The event that I am excited about and documented in my collage was the trip to WWW. During WWW one of the parts that I enjoy the most is usually the trip to WWW where I get to hangout with my friends, eat and watch movies. In order to prep for this trip I am planning on downloading many things to do like games or videos and will be bringing a large bag of snacks.

For this peice I did not use any other forms of media and I used only collage. I chose to do this because I wanted to see what I could create when using only this medium because I don't often create with collage. I feel like I communicated my ideas well through this peice well because of the fact that the bus is very distinguishable and since there aren't many events that are grade wide which require a bus, I feel like people understand that this could be the WWW bus.

The event that happened which I had wished I took a photo of was when during a road trip through California, the sun was setting and it filled the car with a yellowish light which looked really nice, however I was too occupied with what I was doing I didn't take a photo. It was really memorable because when I spend most of my time inside my room or my house I don't often get to see sunsets often.

I used watercolor for this peice mainly because of the fact that I was the most comfortable with watercolor as it was a medium I often use. When we started the wet medium prompt, I chose this memory because I believed that the setting of the sunset would be an interesting thing to try and paint in watercolor.

The event that happened during the summer that I chose to draw was when during the 4th of July, my family and I went up a hill to watch a drone show where they depicted symbols and images that would be relevant to the US, like the flag or an eagle. Along with that there were also fireworks that were visible because people were lighting them from their own neighborhoods. I found this memorable because of the fact that the drone show paired with the fireworks were very fun to watch and look at and so I tried to depict that into my piece.

I chose the media, pastels, because it was something new that I haven't explored as much as I had in the other mediums. There was no connection to the medium or the event, because I chose the memory without any specific medium in mind and only chose pastels for a separate reason.

Taking on this task of collaborative sculpture, what is the struggle and what is the play? Comment on the beginning stages.

What do you predict for the outcome of this collaborative sculpture?

The struggle of this sculpture was the difficulties in working with tape, and trying to figure out how to build the structure of the figure and to be able to build off of that. The play aspect of it was the ability to be able to freely work with tape in anyway we want with no limits and instructions.

I think that the outcome of this sculpture would lead to the sculpture having more form and porportions because my group plans to work on the legs and details of the sculpture.

How and why?

Are you surprised with the end result? What was surprising about it?

Has your definition of struggle and play changed as you went through this process? Why or why not?

As the process continued, my group was able to improve our communication as we were actually saying and asking what should we add and do. At the start of the sculpture, my group did not talk to each other as much and it was much more awkward.

I'm surprised with the end result as the previous class the structure looked fairly decent however now his body and legs are fairly flat. I'm also surprised on how well sculpted the face is compared to the rest of the body.

I think my definition of struggle and play changed only a small bit. For struggle I think its also a challenge in order to work around the weight and how over time the take gets less sticky. For play I think theres also the aspect of being able to add fun details, like my group added a tie, horn and tail.

Focusing on line and shape allowed for me to get my proportions more accurate as it allowed for me to focus specifically on the structure and proportions rather than the details.

The hardest part of simplifying forms into lines and shapes was figuring out which parts I could build shapes on without fully detailing the piece.

I think the drawing in the top left best shows my use of shapes and lines and it follows the same action as the reference and the proportions best match that of the reference.

This practice would help my future if I were to continue drawing from life and real life images. This works best here because life has many details and breaking it down into shapes would help me simplify the process for myself. I would also be able to practice my proportions as I practice.

• Shapes: Shapes are a comfort zone for me because I work with them easily and have a fair understanding on how to break down forms in order to simplify them.

• Lines: I use lines easily in order to add details and to define my forms.

• Color: I'm fairly good at choosing color palettes that look cohesive and pleasing to look at.

Risk Zone:

• Form: When sculpting I struggle to build structure and proportions when attempting to build a foundation. If I were to spend more time into it I think I would be able to get them properly done.

• Space: While I can obviously make space in my art, I don't know how to use it in order to enhance my piece and bring purposeful space to the piece.

• Values: I can pick good color palettes however I struggle to make contrasting values in order to improve my lighting and contrast.

Danger Zone:

• Texture: I can add texture to my pieces wether 2d or 3d, however I find it a long process and I'm not skilled at adding texture while making it cohesive and enhancing the piece.

