Blog Post #8

 In my piece, I tried to add many different creative layers that expressed my identity. Firstly, I made my background orange as it is my favorite color. It sounds very cheesy and not very out of the ordinary, but it is actually other my dad's favorite color. My family has always been my biggest support and the base of my life, that is why orange is my background/base of my piece. Secondly, I used the symbolism of antlers. I have always love deer, and admired the beauty behind the antlers that stuck out from their heads. It made them different. That's when I realized that to me, antler are a symbol of being different, like your always walking around with something that sets you apart. You can either choose to accept or your differences, and it has been a very hard a long path to accepting mine. That is why one has some strands of hair covering it, to make it seem more hidden. The other side is more open and has a little heart, showing the tiny but important growth I have made in accepting myself. I know my piece is not going to make much sense to to other people just looking at it. It sounds selfish but because this project is about identity, growth, and acceptance I wanted it to be about my growth as an artist this year, and make sense more to me as I am a more private person. I highly relied on my reference for the shading and composition of my body, but I choose to make some differences as I wanted it realistic but not hyper realistic. I have always loved cartoonish styles and I thought it would be fun to add a hint of that to my realistic side. One side of my composition being more hidden also adds to the aspect of hiding your true self.

I have never painted an acrylic painting of myself and I learned a lot from this experience. I personally struggled a lot with blending and the pigment of the paint, as I have always loved using watercolor. Painting hair with acrylic was the most challenging, as making it look realistic is difficult in any medium. The paint often would look streaky, and then when attempting to blend it make it look worse. As I went along it was a lot easier to deal with the pigment and add highlights. The benefits of acrylic is that whenever I made a mistake it would quickly dry and I could cover it up, but if I did like the amount of pigment I had it was impossible to blend out. To blend I often used water to blend out the edges and use light and or darker colors to make them blend into each other. I'm very excited to use acrylic to use acrylic again, and learn even more about this interesting medium.

I would personally love to mix more colors, and learn more about using such few pigments to create brand new and beautiful shades. 

Activist Blog Post Final

1.  In the beginning, I was toying with a lot of different ideas to follow through with for my final projects. You can clearly see in my sketches there was not an overlapping theme, and when I finally followed through with the idea of suicide I also had to decide what aspect I wanted to convey to spread awareness. When I realized I liked the idea of symbolizing death with the raven, I did more research and ended up at another dead end. Suicide is an extremely dark and saddening topic, I wanted to the topic justice but at that time I was stuck. That's when I remembered the semicolon project, an organization spreading hope through it's symbol of suicide prevention and mental illness awareness. They turned a punctuation mark into a symbol of hope and choosing to continue your story. That's when I wanted my piece to be more about hope.

2. In my piece, after struggling to find the right path, I wanted to show  the continuation of life and rising from the darkest of places. As I stated earlier, I found much inspiration from the semicolon and what it symbolized, and that's when I knew I wanted to incorporate it into my piece. I knew that the raven was not fitting in with the message, and finally thought of the phoenix. People suffering from these mental illnesses or suicidal thoughts face extremely difficult challenges, and their bravery and courage keeps them rising from the ashes. The semicolon and phoenix worked so well together, that I even meshed them together, something that you have to take the time to see. My goal is to always give the project layers, and if the audience doesn't know what the semicolon project is I still wanted there to be meaning. That is why I also added a book with flying pages, almost like the book of life continuing as well.

3.  I think I was successful in conveying my message because people still found things they related to and understood about my piece. For those who don't know about the semicolon project, they still found other topics branching off of my that related to my topic and also made me see it from a different perspective. Most knew the symbolism of the phoenix and continued to investigate from there. That's when they made connections that were either on track, or was an entire new idea that I really enjoyed and understood.

4.  In the composition, I wanted the bright oranges, red, and yellows to really pop of the bird. The pages were a little difficult shading because they are obviously white, but shading them with the brown tint made them slightly burned, aged, and more lifelike. As if rising from the darkness, I thought keeping the background dark at the bottom and fade into a light grey would keep the contrast from the bird but also another layer of symbolism. I also thought the fading background and fire would look better in a medium like watercolor so I could easily change how the paint moved. Keeping the bird as the main focal point was important, so putting it in the middle with its fiery color scheme was a successful decision.

