The two most important concepts that I have learned this semester would have been proportion and using different watercolor techniques. First, proportions are very important when it comes to drawing or painting because if you get the proportions right, it makes your drawing or painting look more realistic. I learned this when creating my self-portrait because I actually ended up doing two self-portraits. My first one I loved, but I could tell right away when I finished it that the eyes were too big for my face which created an off feeling to the drawing. After creating my second one, I knew that I had made the right decision because the eyes were so much more proportional to my face, and my face actually looked 3D. The goal for the realistic self-portrait was to make your face look more realistic and 3D. Secondly, using specific techniques for creating watercolor pieces is crucial because it can make your painting look more realistic and give the observer a sense that you are at the place that you are looking at. For example, some of the techniques that I learned were called whisking, loaded brush, and wet in wet. These techniques helped me create the sky and water for my sunset watercolor painting. For the water in my painting, I used the whisking technique in order to create the waves. And, for the sky, I used the wet-on-wet technique which is when you put water on the paper, and then add small amounts of pigment onto it gradually. This made my sky look more flowy and cloudy.

Next, the assignment that I am most proud of is my half-portrait drawing of Angelina Jolie. We did this assignment right before we did our unit on self-portraits and this assignment really helped prepare me for that. Before the half-portrait drawing, I had never really learned how to draw faces particularly well so I was excited to try something new. I ended up loving it! I loved how we could envision what the other half of someone's face looked like through our own drawing. I learned a lot from this assignment as well. For example, I learned a significant amount about shading, and placements of facial features such as her eyes, nose, and mouth. I am also very proud of the lips because Angelina Jolie is someone who tends to have very specific and larger lips so it was hard to mirror that, but I think that I did a relativity good job with it.

Lastly, looking ahead art-wise I think that I might want to sign up for Advanced drawing and painting next year, but I haven’t fully decided yet, as I am not sure about all the other classes I will be taking. I enjoyed the drawing and painting class this year because drawing and painting are my two favorite types of art to create, and I loved how our class was so small because it created a sense of community. Next, some goals that I have for the future, is I want to get better at drawing and painting other people; not just myself like self-portraits. Another goal that I have is to actually use watercolor more often. At the beginning of our watercolor unit, I was not psyched about it because it sounded very difficult and it made me nervous because watercolor is very hard to fix if you make even a tiny mistake. But in the end, I ended up loving watercolor and I was so proud of how far that I came with it.