shading to make the three-dimensional look. I shaded the inside of the drawer that was left open a darker shade of blue to show the depth of the drawer, as well as shading around and underneath the drawer to make it look open in the drawing. I shaded underneath the vanity and around the side a darker shade. On the bed I made the top a light blue and the side a darker blue to show the difference between where the light is hitting making the object three-dimensional. My drawing shows the light source coming from above which is how I found my shadows. Some improvements I made throughout the drawing process was noticing that the floors and walls weren't looking three-dimensional. From there I looked more into my diorama and I noticed that some of the tiles on the floor had a more vertical slant on the sides while in the middle the tiles were more straightforward. For the walls I noticed the bricks would be drawn more slanted at the bottom and would increase slanting the further up I went. Another thing I noticed was that the bookshelf didn’t look like it was placed in the right place. I had made it small which made it look further back, I made the bookshelf look slightly bigger which helped show that it was up closer while the bed was further back and slightly smaller. The teacher had helped me out a lot, noticing that the floor would have vertical slants and would straighten up more in the middle. She also helped me understand why it would be drawn that way, which helped me out and could help me out for future drawings.
Imagination & Perspective
Imagination & Perspective
The skills I learned from this project was how to make a drawing/painting more realistic by the size, color, detail, and placement of the objects. I learned that things closer in the back do not have as much detail and are smaller in size compared to the objects closer to the front. Not only did I learn more about how to draw more realistically, I learned how to use watercolors. I used the viewpoint to make the city look like it was going into distinct. I learned how to make lighter and brighter colors by just using water and paint. I learned how to create textures with different brushes and how to blend colors.
My idea for this project was to create a basic city with a beautiful sun set. I started by drawing the road to see how much more space I would have to create buildings. I started by drawing the front buildings and then drew other buildings behind to make it look like it was going away from the individual buildings. I wanted it to look more realistic so I added trees, poles , signs and grass. I used the dry brush method to make the grass have more texture. I did different sized trees. The ones closest to the front were larger while the ones in the background were smaller. For the building closest to the front I I added some extra paint to make it look more textures and added squares in places. I didn’t add as much detail to the objects further in the back so it would give it the sense of distance. As I was painting I didn’t want to leave the windows just white so I added some yellow to make it look light and black to make it look dark inside. I also added a super light coat of blue and mainly water paint so it could look like glass.
As I was drawing I improved the realistic look by adding more details, for example I added different kinds of windows as well as curtains. I improved by adding more lines into the garage to make it look three-dimensional, as well as adding a fence around the top of the building. While I was working my teacher had told me if the sunset would be a darker color then I should darken the buildings and grass. She also gave me the idea to add more trees in the background of my painting, as well as adding the texture to closer buildings. My peers advised me to add more things such as adding darker shades to my building as a shade. The most challenging part of this project was trying to decide what color building I should have in my city. I didn’t want it to be a painting full of grays and blacks but I also didn’t want to make it look fake by adding bright colors. The best part of this project was learning how to blend colors together as well as learning how to draw in the distance. Overall this project was very educational, I made some mistakes that I learned from and will use in my future painting and drawings.
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