SW+02+-+25+Drawings

Final Drawings

Title: Final Drawings Size (all four are the same size): 27.9 x 38.1 cm Month of completion: November 2011 **Description:** These are my final four drawings out of my 25 drawings produced throughout this project. All four drawings are in one series and together the series is titled "Final Drawings." They are all self-portraits, however, two of them are profiles and the other two are drawn from the frontal view of the face. Because I wanted to continue with watercolor in the next project, I decided to experiment with watercolor in this project. Two drawings from the Final Drawings (one being a profile and one being a frontal view portrait) are in watercolor and the other two are drawn in pencil. This SW focused more on the realistic aspect of my theme, however, some drawings from the 25 drawings include both realism and optical illusion (distortion). **Analysis:** **What were the artistic and/or cultural influences for this project?** **Who/what influenced either the composition and/or the style.** Like my previous work, I was influenced by Escher's "Hand with Reflecting Sphere" because some pictures in my 25 drawings included distortion. However, the Final Drawings were heavily influenced by Van Gogh's "Peasant Woman" and Jean Pederson's work in watercolor. Van Gogh drawing was extremely realistic and that was what I was aiming for. He used black chalk, but because I was not familiar in drawing with this medium, I used pencil instead. I tried to include a variety of tones similar to how Van Gogh drew "Peasant Woman." I was influenced by Jean Pederson when producing the watercolor portraits. However, because I was new to this medium, the watercolor portraits were not as detailed as Pederson's work. **What materials/media/processes did you use and or experiment with, and how?** I tried to shade in a variety of tones with pencil by drawing from photographs of myself in different lightings. One drawing (frontal view) was drawn from a photograph of myself with one side of my face exposed to more light than the other. The other drawing (profile) was drawn from a photograph of myself with the light being evenly distributed on my face, which resulted in less darker tones disregarding the hair. I experimented with watercolor in the the other drawings by wetting the paper and applying the watercolor afterwards. **How do you think you have responded to advice and criticism during this project (and during the term), both from fellow students and the teacher. Did you actively seek advice? If so, was it useful?** I asked my teacher about watercolor and how to use it. Yes it was useful, however, I still needed to practice and experiment more with watercolor before producing the Final Drawings. I should have asked for advice earlier than when I did so that I would actually have time to practice drawing in watercolor. **Clearly explain the weaknesses/areas for improvement -** I rushed through this project and I should have gave myself more time to work on it. Also, my first attempt with watercolor was unsuccessful and I needed to experiment with watercolor a lot more to actually produce a successful piece. Some of the portraits do not look like the original photographs because, as mentioned before, they were extremely rushed.

**Clearly explain the strengths of the piece –** The shadings in the frontal view portrait drawn in pencil was a strength. I was able to include both dark and light tones giving the idea that more light was exposed on one side of my face than the other, which what I was aiming for. Even though the drawings do not look exactly the like the original photographs, they still look realistic, especially the ones drawn in pencil.

**What could you take through to the next project and develop further? This could be anything, from a technique to an idea, not neccessarily just the theme.** I still like the idea of watercolor because of Pederson's work. I will attempt using watercolor again in the next project. However, I will experiment a lot more so that the next studio work can be successful. The drawing I chose to represent a drawing in wet media was by Jean Pederson. It had a portrait in the foreground and a pattern in the background (see page 30 in IWB). I was influenced by this drawing to go back to my research on Escher except this time I will be researching his work in metamorphosis. I am thinking of having a metamorphosis-inspired background and a self-portrait in the foreground. Here is a link to a prezi showing all 25 drawings (the presentation might not load. If you really want to see all 25 drawings and it does not load you could simply download it as a file on your computer): [] If you visit my IWB page in my wiki, you can view the IWB pages produced during this project. Home SW 1 - Distorted Reflection SW 3 - Metamorphosis and Self-Portrait SW 4 - Cat with Wings Tessellation SW 5 - Self-portrait Painting