Day 1 & 2: I drew the grids and started on the sketch very lightly. I also sketched out the shadow lines for me to be able to visualize the placements and the overall final image. 

When looking at this art piece, several would say that I'm depressed or just simply sad. Although that may not be completely wrong, that wasn't what I envisioned. 

People's lives are simply full of ups and downs. Sometimes they will have good days, but others, it won't be as good. But we simply don't easily show our negative moods to other people. I also have days where I am really in a bad mood, to some people, that may be shocking. I could be not feeling my best even if I am smiling toward other people. But that's totally normal. 

When people are sad, people may view this emotion in a black-or-white manner where we shouldn't be sad or have bad days. However, I do not believe having negative emotions is bad; it's just what makes us human. Having these emotions can sometimes just be the stepping block to further improve ourselves. 

Of course, that doesn't mean positive emotions are not helpful, but what I'm trying to say is that we shouldn't feel ashamed when we are being negative or possibly not as happy as we were expecting. Thus, I'm trying to make people view sadness from a different perspective (which is my title). It doesn't always have to be a bad thing, we can make the best out of sadness too. 

That is why my artwork has a transition from monotone to vibrant colors. Being sad doesn't just mean you're just sad, it means that you're alive and could feel different emotions. So the area where I have color, I purposely made it slightly to have more vibrant colors to bring out just how colorful and lively negative emotions are, and it's not just dark color after dark color. The warm hues on my face contrasting with the cold hues in the background really make the color on my face stand out, thus, showing how many warm colors I used instead of just cold colors. (Also I'm proud to say that I have not used a single black color pencil for this artwork).

My original idea for this photo was for me to have a messy makeup look and smile toward the camera. But I decided to change to having myself look tired or just done with life. Not only it's an emotion that I experience frequently, but it's a look that I don't show in front of others usually. So I thought, "Let's use the face no one saw me make".  I also took this photo in my bathroom. I think I reflect a lot on myself when I'm either in my bedroom or the bathroom. Hence, I chose the bathroom. In there, I put mascara under my eye and begin to smudge it. I wanted to enhance a more tired look. Then I used blush to redden my nose, eyes, and cheeks. I wanted more colors on my face. At the end, I used lipstick and slightly smudged it. Although it's not very noticeable, I used water to create strands over my face to create a more distressed/messy look. 

I know I have expressed stressing over this project, but it has been a project that I enjoyed nonetheless. I was worried whether or not I'd be able to successfully express details and colors with colored pencils since the only other time I used colored pencils was for one of my previous year's art projects. Other than that project, I had no experience using colored pencils "professionally". However, since I burnished my artwork, it creates a unified and blended look. I saved the hair for last since I feel like expressing hair strands is the most difficult for me.  

Overall, I'm quite satisfied with how the end result was (since I'm not confident in realistic drawing). I think I would use color pencil again if there was an opportunity to.