• Exploration of Media

  How can experimenting with

  different tools and materials (e.g., pencils, ink, charcoal, brushes, found objects) change the variety and expressiveness of your marks?

• Intentional Choice
  In what ways does the choice of media influence the mood, texture, and meaning of your artwork? How do certain tools help you communicate specific ideas or feelings?

• Process and Reflection
  As you layer, repeat, or vary your marks, what decisions do you make about control versus spontaneity, and how does the media you select either limit or expand these choices?

Expirementing with different materials helped me find some that were very textured while some others which were more smooth and defined.

Using a mix of those helped my group achieve the whimsy and childish look we were attempting. The use of chalks and bright colors were intentional and helped show the childishness through the use of crayon like tools paired with the bright colors.

As we were working, we had decided to use more spontaneous and messy strokes in order to add color and messy bits while using marker and smoother lines to build detail and designs into our piece, like for the cat or old lady.

How can the "imperfections" in blind contour drawing help you embrace experimentation and discover new expressive possibilities in line?

Contour:

Why might the practice of contour drawing be more about understanding structure and relationships in a subject than creating a polished final image?

The imperfections in blind contour help us embrace expirimentation as it can help us understand focusing on the subject and more ways to draw the certain thing we are drawing. Bling contour also helps us not focus on the smaller details and help us focus on the subject and capturing said subject

Contour drawings help us understand the shapes and what makes up the peice and it helps us look at the peice as a full picture rather than details that need to be added together.

• How did your hand respond to what your eyes were seeing during the blind contour exercise?

• Did you notice any moments when your eyes and hands were "out of sync"? How did you adjust?

While I was doing this positive space drawing, my hand responded the best it could in order to form an outline of the person I was drawing. Slowing down what I did helped me stabilize and match what I was seeing to what I was drawing.

A moment when my hands and eyes were out of sync was when I was drawing his right arm, as I ended up making it too small and close to his body which made his two sides look uneven. To fix that I made his shoulder out and up a little more to make it look like he was squeezing his shoulder closer to his body.

• What was the biggest challenge in maintaining hand-eye coordination during these drawings?

• What strategies could you use next time to
  strengthen the connection between looking and drawing?

The biggest challenge to maintaining hand eye coordination during this activity was how it was very difficult in knowing when I was putting my lines down.

In order to improve my blind contours, I could draw at a slower pace to stabilize and control my hands. I could also try and draw with one line only as that way I could understand how far I am spacing the features.

Starting with positive shape contour and them gesture drawing helped me start out a basic outline and body proportions for my classmates portrait. After, the gesture drawing helped add proportions to the face and details, as I used the long stick with a marker at the end which made me unable to focus on the little details so I was able to set down a sketch of the proportions and features of my classmate.

When adding the details to my reference photo, I balanced my accuracy with creative choices buy establishing an outline of my classmate's proportions and features and then using a vibrant and colorful choice of markers in order to bring color to my piece. It helped strengthen my piece as it has a cohesive color palette of vibrant colors which makes the piece look a lot more lively.

Doing the grid system allowed for my proportions to be more accurate like that of the image I was referencing. It also looks more accurate to the photo and I think that without the grid I wouldn't have been able to capture the doll porportions as I would have focused on being anatomically proportionate which isn't what the doll looks like.

By using the grid it made building the outline of the person easier as I just had to focus on the placement inside each of the squares however I still found it difficult to capture the face and shading as well as I would have without the grid.

for future drawings like portraits, I could use this along gesture drawing and tactics like that in order to build the basis and shapes of the peice and then I could use the grid in order to focus on the details and outlines of the specific spaces.

1. How did you ensure that you had variety within each of your sketches when brainstorming? What elements stayed the same, and what elements changed?

2. What themes or stylistic exploration do you see appearing in your sketches?

Bonus question:

3. What questions do you have based on topic (what your work is about/ themes), media (material), and process (order of operation and application)?

For my brainstrom sketche, I made sure I had variety by using different topics for each sketch. While this was n ot my main brainstorming paper (I lost the other one) I focused on the topics of a scapegoat in the first drawing. Growing up in the second one where a cat is shown next to a tiger - a big cat which could be like a grown version of the cat. The last one being a feeling of unease as someone looks into the mirror to see something else.

