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STATEMENT
STATEMENT
Hey hey, this is Katana Parker! I specialize in conceptual art like world-building and coming up with characters. I am interested in exploring fun and impractical ideas when it comes to work.
The small selection below are examples of the figurative works I did during my time in this course. Coming into this class, I struggled and had little experience with drawing the figure well. I had developed some skills at constructing forms as a result of my own experimentations prior, particularly from experiments in sculpture, but was unsure as to why my figures didn't seem right and were often difficult to complete. Studying gesture in this class has been very eye-opening for me and I now feel much more confident in my ability to approach figures and drawing in general. I was almost going to put drawing aside and just pursue sculpture, but thanks to this class I think I'd like to continue studying and drawing seriously as well.
BEFORE
BEFORE
Above is one of our earliest assignments where we did quick gesture drawings. I studied gesture a little before, but never actually understood how it applied to drawing in general. I was going through the motions without understanding the actual usage.
AFTER
AFTER
It wasn't long before I quickly started to realize the importance of gesture through our repeated practice in class; it felt like everything began to click in terms of what was holding me back in the past from finishing my drawings, especially those of human figures.
As we kept practicing doing our quick drawings from photos, I started to find different solutions for quickly getting figures down with enough there that I could elaborate on them later if I chose.
THINKING ABOUT CHARACTER
THINKING ABOUT CHARACTER
Taking character and story into consideration was one big part of the work we did in this class. There's a whole "Katana world" I'm always musing on, practically every day for a few years now, so it's been really fun being able to quickly start doing drawings beyond just doodlings. This was also the first time I really started thinking more about backgrounds and how to use settings and props as part of compositions.
As I learned more about the figure I was able to start to deviate and work off of my base model, changing the pose and incorporating ideas I thought were cool, cute, or fun. After one particular critique during the quarter, I began to understand the benefits of adding line variation to my work since it created a lot more visual interest than just using lines of one thickness.
This character in particular (above) is still evolving within the Katana world and has been this quarter's "darling of the quarter". They were inspired by An Imperial Message by Franz Kafka, where I imagined this is what the messenger would look like that was described in the text.
MOTION DRAWING
MOTION DRAWING
Above is an example of rotoscoping work I'd done in another class this same quarter. Thinking about gesture and how the general human model worked helped me understand what I was doing far greater than I had done in the past. As a result, I could make alterations to my figure and not be as tied down to the way my original footage looked.
COLLABORATIVE DRAWING
COLLABORATIVE DRAWING
We also did one collaborative project where we each used something our peers made to tell different stories and make our own compositions. I had a great time making a scene and going through everyones' work as I was putting it together! I feel like there's something very special and hopeful-feeling about the concept of artists making up characters that transcend styles or skills; I wanted to convey some of that idea or feeling with this work.
The idea behind the composition was to focus on the characters themselves and their similar or differing behaviors as they've gathered together.
CONTACT: kmparker@ucsc.edu
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