Five More Minutes

11.4.22 - 11.21.22

Project Proposition:

This month I am going to be focusing on a positive aspect of Individuality by creating the piece Five More Minutes. I hope to finish this project somewhat early in November so that I can work on my final piece longer in December.


This month I am going to try to focus on creating what it looks like to accept your Individuality, in the form of accepting your sense of identity and gender. The two figures in this piece are going to contrast each other physically by one appearing more feminine and one more masculine. The feminine figure will be shown as the desire that the masculine figure wants, and the feminine figure will appear more magical, bright, and elegant. I want the color scheme in this piece to have a lot of color, so I plan on using a blue and gold/orange color split color scheme to add a fantastical feel to the piece. I am currently unsure whether I want this piece to be very saturated and deep, or whether I want this piece to be lighter and whitewashed. Either way, I plan on using blues and golds within this piece!


The composition of the piece is going to take place in a fantasy-like scene with whimsical objects and colors. The masculine appearing figure is going to be closer in the foreground and will be looking into a water reflection. This figure's water reflection is going to appear feminine and is going to be looking back with a happy expression. The water figure will be reaching their hand out to the figure in the foreground, holding the cheek of the figure, and the figure in the foreground will be doing the same in return to the water figure. This interaction between the two will hopefully show a fond and heartwarming emotion to the viewer. Around the figures there will be butterflies, sparkles of light, and fairies, to make this scene magical and dream-like. I want to create a dream-like and elegant tone within this piece, and to use an impressionist-like style to achieve another non-realistic portrayal of the figures. I hope to put a lot of detail again into this piece, but not spend as much time as I did last month.


This piece represents a positive aspect of Individuality through the acceptance of your gender and self. This piece is showing the figure accepting themselves and the magical moment it creates. Accepting your Individuality comes in many different forms, and I believe that accepting your gender and who you are is an important and scary thing for many people to accept. I want this piece to share a happy and loving feeling related to this topic, and that this experience should be accepted by everyone. We are all trying to find who we are in this world, we should be allowed to make the choice that makes us happy and that makes us feel like we are who we are supposed to be.


I hope that you enjoy the progression of Five More Minutes and that this message will come across clearly in the final piece!

Sketch/Color Blocking:

Here I combined the process of color blocking and sketching out the details of the faces in this piece. I decided to use a split complementary color scheme with a purple base and a warm yellow/orange light source.

There are some details that I will need to fix and use a reference for to get the anatomy correct. Specifically I am going to need to fix up the hand positions and depth.

I am also trying to decide if I should make the feminine figure just a reflection in the water, or keep her physical in the water.

Finally, I plan on adding some smaller details like the two figures wearing the same clothes and having the same earring on their ear.

Rendering:

Water figure needs eyes, thicker eyebrows, hair highligths, and anatomy fixes on the head.

Hair is too thick, expression needs to change a bit, and the hand and arm needs ot be added in.

Water figure is done, the foreground figure needs some anatomy refinement and head adjustment. Hand on the foreground figure needs to be fixed too.

Need to add details to the background and fix the water.

Critique:

Right now I have painted out most of the figures in the piece, and I am going to figure out what other details I should add to this piece.

Some adjustments I would like to make right now is to fix the arm that is touching the forefront figure's face. The arm and hand is contrasting a bit too aggressively against the front figure's face, and I would like for more of the focus to be on the face of the water figure.

I also feel that there is a bit of missing space within this piece, and that I should either add more detail to the water, or that I should add some other details around the figures to give this a "magical" feeling.

Besides that, I think that everything looks good! The anatomy, value, and composition of this piece is pretty set in stone.

Finished Product:

Here is this month's Individuality piece, Five More Minutes completed! I am pleased with the results of this piece and I believe that I executed this month's theme well!

Some of my favorite details within this piece is the work I put in with this color scheme. I really enjoyed using complimentary colors, and this piece gave me a proper chance to use purples and yellows in a scene. I really enjoyed the textured-streaky brushes I used in this piece, especially when it came to painting out the hair's highlights and points of depth. I also really like how the main figure's face and expression was portrayed, as well as the visual dimension in the facial anatomy. Overall, I really like how the water figure turned out, as that was what I spent the most amount of time on.

I believe that there is a lot that I can improve on after finishing this piece. One of my biggest struggles was painting the foreground figure at the angle that we were viewing at. I need to practice drawing more anatomy and quick figure drawings to help me understand the proportions of the body. As well as this, I struggled with painting the water throughout this scene. I have never properly practiced drawing water, so I may want to practice drawing more scenery/still lives to help me understand more of the elements and how they react to light angles.

Finally, the meaning within this piece has shifted while working on this piece, so I would like to break down the elements within Five More Minutes. This piece shows a bright and colorful figure in a body of water, holding their hand to the cheek of the figure in the foreground, and we the viewer can feel a sense of comfort and ease through the water figure's expression and the warm and bright colors. The tear from the main figure can express a feeling of relief, or a feeling of overwhelming emotion from this moment occurring. This scene can be taken differently depending on your perspective and experiences. Some people may notice the tear and the foreground figure's darker colors, meaning that someone is being comforted during a dark time in their life. Some other people may notice that the two figures have similar hands, the main figure is masculine appearing, and the feminine water figure has an adam's apple; meaning that this could be a piece about gender acceptance and feeling one with yourself. This is my favorite part of Five More Minutes, as this piece does not have a direct and clear message, which can be interpreted by the viewer in a way that they connect with.

I really enjoyed creating this month's piece, and I am satisfied with the positive meaning of Individuality being expressed! I hope you all enjoyed the progression of Five More Minutes, and that you are excited for the final theme of Individuality being created next month!