For the themes explored in my sketches I tried to depict how I feel in my life and how important it is to me. For these sketches I tried to keep to as accurate to my references, trying to keep a realistic aspect to them.

Through exploring different mediums like acrylic markers, alchahol markers, and pen ink, it impacted my overall vision as now I would like to mainly use alcahol markers for my peice while also using some acrylic markers to refine details.

For my expirimentation, I liked how the colors faded and shaded together in the drawing I made in the bottom left. This changed m y original vision of colored pencils or grpahite for my peice. Trying out the acrylic markers also influenced me to use them over the alcahol markers in order to add details as acrylic markers are very opaque.

I think sticking to a color palate would also help convey a certain mood which I could achieve by using a set of alcahol markers. Based off of what sketch I chose I might change to using watercolors instead in order to match what idea I plan to achieve.

On this day I continued my practice and experimentation of mediums. I had liked the use of alcohol markers in my piece so I had attempted to apply it to gesture drawing and contour drawings. I did this by using a light yellowish color to sketch out the line of action and build shapes. I then wen t over slowly increasing the colors in order to build shape to the figure. I had then went over with the red pen in order to define, using contour drawing as I went. For the drawing in the top left I had also used blind contour in order to see what it could like like if I used one line rather than many lines during my blind contour.

1. What media and processes are you using to create your project? Explain why you have made these choices.

2. Where did you revise, adjust, or problem-solve during the process, and how did these changes affect your decisions for your final project?

For my peice I made the desicion to work with gouache. For my methods I chose to use gesture, contour drawings, and positive shape drawings for my peice. I had chosen to work with gouache as it was a medium I had barely touched in and wanted to give a try as I had some at home I barely used. Through the chosen methods I plan on first startng a positive shape drawing in order to build up the shapes of my figures. I would then use gesture drawigs in order to draw a simplified sketch of the figures in order to start forming details. With contour drawings I would then add details to the figures so they're recognisable and detailed.

During my process I had tried to use blind contour to help add more chaos to my animals however when I had tried blind contour I realised my lines would often spread to different spots and would stretch out farther than I intended. I had chosen then not to use this as it would cover other partts of my peice.

Post evidence of what you have created so far and discuss the processes you have gone through. Also, discuss how you plan to finish your work.

If you are working in pairs, discuss your contribution to the collaboration.

discuss:

ideas in planning

what you have physically created

how the work has been equitably allocated.

For my peice I had first started with positive shape in alchahol markers in order to build my figures and thier outlines. I then went over with gesture and contour drawings in order to add details and fixed porpotions to my figures. When I started my painting I first went over with a positive shape drawing in a undertone. I then went over slowly building the shadows based off of what I saw in my refference images, and after I refined with a smaller brush.

For my peice I plan to paint each animal in a different color and with their background I plan to use warmer colors while the side with the hair would have cool colors. I would also blend it together and into the animals so they look like they smoothly fade into eachother.

Write an artist statement that summarizes the meaning of your work, inspiration from your artist and the process you incorporated.

For my piece for this unit, I had wanted to convey the idea of chaos in the mind, or the feeling of overwhelming ideas and thoughts. To convey this idea I had made for the upper portion of whats supposed to be my head blend into the background with animals coming out of it. Each of the animals represent different feelings or is to show the many different things in our minds as they sprout for the head. I also wanted to show the upper part of the peice with more warmth and warm colors while the bottom with the face and cloth to be. cooler to show the inspiration and warmth of my own ideas and feelings. For me I didn't find a specific artist inspiration for my piece which followed techniques of gesture and contour drawings, however an artist which inspired me for this was "hoorayitsefe" on instagram. I had liked her use of colors and the way she draw animals which I had tried to replicate however had little success. For my process I had used positive shape drawing to build composition and my figures, and I then went over it with gesture drawing in order to build a basic sketch with the porportions and placements which I think helped me get my figures to look more accurate. I then went over with contour drawings in pencil to add detaisl for me to paint over after. When painting I started with a watered down positive shape on top of my sketch which I then built on my sketch in order to add details to my peice.