5. Even if I didn't choose this topic, I know that I wanted my piece to have meaning and shed light onto a topic in my own creative way. After completing this project, I am very happy with what I decided to do. The semicolon project is a beacon of hope, it was only right that I used that aspect as well. I truly love what they are doing, and I am not doing this project just for supporting their cause, but I loved to share what the amazing team is doing with more people. We need to embrace the differences we all share, and understand the stigma around mental illness and suicide and make a change.  I made this as an art piece and not a poster hanging campaign, but if I have infinite time and money it would be extremely rewarding to add text and hang them up all over the country.

6. Paper is an extremely awkward thing to draw, it is extremely thin and unpredictable in how it will move. Putting this flat object into the wind and as if was blowing away was very difficult, also because I had to add shading to add to the fluidity with realistic shades. I also didn't want to draw the outline of them in the same shape close to each other, so I needed to think of where they fit into the composition as a whole. It challenged me with its small surface area and strange movement, but overall I definitely learned a lot about making things seem more lifelike and how different thing move. The back ground was the opposite of the paper because it was too much area. The fading was not working as well as I had hoped and in the smaller area I could not fit in the desired amount of pigment. I just tried to work slowly and dab away if there was too much water or ink, but I would defiantly change things if I did it again. For example, switching the order in how I painted the background and bird.

Blog Post #5 - Impact your community prints

1.  The topic I chose for my project was animal abuse and animal rehabilitation. As a modern society, the news of animal mistreatment is constantly in the media. We are aware of the problem, but don't look enough for solutions. Having companies like the marine mammal society to rescue, rehabilitate, and then release animals like the sea lion are a blessing and a true light in the darkness. That is why the background of that half of the piece is blue like the sea and orange for light and hope these organizations bring. The only thing is that while things like this thrive, animals like the orca are still being abused and but in terrible conditions under wraps from the public. I am not saying that all orcas are treated badly, but they are used more a clown or pawn in the game to making money. That is why the orca has a clown nose and a red backdrop to its water paradise. Both are marine animals suffering from different struggles, but there is a vast difference in actual causes to put an end to the enslavement.
2. I think I successfully completed the goals of this project because I really wanted to center on the idea of my work being mass produced and shared around different communities such as ours and around the world. As a teen growing up in Marin, there is a lot of shelter from the things we don't want to see. We focus on the good things like the Marine Mammal Center, and not the animals that are left behind on land and sea. It would be extremely rewarding to spread a message of hope for other animals, abused in captivity or endangered in the wild.
3. I used both block printing and screen printing mediums in my art piece to show that these simplistic designs can be made in any format and mass produce awareness for any animal. I used a very soft, easy to carve material for the seal, as if was a smaller design. I did run into a couple of difficulties, as I ended up carving out the inside of the body and negative space around the shape to leave line work that was a little unstable for the material. It created successful prints, but it was hard to make it even as I had to cut off many areas that received paint I didn't want. Now I know if I wanted the thin line work to be printed, it would receive the ink better on more substantial material that could be more easily mass produced. I used screen printing on the orca because it was a large size. I originally cut out the wrong parts of my project as I misinterpreted my original plans. I had to start over and do it the opposite way to make a correct print. For next time, I would be more clear about my directions and double check before I cut away at the paper.
4. For my piece, as there are two halves, I wanted there to be overlap in the color scheme to connect them. I wanted both of the figures to be the same black ink with similar backgrounds with a twist. The red of the orca's nose matches the red in the background to showcase the more evil and twisted side of the equation. The orange and yellow represents the light and contrast with the blue to show that their is hope and rescue when they need it. The color really plays an important part of my projects because it is what binds them together and how similar creatures go through much different obstacles. I also wanted to use the same block letters in black ink to connect the two pieces together.
5. This was a mini project, and I had a lot I wanted to accomplish. I am very proud of my hard work that went into my piece, but nothing is perfect and of course there would be things I would change and do differently next time. Looking at them now, I think I would add a line where the white part's of the orca end. It may be a little confusing, and it would have been hard to cut out in my paper. I could easily add the line after, but I would definitely figure out someway to make it work if I did this again. Also, if this was to be spread out to the public and handed out, I would figure out how to do the letters. For both I used the same block letters to add more connection between the pieces, but also if it were to be mass produced I would want to work them in to the actual print.
6. If I had infinite resources, time, and money to get my project out to the world I would spread it through many different mediums. I am a strong believer in the good media can do, so I would obviously sell stickers, posters, and tee shirts on a website, or give them out as rewards for donations to aiding abused and endangered species. My goal is really just to spread awareness and help create a fair chance for all animals to get the help they need.

