Art 2 Final Portfolio

This project was my most successful piece because of the way it turned out in the end.  I also liked using colored pastels the best out of all the mediums.  The theme for this project was Up Close and Personal so I drew a bug on some tall grass.  I started with black construction paper because it helps the bright pastels stand out.  I then added the basic colors to the bug and the grass.  I finished by adding similar colors, along with white and black, to add value so the shapes don't look flat.  I think the bug turned out really well and almost looks 3D.  The grass also has good textural looks.  The oil pastels really helped because the whites highlight the bug and show where the light is coming from.  The black helps the shadows stand out and reveal the layers.

This project created the biggest challenges for me to overcome.  The first challenge was just figuring out what to use, much less what I was going to do with them.  I worked on the project with Miguel so we could share ideas on what to do.  The theme was a self portrait, so we had to make it look like us.  We chose to photoshop our faces together side by side to make it look like one.  We used different colors for each of our faces to show the contrast.  The next challenge was getting the right colors.  We figured out that we needed to paint them somehow, so we spray painted them.  This took a long time to complete because we had to wait for them all to dry or else they would just stick to each other.  This made us better artists because we learned that bottle caps were not a good idea for a project that needs lots of detail.

These two project show my progress in this class.  The painting on the left is a flat tire on a bicycle.  The theme for that project was Sticky Situation.  The one on the left is a book sculpture of fire.  I really didn't like paint until I started this project.  This project wasn't that bad because it was easier than I thought it would be.  It was challenging to add value with the acrylic paint, but I think i did an okay job.  The book turned out good because it looks clean and simple.  It took some focus to complete, but I think it was worth it. The color helps you see the layers and tell them apart.  With the paint, I learned how to use the lights and darks  to make it look realistic.  With the book I just used markers to color and made a border to bring it together.  I think these are two of the best pieces I created this semester.   

 I liked the way the projects were assigned this semester.  I liked having the freedom to choose what you wanted to do instead of having specific instructions.  It made it more enjoyable to have a wide range of options to choose from instead of just a small area.  The only hard thing was trying to find an idea that wasn't thought of by everyone else.  The first idea I came up with was usually something someone else had already done.  It was also hard to figure out an idea that I was able to make look good.  For example, one project I had an idea to do a broken bridge but I couldn't draw well enough to make it look good and complete.  I mostly liked this semester's projects because you could create whatever you wanted as long as you used the required materials and principles.