X : After that, like, when first looking at your drawing, I can see that there's, like, a really significant pop of color. Like, there's, like, cool tones, blue tones, and, like, you contrast it pretty well, too. Like, over here at the hair, it's really desaturated, but then as you, like, look up, it's really saturated. So there's a big contrast. And then your composition, I can, like, see that there's a line flowing down, so it starts at the dog, and then you would look over at the cat, the elephant, the tiger, the rabbit and mouse, and then you would, like, focus on, like, the face. That's how I would look at it personally.

K : And. What else?

X : There's also, like, it's not too overcrowded, too. Like, there's space for, like, there's negative space on the mic the top and then the bottom two. So it doesn't feel like suffocating. And then I also see that you, like, corporateated and patterns, too, like, these little dots and the swirls appear. Yeah. And then, I think you communicated your theme pretty well, because you like, from pop of colors and, like, the energy, like, the liveliness that's coming from the animals, like, it can, like, show how.. Chaotic, a person's mind can be. or creative, too. Feedback? If you had more time, maybe you could, like, revisit the face, like, you could refine it more, like, the lashes, and then the glasses, too. Anything else? And maybe the animals, too, like, the little cat, because go for it. It kind of looks like a small tier.

K : I agree. Thank you for your feedback.

Think of the principles of design

What principles are in your comfort zone? Why?

What principles are risky? How can you become more comfortable with them?

What Principles are risky? Why?

How can you overcome your hesitation?

Comfort:

• Variety: I understand how to use different shapes, colors and materials can overall impact my peice and how it can be used and incorperated into making a cohesive peice.

• Unity: I find unity to be easy to use as i've been used to creating peices and designs for yearbook and other creative outlets that require cohesiveness and balance, and I can do that through colors, shapes and placements.

• Movement: Through using different elements and colors, I know how to guide the viewers eyes from the bigger focus of the peice to the little details around it.

• Porportion: I know how to use porportion to improve composition and make a balance in a peice, showing the differences along with improveing the harmony of a peice.

• Balance: Balance is the use of different distribution of elements to ensure an intentional even and harmony in a peice. I use this well as I make sure I don't over detail on one side with open space on the other (unless it's intentional).

• Emphasis: I know how to use color and elements to guide my viewers eyes to that main importance. I do this through colors, using the brightest or darkest values at that point, making it biggest or the least cluttered portion.

Eh:

• Patterns: Patterns are easy to understand and incorperate into my peices and overall have little uncomfortability with it, however to a personal prefference I don't find them to be something I like incorperating into my peice as I like having different but simular things in the details of my peice so it never looks too boring.

• Repition: I like using repetition in my peices, through colors, and details like stars or spirals. However, using the same elements over and over can look very basic and overcrowded so there is a thin line between overuse and unity in a peice which I particularly dislike.

• Contrast: To me contrast is a easy thing to use by just adjusting values during my coloring and rendering, showing that contrast and balance, however when I paint or draw traditionally I find it harder to create a contrasting amount of values like i would on a color wheel.

Risky:

• Rhythm: While I understand how to use elements to guide the viewer's eyes, I find it difficult sometimes to use repitition of the best of my ability and most of the time stick to doing what I think looks good rather than focusing on the rhythm of the peice. I find repetition for movement a very bland looking thing.

Select a principle that you drew, identify if it was a comfort, risk or danger.

If comfortable, how does this exercise reinforce your understanding? Are there any other principles arising?  

If a risk, is there any change with application and usage? Are there any other principles arising ? 

If danger, how are you feeling now? Has there been a shift in understanding? Are there any other principles showing up?

The principle I showed in my peice was emphasis, as I wanted to emphasize her head and halo behind it. While unfinished, I showed it through the use of yellows and blues, directing you eyes to the center, incorperating movement into my peice. To finish this color element I had decided to crosshartch lighter and darker colors in in order to further emphasize my peice. This principle is a comfort and helps solidify my understanding as it shows how movement and color comes to play in directing our attention to one portion of the peice. This also shows to me how contrast and movement greatly impacts our emphasis like it does in my peice.

How will simplifying into black and white help you with composition and the principles of design?

