Throughout the semester, we worked with the things that I was most under-confident in: color usage and my ability to draw humans, including myself, realistically.  During one of our first units and in the process of creating my realistic self portrait, I learned about using the grid method properly capture proportions, which I discovered was a weakness of mine. Using the grid method for my final drawing brought other skills into light and created a balance when combined with proper shading and contrasting between the darks and lights of the piece. In addition, I learned a lot more about different mediums of color through both our acrylic and watercolor painting units. Previously, I stuck to my own comfort zone with color, being colored pencils at home. Our exploration of mixed media, such as the watercolor bookmark, has inspired me to experiment with various mediums of color in a single artwork. My definition of "artist" includes any individual who puts time and effort into creating in any medium of art, whether that medium is painting, drawing, sculpting, creating digital art, music, embroidering, and more.  The term is very broad in my mind, and can refer to anyone who has anything to show for the title. I consider myself to be an artist, even when I stick to casual doodling instead of working on larger projects. The only exception for this would be using artificial intelligence to "create" art, but in general, anyone who uses their creative brain to put effort into something is an artist.