Blog Post #6 - Research

1.   List of Ideas: Gay Marriage, Animal Abuse, Extinction, Deforestation, Wage Gap, Food Waste, Suicide, Mental Illness

2. I want to focus my project largely on suicide and mental illness awareness.

3. http://people.com/celebrity/project-semicolon-empowers-people-who-suffer-from-depression/
      The project was started in 2013 by Amy Bleuel, who was inspired by her own personal struggle with depression, mental illness, suicide attempts and the loss of her own father to suicide. She decided to turn the semicolon into a symbol of hope and love for those who were struggling.
https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2017/03/31/project-semicolon-founder-amy-bleuel-dies-at-31/
Sadly, Bleuel lost her own battle with depression last Thursday, March 23. She was 31. The hope shared by Project Semicolon’s founder is captured by the organization’s reminder, “Your story isn’t over.” The semicolon represents the continuation of your life after struggling with thoughts of suicide and death, which are a common component of clinical depression.
https://projectsemicolon.com

As the 10th leading cause of death in the United States and the second leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 34, suicide is a serious public health problem.

Each year in the United States, more than 40,000 people die by suicide (one every 15 minutes) and 1 million people attempt suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

4. There is not really an opposing group to people not wanting people to end their lives. The main negative force from people is the stigma behind depression and these other mental illnesses. We look down on these people as if they are a problem, and it has become normal to judge socially and also in our health care to get places to help.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/25/stigma-of-mental-illness/9875351/
Stigma against the mentally ill is so powerful that it's been codified for 50 years into federal law, and few outside the mental health system even realize it. This systemic discrimination, embedded in Medicaid and Medicare laws, has accelerated the emptying of state psychiatric hospitals, leaving many of the sickest and most vulnerable patients with nowhere to turn.

5. Shawn Cross took the online trend of Inktober and turned it into a statement where each day of October he did a ink drawing of a different form of mental illness. I am inspired by these sketches because along with the semicolon they are simplistic and are not meant to take a long time to draw. They get the point across by expressing the fear and turmoil quickly.
Lindsay Carter expresses how she deals with her invisible illness in her tattoos. Carter is one of 5 artists that make up Ink Visible, who has a goal to visualize these disabilities that are invisible. Im extremely inspired by how she wants to fix the stigma and show the feeling through a design meant to be put your body like the semicolon.

Kruger Collage Project

1. I was successful in achieving the goals of this project because I explored the idea of not having one universal meaning of my art piece and affecting people's point of view. I wanted to provoke people's idea of catcalling and being happy for other people's benefit, but it can be interpreted in many other ways. I think it is very important to question the actions of people around me, and I think that questioning something such as fake happiness is important.

2.  When thinking of what I wanted to express in the beginning of my piece, I had no idea what message I wanted to spread. Unlike how my other projects were staged, I wanted to follow where my references led me. The main question I was thinking of was what inspired me. My goal was to find an inspiration that would be universal, or something everyone could relate to and empathize with. So as I went through photos, I picked up anything that would be possibly be turned around to comment on the world around us.
          When I found an article on the Mona Lisa, they discussed her smile, and my imagination ran free with the mystery. Since her smile is so iconic, I decided that I wanted to base my piece off of the pressure of being happy and being forced to smile for other people. You shouldn't be scared to be unhappy, and no one is ever happy all the time. There is nothing wrong with not being happy, and you don't have to kid yourself into thinking you are for other people. Smile, is one of the most popular cat-calls, and I wanted to show that in a satirical sense. Filling the background of my piece with forced smiles really shows the pressure and humor behind having to smile for other people, and I am really happy that it came across successfully. It may look a little scary at first, but to understand the meaning of my piece you have to force yourself to look at it and understand our reality.