When focusing on negative space it allows for me to pay more attention to the overall shape of the figure and the porportions in its siloette, simular to the process of positive contour drawings as we would focus on the outlines rather than the overall details when creating. Simplifying the peices into black and white help us see how our peices fit into the composition rather than hyperfixating on the details and it helps us show contrast and porpotion as the principles of design present.

• Design Choices:
  How did you use positive and negative space to create balance and visual interest? What specific choices improved your final composition?

• Application & Understanding:
  How can the ideas behind Notan (contrast, balance, push/pull of shapes) influence future artworks you create—such as drawing, photography, or mixed media?

I used positive and negative space to create a form of contrast in my peice, as through the difference in value it draws your eyes to the details in the peice and it creates a sense of interest and intracacy in it. The contrast also helps balance the peice in its composition along with its color ratio.

The idea of Notan, especialy contrast and balance can help influence future peices as through contrast I can see how it highlights components and parts of the peice, while balance shown through the peice allos for the peice to look finished and well made.

(Share a photo)

For this notan example, I had not chosen a proper theme for the piece, as I did not realize I was supposed to select one. I had instead decided to depict a character I liked from an anime I watch. My use of depth shown through the negative and positive space helps us see which elements lay at the top, while also being able to differentiate from the different colors and values.

• Analyse the use of line and shape

• Analyse the use of space (incorporation of Notan/illusion of depth techniques)

• Discuss your use of the principles of design.

• Which design are you planning to present to your other group members and why?

In my concept sketches, I had used lines and shapes to hep build the basic shapes and structures of the city. In the allyway for example, My use of shapes helped me block the placements for the buildings along with pipes and windows without needing to add to many details. For that concept sketch my use of lines also helped me convey the old and rusted look of the buildings, through rough crosshatching.

For these sketches I was not able to use techniques like atomosphic perspective, values, and diminishing details, however I was able to convey this depth throgh techniques like Size relashonship, Overlap, and placement. In my peices, by useing size relashonship helped show whats close and far, like in the sketch of the gate, the top is smaller whereas near the base the area is bigger. This helps us understand how the viewer is looking up at the gate as it is smaller near the top. For the second sketch of the allyway, I had drawn the buildings in the back smaller and overlaping the closer buildings on it. This helped me show a cramped and packed side street, as the farther buildings are smaller, and the overlap suggest that the area is smaller, leading to this apperance of overlap in the buildings.

For these concepts I had also uses principles like balance, repitition and unity to convey my idea. For the sketch of the gate, I had used balance in and unity in order to create a symetrical look to these gates. I had done so to make the gate seem regal and grand, through a even and symetrical look. For the second sketch, I had used porportion, repitition and variety. I had used these in order to keep the look consistent, as a dark and rusted allyway. Through sizing my buildings differently, it connects back to what I said about depth, showing what is closer and what is farther. In the allyway I had repeated elements like metal paneling and the water pipes, which I had used a couple times as they were mentioned in the passage, and I believed that by repeating such elements it connects all the buildings and creates a simular look along the street. While I used repitition for this, I had used a variety of elements in order to add more uniqueness to the concept. Throughout the buildings I had scattered on nailed boards, curtains, brick and signs, to make the buildings differentiable while also being simular.

Out of the sketches I have so far I plan on showing my groupmates my sketch on the allyway, as I find it to be the most detailed and elaborate concept out of the two. I think through the elements I had added it conveys the idea being described in the passage, as a dark and dingy side to the grand and glorious city.

1. How your idea developed since day 1? Has there been more clarity in vision through practicing the iteration process? Explain

2. Has there been any unexpected outcomes through this process? What pleasent surprises or drawbacks have arrived and how do you plan to elaborate or solve them ?

3. List the extra material you may need and provide the rationale behind this need.

I had created these drafts.

On day 1 my vision for this project had been of a more glass castle with pointed tops and elevated platforms. Today when discussing with my group mates, my idea developed into white structure with glass roofs, dripping with vines and coral framing the archways and walls. The excerpt also describes it as glass walls however for my version I had decided to interperet as a structure with many windows covering the walls, making the inside still visible. This had helped bring clarity to my idea as I had more of a vision on exactly what it looks like rather than a concept. By sketching out the idea as well and its four sizes, it helped me further clarify my vision as I could see exactly how I wanted it and turning it into my own interoperation of the excerpt.

