The Novice Painter
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
My Goals
One of
my main goals in art is to get better at illustrations so I can one day be a
concept artist for video games, animations and more! I think one of the biggest
things in the way is motivation—I try to perfect every piece then tend to burn
out and stop drawing for periods at a time. But concept sketches and designs don’t NEED to be perfect. I think for
one of my goals (short and long term) I’d like to start an “ugly” sketchbook—which
I can fill with less serious doodle ideas, gestures and speed drawings that I’m
not allowed to stress on. I think it could help me get the practice I need
without burning out.
Another
serious goal is continuing art classes to better my skills—such as taking
classes like life drawing to better my anatomy and perspective, or more
painting so I can practice color and backgrounds more!
I’m
hoping both practice at home and continuing to take art classes will eventually help me reach my
ultimate goal.
Young Poseidon (WIP)
(WIP)
This is one of the more realistic paintings I am working on! It's far from finished and needs tweaks in some places perspective wise, but I think I'd like to purchase a specific kind of blue for the ride before continuing, since mixing turquoise and cobalt blue didn't really work well. Overall I'm liking it though!
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Monster
Monster was my medical ethics piece, based on The Monster Study. I chose to do the Monster Study because I think people
are especially shocked and horrified when experiments are done on children. The
experiment began in 1939, and was performed on 22 orphan children. Half of the
children were given positive praise for their speech, while the other half was given
negative feedback for every imperfection they spoke. The phrase shown on my
piece “Don’t ever speak, unless you can do it right” was actually said to these
children, some were as young as 5 years old. While many of the children did not develop a stutter,
they did suffer from terrible negative psychological effects; several began to
refuse to speak at all in fear of being reprimanded. These speech problems
would affect them for the rest of their lives. This experiment did not become publicized
until later in the 2000’s.
In my painting, I chose
reds, blacks and oranges to create a grungy-like atmosphere that resembled
something like hell—while the child himself was rather gray and colorless. I think
most of us can agree that what these children went through was a psychological
hell, and I wanted to show how this treatment sapped the color or light from
their childhood. I made a makeshift gas-mask to symbolize how many of these
children had to filter how they spoke in order to avoid criticism from their
doctors. There are other little details I included, such as a faint silhouette
of the doctor in the background.
I
think overall the piece is effective in representing what it was based off of;
however, there is a lot of room for improvement. If I could re-do it, I’d like
to make the text brighter so it’s more easily seen. I also had the end of the
top phrase trail off the canvas with the words clumped together—this detail was
done on purpose to show that there was no “right” way for these children to
speak, as they would be negatively reprimanded no matter what. However, I worry
it just came out looking poorly rendered more so than anything.
Overall I like how it
looks, and I can always go back and touch up the text!
Thursday, May 7, 2015
One Day I Floated Away
One day I Floated Away was an assignment
where I was meant to replicate the style of a certain artist, or use a specific
kind of theme. So I used some of my favorite aspects in Gustav Klimt’s art, as
well as a use of symbolism.
One thing I
noticed about Gustav Klimt’s pieces was his heavy use of gold and ornamental
patterns, as well as a focus on the figures face in his paintings. So I decided
to use gold, bronze and copper in my own piece and have the main focal point
fall on the face. I also noticed he typically used women in his paintings and
sketches, so to differ it a bit I decided to make my figure rather androgynous.
So depending on the viewer, they can be presented as male or female.
Initially, I was going
to make this piece on anxiety, but as I painted, it felt far too light and airy
for that subject alone. So I decided to make it based around a day dreamer
instead, (which daydreaming can tie in with anxiety depending on what ones day
dreams are about)!
The brick wall in
the background of the piece was meant to represent hitting a standstill, a
creative block, “hitting a brick wall”, ect. Everyone knows the feeling,
whether an artist, musician, writer or whatever! However, there is a reason I
made everything else in the foreground, which was meant to be taken on a more
positive note—these blocks happen, and they can last a while, but they don’t
last forever. The twisting gold pattern
was meant to represent good vibes, or a creative flow. The small, broken pieces
below it are meant to represent the same, but perhaps when it’s not coming as
steady as one would like. The tidal
waves represent ideas, which come in varying sizes—ideas can start out small
and grow bigger with time! It’s hard to see, but there is also a silhouette of
a shark within the waves—it had no real meaning, but perhaps (depending on the
person), it can be taken as a bad idea—or a badass one! The bats (as much as I
love them) and the fog can represent negative or unsure thoughts. They are
semi-transparent as these thoughts aren’t always made known to outsiders. Bat’s
as a totem animal however, can represent rebirth. Sometimes these kinds of
thoughts can motivate us to work harder, (example: anxiety for a test can make
you study harder), resulting in a better outcome. The bell on the figures hat
is just a symbol for the phrase “Bats in the Belfry”.
One day
I Floated Away was definitely one of my favorite paintings to do this
semester. I had no issues with it and it was just really fun to make. However,
if I were to make any changes, I would probably add more streaks within the
waves, as they seem over blended compared to the harder lines and texture in
the rest of the painting! I might also go back in and add more gold accents at
a later time to balance it out more.
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Conflicting Feelings
Conflicting Feelings was my first pour I did in class! A pour is typically an organic type painting that you allow to take on its own shapes as you pour it. (Of course it can be manipulated to an extent!) I initially went for warm and or autumn-y colors.
After looking at it for a time, I chose the title Conflicting Feelings as it reminded of how someone might feel in a moment of invoked mixed emotions. For example, that feeling one might get riding on their first roller coaster or just trying something new in general: excitement, anxiety, hesitation, happiness, fear. That's my personal interpretation of it, anyway!
Conflicting Feelings, done with acrylic on a 13x16 canvas. |
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Purple Street Lights
This is my second analogous painting, using red-violet,
violet, and blue-violet, (with a touch of straight blue in the background).
This is an organic painting that is asymmetrical, as he is primarily on the
right-hand side of the painting.
I
believe the focal point would fall on his face, as it has the most lighting and
details on the overall painting. I attempted to capture texture in his hair to
make it look as if it were slicked back, using lighter lines.
As I said before this guy was meant to be what I thought a
humanoid of my Doberman may look like. Just as the Doberman did, this portrait
also came out a bit more cartoon-y than my liking (mainly because of his eyes),
since he came out kind of looking like a Disney prince. His neck is also a bit
too long and I need to bring his shoulders up to fix that! I also wish I could have
captured his more angular features better (since it’s why I picked this model),
but it got more smoothed out during blending. Despite its flaws I think I
learned what I can do differently when I do my next portrait to make it easier!
Purple Street Lights, done in Acrylic on a 16x20 canvas. |
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