3. Babera Kruger is an amazing artist, and her inspirational commentary on the world around her is an amazing feat. In a lot of her art shown to the class, her style is very simplistic and dark. Everything in her piece is usually monotone besides the bright text. I took inspiration from that technique by keeping the entire Mona Lisa and smile background black and white, and added bright red text on top. The contrast really draws your eye to the almost bloody looking letters, and keeps you drawn in. I also took the idea of her pieces having no one meaning into consideration. In a graphic style such as hers, the goal is for it to be seen by everyone, each with a different way of thinking. I wanted to do something similar with my piece, and I really hope everyone can relate to it in one way or another.

4. In the critique, I was very pleased with my feedback. I loved hearing everyone's different point of view, and that they really liked it. Hearing the positive reactions were really the icing on the cake, I loved how my project turned out, and it was great to hear others liked it too. This was obviously a mini project, so time was a little more limited, so there were obviously things I could change. In all, the constructive criticism I got really aided me in understanding their interpretation, and also make my project better. It was really rewarding to see the class branched off their own views on my piece from one and other. Overall, they were really spot on with the idea of cat-calling and fake happiness, and I really hope they took something from it.

5. If we could do this project again there would be a lot of things I would change. I have never done art in a mindset of graffiti or graphic design, and I think that it was difficult of imagine it seen by so many people. The limited time and resources, were not a cap on my creativity by any means, I just wished I could have made it bigger. When cutting off the white trim of blank paper, it made it even smaller, so I would love to see it on the intended larger scale. Also, people commented on how all the smiles were a little difficult to differentiate, which I completely understand. I personally like the confusion and cramped manner, but I do wish the smiles did have a clearer border. If I was a professional artist and this were to be on a huge scale, I think it would be really cool to use smiles not just found on the internet. I would maybe go around and collect smiles from people all over the world, as if they were smiling together for awareness.





Image is now in! Sorry I didn't see the request for it at the top!

Fear - Blog Post #3

1. In my piece, I am trying to show the viewers a take on fear from a different point of view. I wanted to show it throw a symbol of growth, a tree. The future is an abyss of unknown, and for most it is a terrifying place. There is so much pressure to succeed and accomplish everything you want in such a short time, and I wanted the viewer to feel that. Not knowing where you're going or where you're life is headed is truly alarming, and I think I wanted to convey that confusing haze since the beginning.

2. I think my message comes through successfully as long as the viewer takes the time to think about it. One of the main goals for this project was to make it not literal and easy to see, and that really allowed me to go deeper into the topic. The focal point of my peace is a smaller tree, trapped in a dark hole with no sense of direction. It is stuck there while the others are full grown, and a part of it never wanted to grow up and join them. This comes through when you processes the deeper truths behind it.

3. The medium I chose was charcoal because I thought it would best convey the darkness I envisioned. My piece calls for a very dark and brooding mood, and I thought a very pigmented and textured material would add to the effect. The fact that the color was so strong was also its downfall, and when I wanted a lighter shade it was very difficult to achieve. I overcame this by experimenting more with the blending tools and the different effects they all leave. I started using the blending stub and paintbrush to smooth out the pigment, and if it was too dark I would lightly dab it with my eraser to pick up small amounts. From my table mates, I also learned how to use powdered charcoal to create the darkness around my focal point. The effect it gave lead it to becoming one of my favorite parts of the piece.
The dark mood of the piece was enhanced by the equally as ark color scheme. The black and white colors create a sense of darkness that would have not been achieved another way. Darkness was mostly expressed around the main tree. This greatly aided the effect of it being lost in some sort of haze, caused from all of its fear of not having a life path, plan, or any stability.
I incorporated perspective through the line of trees all on a specific course, fading into the distance. This aided in the feeling of the small tree feeling out of the loop and left behind to struggle alone. I also incorporated some foreshortening in the detail of the close up tree.