For this project I had originally viewed a more ancient-ish underwater city vibe, however through this process it developed into a more modernized version of this. While drafting however, I was worried because each of the sides were hard to differenciate at first glance because of how simular it is, making the draft look overall plain and repetitive. I plan to get rid of this repetitiveness by elaborating the plant-life on some sides, making them have little details built in as well.

1.Cardboard - Maybe the soft cereal box ones the form the walls.
2.paper - To form vines
4.Clear thin plastic sheet - To help us create the roofs.
5.popsicle sticks - Small or large ones in order to make the bricks
6.Round wooden sticks

How are you planning to applying textures, details and other finishes to your design? At what stage of construction are you planning on adding them?

To ensure that all voices are heard and incorperated into our design, throughout our process of sketching and building, we would voice out the next step before completeing it in order for everyone to add their thoughts in and for us to all understand what we're doing next.

As we begin building we plan to build the structure of the design first, getting the base, pillars and roof built and attached, and from there we can glue on any features we plan to add. We plan to use popsicle sticks, ripped cardboard and clear plastic to bring these details to life, and settling on the base and overall structure first will help us understand the dimensions and what must be added first.

Share a time-lapse of you and your partner completing your team challenge.

What part of your sculpture did you focus on today? How did completing the texture challenge impact your material use during today's studio time?

Today we had focused on cutting and glueing the main portion of the base. Sarah and Vivky focused on following the dimensions we planned out together while I secured them together. We had used tape to secure the peices together however that did not work to well and the carboard bagan loosing it's shape. You can see this on the right as I tape and secure the peices together. During this period we also outlined the layout for us to eventually place the pillars down while also re-cutting faulty peices of cardboard.

For todays material use I had used mainly cardboard and a roll of tape, in order to follow my plan of building the structure and then adding on the details. To begin the detailing we began cutting the thinner popsicle sticks in order to later be used as bricks.

During this studio time my group and I had mapped out the layout of the pillars in order to decide which sections to cut out in order for the pillars to overlap. After planning and cutting that we began to glue popsicle stick bricks which we began preparing outside of class and we began designing the railing. During the previous class we had used tape to secure the pillars however when we came back we had found that the cardboard had lost it's shape so we went back over it in order to glue all the parts down. In the image you can see tape still, however that was to secure the glue while it was drying to prevent it from weakening.

For this peice we still need to finish planning and glueing the roof on using clear plastic. We also need to build wall trims and door/window frames which will be attatched to the structure. We will eventually need to build and attatch greenary in the form of vines and flowers draped down along the walls.

Today we completed the roof which Sarah had used the power of digital design to calculate, trace, and cut for us before hand. We had also finished glueing down all the bricks and began glueing and finishing the trims for the railing. Securing them with clips while they dried.

Today some challenges we faced was when building the detailing for the doors and windows as long as the roof. For the roof we had outlined a template for us to cut out of plastic, and by the way we glued it it made it unstable and unproperly fitted, making them difficult to glue on as long as adding details at the top. Today I also drew a paper layer to go in the widest pillar so that if you were to look in it would look like a room. Because of how the pillars overlapped it made it difficult to fit in the space. For the windows and doors we found it difficult to cut out a hollow section of the window considering how thin the border is.

Our sculpture is fairly completed. We will now be focusing on smaller details like vines, wall details and the railings, and if we maximize our time we can most likely finish it in our deadline.

Before today I had already been used to this method of shading. Origonally, I had done some practices where I tried to redraw from images, and the way I learned was simular to todays approch. First I would use straight lines to best outline the basic shapes and forms. As I continue i would slowly refine the shapes and then block out all the shadows in the same midtone. Anywhere that wasn't bright and iluminated was filled with this darker color in order to block out the lighting, and as I continued I would darken or refine any shadows as I shaded. This technique was basically the same with what we had practiced today and made it very comfortable to work with, however I may need to work on refining my values and differenciating from them when I shade as the value differences are the same for all the objects. Something new however, was how in this technique we would first use stright lines to outline the whole outline rather than also getting guildlines in. While this technique worked for getting the porportions done, it wasn't what I was used to making it more uncomfortable to work with. The technique then used the shadows to not only block out the light sorce but to help refine the shapes. This was in a way simular to my technique however I used the shadows to only block out the shadows and not to refine the outlines.

