Face Me: Orifices and Miscellaneous (and Face)

All of my face pieces and the final face!  I don't think I did my hair so well, but I'll do better next time.  And my nose looks so weird but that's probably my face, and not my drawing. 

Let's Get Colorful: Opacity Project

This is my reference photo.  

1. Describe the craftsmanship of your drawing.  Is it neat and well executed?
    I think it is.  I give myself credit because it's drawn exclusively in chalk.  Maybe that isn't the best thing to say in regards to my own work, but I am proud of it.  I hope that I will eventually be able to do better with chalk, but I think that the craftsmanship of this is good considering the artistic stage that I'm at.

2. Describe how your background choices help unify the three artworks and tie them together as one piece of art.
      I think that the background really makes the brights stand out from the background, even though they're chalk and not prismas.  I also think that the dark helps add depth the objects.  As I might have mentioned previously, I don't particularly like the plain black background, but I do believe that there are several good qualities about it.

Actual piece.

3. Describe your choices of colors/color harmonies and how you used them throughout the artwork.
     I think that I used a lot of primary colors here, which really brought a lot of strength to the piece.  It really makes it stand out from the dark background, and also assimilates the white highlights nicely into the color scheme.  I am a bit regretful that both the strudel box and the counter were brownish.  I should have changed the color on one of them, or drawing something other than the strudel box.

4.  How did you create contrast in your drawing?
      I think that the color was a bit part of it. The brightly colored objects in the bottom half of the drawing vs. the dark background brought a lot of tension.  I also think that the shapes of the objects, from the more natural curve of the canola oil bottle to the sharp angles of the bread-bag's tie off also added contrast.

5.  How did you use textures, highlights, and shadows to enhance your artwork?
      I think that I used highlights the most effectively in this piece, and shadows go hand in hand with that.  Obviously I used them to show depth, and the differences between items.  I don't think I used texture that well, both because there weren't many textured pieces here, and because I draw texture poorly.  I think that the shading and the highlights were very effective, though, and added some level of realism to the drawing.

6.  Why did you choose a particular background for the artwork?
      I guess I just went with the background of the photograph.  I choose it originally because I thought it would make the colors in the piece stand out more.  More dramatic that way.  I do regret that choice now. I should have taken a better picture that showed more of the kitchen behind the objects, to add more context to the artwork. But I think it looks fine the way it is.

7. Discuss the importance of understanding the media (prismacolor or chalk) and acquiring the skills necessary to create a successful project.
       I think it's really important to understand the media and have the skills to use it so the piece looks right.  If you used prismacolors like you use chalk, then you'll be sorely disappointed, and vice versa, because the properties of the medias are different. Obviously.  But if you misunderstand what you're doing with them--for me, prismas are about getting very intense colors and details in a small area, while chalk is about getting colors over larger areas of space, with fewer details.  It's important to understand this so you don't approach the medium and the piece with the wrong intention. And that you have the skills to execute said goals.

8.  Describe any difficulties you had in creating your drawing and what could be done to improve your drawing?
   I think that I could choose a better composition, or have more patience.  As usual.  I was very annoyed with the chalk pastel, because it kept smudging and the colors stopped looking as I wanted. And, as I previously mentioned, I do sort of regret the composition I chose, and I wish that it had more complexity and depth.

Let's Get Colorful: Dum-Dum

This is my Dum-Dum!  I started out doing light layers of green as my base color.  For the lighter sections, I went over the green in yellow and for the absolute brightest parts I added white highlights. For the shadows I worked in a progression of blues, with my darkest value being purple.  I think the lettering on this was pretty poor, and I actually forgot a line of words.  I don't think the shading on the letters was all that good either, and the perspective was a bit off. If I'd paid a bit more attention to detail, I think I could have improved on that a lot, so that's something I'll be looking out for next time.  Overall, I find that letters in perspective are some of the most difficult things for me to draw.  But I do like this drawing, and I think it came out well as a piece, if not as a representation of real life.