4. I used a couple of principles of design to enhance my design. I mostly used proportion and scale to create perspective and spotlight on the focus of my piece. To show that the young sapling was up closer than the rest, I enlarged it and put it in the main field of view. This showed the larger scale in relation to the large trees in the background. This also relates to the principle emphasis, when I added the most detail to the up close sapling. There is a very clear movement and detail to my piece because of the principles.

5. Overall, I am pleased more by how much I learned about my materials and my owns fears themselves. I still really enjoy my piece, but I think it was most rewarding to dive deeper into the fear of growing up and not fulfilling your potential. There is an extreme pressure put on today's generation to be punctual and move on to a stable career on your own. If you don't know what you want to do or scared of facing it alone, you're left in the dust. I think it came out how I expected, but along the way I changed and added bits to my design. An example of a change were the roots and darker shading on that lower half of the grown tree trunks. I wanted to fill in the space and the roots were a interesting addition. I also felt like adding more darkness to the bottom added more to the overall tone, and added another layer of meaning. In my eyes, I see the shading to be as if it was growing from the darkness surrounding the sapling. I think the darkness around the older trees could be interpreted in 2 ways, either the small tree's fear is pushing them up, or they learned how to cope with the fear and rise. If I had to do this project again, I think I would use the knowledge I gained by still using the tree idea but in a different way or point of view. I am very happy with my piece, but seeing my growth would be extremely rewarding.

6. I have never drawn roots before, and trees have always been a challenge. In the end, I am not thrilled with how they turned out, but I am proud I took a risk. The reference I chose may have not been as fitting as I hoped. The complexity of how they twist and turn is complicated. After this project, I feel a lot more confident in my ability to draw them in more detail. I feel like they would look better with my new knowledge, especially with my better understanding of my materials. Charcoal is still a difficult medium, but I am very interested to continue learning to create new and better effects. This project was very fitting for the monochromatic color scheme, but if I did do a complete other piece I would like to try and use color. I think color in a different context for this fear would be extremely interesting.

Fear Post #2

1. The fear that I am exploring is the fear of growing up, and the fear behind not knowing where you are going. In my opinion the scariest part about growing up is having to give up your dreams for stability. I really wanted to explore that idea.

2. I am trying to make the viewer feel hopeless, small, and lost with no direction. In my final sketch idea, the sapling is completely dark and left behind by the self assured trees. The mood is very dark and has a serious undertone of loneliness. My view of this fear is not trying to make funny, but to make you relate with the sapling and empathize with it and possibly a lost part of yourself. I am making this idea less literal by moving away from my original ideas of money, obvious symbols of adulthood, realistic baby figures, and baby themed objects. Instead of showing a literal child afraid of growing up, it is showing through the perspective of a tree and its growth. The sapling and all the trees are not human, but all maintain human characteristics. They are all hybrid like to make thew fear more clear, and to have the viewer be more empathetic. 

3. I am working in a monochromatic color scheme. I want to show the sapling very dark with bright white ideas to show it with no direction. The older trees will also be bright white with gray details. Darkness is a huge part of the piece and makes for a more depressing mood, if it was in color it would not fit. I may or may not include a little green for the leaves, I am still undecided.

4. I am going to use charcoal and pencils for my design. The darkness of the charcoal and the texture with be perfect for the trees and showing it's darkness.

5.

FINAL SKETCH

6. I'm going to use emphasis in my piece to have the focal point on the sapling. By emphasizing the sapling with shading and detail it will create a lonely atmosphere around it. 

Post #1

During Art Expo last semester, I really enjoyed doing a collage of one of my heroes. I had not worked a lot with magazines previously, and I really enjoyed using it to shade and create a realistic portrait. 

This semester I would like to work more with watercolor and paint. I think they are extremely fun mediums, and I have not used them as much I want to. I still have a lot to learn.