Can you identify the value families and what techinques you will use? (0-3 tints, 4-7 midtones, 8-11 shadows)

For my still life I had chosen to use a sephora bag which I found in the room and me and xoai's makeup products we keep in our bag, we used it to depict an idea of overconsumption. The person crawling out of the bag is suppossed to represent escaping for beauty standards and the overconsumption of beauty products. For the initial sketch I plan to start by blocking out the composition and then slowly blocking in the shapes to shadows. For the techniques I plan to use a mix of cross hatching, rendering, and spiraling in order to create my different vales. I will also use small amounts of stippling to create value transitions within the peice.

We used cardboard for the walls, as well as the door and window trims, while popsicle sticks create a brick-like texture. Scored cardboard adds contrast and depth, especially along the dome trim. The domes themselves are constructed from transparent plastic sheets. Furthermore, our team collaborated by dividing tasks among members. Kylie focused on building the overall form, including trimming and fitting pillars together. Sarah and Vicky concentrated on structural details such as the bricks, door and window trims, and the dome construction.

Although Moriona is imagined as magical and beautiful, that outer appearance is marked by imperfections, rust, broken glass, worn bricks, and missing pieces. This reflects the idea that beauty and flaws coexist, like yin and yang, creating balance and meaning. Overall, we want to emphasize that flaws cannot truly be hidden; they must be embraced as part of reality because they reveal honesty, character, and identity. Moriona also represents time and change, reminding us that nothing remains intact forever and that even the most beautiful things will eventually transform.

For this piece it was important that I was able to include the highlights with a lighter value, and core shadows in a dark value between the midtones and shadows on the makeup tubes. This gave it a reflective aspect to it and was able enhance the realism of the artwork. For this piece as well, I had decided each drawing technique based on how effective it would be to depict the desired value. For the darkest areas for example, I had chosen to use blending, as it allowed for me to cover the most area in a clean manner, whereas for the midtones, I used a mix of cross hatching and hatching as these techniques easily allow for value transitions to occur smoothly. 

In each drawing there were different marks which helped enhance the appearance of texture.

For the first one, the lines on each side of the pillow helped give it the curved shape and helped show the fluffness of the pillow, however this one could have been done better with more shading the enhance it further.

In the second drawing, the different uses of values along with the transparancy shown in this cube gives it the soft and clear look that was being conveyed as this being a jelly cube. The blended shading also helped enhance this further.

For the third drawing, the darker areas between the planks helped differenciate from each plank, and the vertical lines like those seen on rough wood helped show the texture and courseness of the wood.

For the last drawing, the shape of the cube, helped make it seem softer, and the use of different values in certain areas helped show the juice and wetness of the meat cube, which helped enhance the texture visible.

post your examples of media exploration. Based on today's experiments, which medium/media do you plan on using for your finished drawing?

Today I tried using a ballpoint pen as an exploration to test out a new medium I may be able to use. For my finished drawing I plan to use a mix of pen, pencil, and possibly alcohol markers to bring some pops of color and variety with-in my piece. The pen makes me have to depend more on hatching in order to bring in different values, and for this project I want to try something new so this medium may be right for me to try that.

From today I discovered a new medium for myself that I found interesting and new, and from this I have decided to take a risk and make this my medium of choice for our project.

Share a progress photo from your studio time today. Share a reflection that includes an example of how you were able to successfully apply a skill. Share a reflection that identifies an area of growth relating to a skill or technique that you used today. How do you plan to improve this skill?

Today was a full workday for our project. I am using the ink medium for my peice as to try something new, and today I focused on the bottom left area, practicing layering light layers to gradually increase the value. I believe this worked well for me, as the shading on the corner looks natural, and slowly is coming together. I may need more practice however in creating smooth blends between the paper color and my inks. Today I only had two cups of ink. One with diluted inks, and one with no dilution, however to impove next class, I plan to have a few more cups of different ratios of water to ink to allow easier value control within my peice.

Share a detail photo from your progress today. What part of your studio time caught your attention? Explain today's approach to texture and value and how it relates to your detail shot.

Today I had continued on my inks peice and I gradually built up value. In contrasy to last class, instead of working on one are at a time, I worked through out the whole peice. This allowed for me to follow simular values along the peice and keep the unity and balance through out it. Because of that however, the shading and value shifts are messier than the other areas. One thing I really liked from today is how shading the plastic areas of the roof can really give that transparent look to it. Today I had difficulties with the dillution of the inks and getting it just right so I can work on that next session, however I did follow my own advice and use another cup to add easier value shifts.

What elements and principles of design are you considering the most while working on your texture/value drawing? Are the elements/principles on your mind relevant to areas that you want to improve, or are they helping with the success of your piece?

While working on my peice, the principles contrast and proportions were those that I paid most attention to while creating my peice. For contrast, I paid attention to try and define areas, showing a range of values in order to bring depth to my peice. Ensuring this contrast will mean that aspects are easier to differenciate and make the peice stand out more, rather than if my values were too close it would make my peice look dull, not allowing me to show values needed for this peice. For this specific model as well, we used a lot of clear plastic on the rooves, and by focusing on contrast it would allow me to properly show this clear effect. For porportions, this also joined with contrast, as I focused on my shading to properly show distance, size and shape, allowing for my peice to as closely resemble my image as well.

As I continue to work on my peice I will mainly focus on my contrast as it is what will bring depth and value differences to my peice, and from this I aim for it to demonstrate a good understanding of form and shading in replicating a peice of my model.

As we get closer to completing our drawings, how did you ensure you met your goals for today? What were you hoping to complete today, and what got finished?

To ensure I meet my goals for this project I focused on working evenly around my peice in order to ensure smooth transitions, and to not so greatly cause value differences in my different aspects. This will allow for me to equally use different values and then show depth and form within my peice. I am also working to show the clear glass effect on my roofs, and I have been slowly adding darker and lighter spots in to accentuate the glares and reflections you can see in the plastic.

While I was absent this day, I was working from home. In order to make revisions through out this peice, I would compare it with my image every few minute to notice anything I could change to show greater value differences. I would also go from different aspects through out the peice and notice to slowly build values across the whole peice rather than over-detailing one area. Because of this it allowed for me to better show the shifts and smaller details because it allowed for me to work across the whole peice.

Since I was at home I could not get much peer-feedback or critisizm, however I had asked my mom to look at my peice and my image and to point out anything that I could add or change to have my peice resemble the image better.

Overall for my peice, I had focused on different aspects in order to better create cohesive shifts in values, and on the note of applying skill builders, whenever I had created too drastic of a shift in values, I would use crosshatching methods to better show a smooth transition in my shading.

Out of all the workshop I participated in the one I found most engaging or successful was my own one for blind contour. This was because we were able to start everyone off with the purpose and use for blind contour, and then we gave a demonstration and instruction for the workshop. Because our workshop had room for creativity as it allowed people to use whatever materials they wanted, people got easilly interested with the activity and it allowed for everyone present to engage in the activity, making it successful. In order to make our workshop organized, my group had communicated with each other what the steps of the activity would be, and along with that we created a slideshow to help use explain and show example works. By communicating beforehand, this allowed us to understand what we have to do so that we were all cohesively working together and were ready by the time our participants arrived.

Participating and leading this workshop allowed me to connect the creative process with others as I got to see how people take different steps to using the same method. Because everyone has different preferences when starting artworks, running a blind contour workshop helped me see that. I got to see how some people prefer starting in one aspect of the drawing first, or how some people used one continuous line to best keep cohesiveness in their spacing. Being around other people allowed me to connect this tactic to how people take different steps and methods to using the same technique, and allowed for me to consider using new steps in my artwork.

If I were to improve my workshop for the future I would try to keep everyone at one designated area to best keep engagement and allow for me and the other workshop leaders to easily get the attention of the participants. I would also hope for group activities like blind contour drawing, we would change the pairing method and did larger group drawings so that theres less of a chance on people feeling left out by social pairings. For our specific workshop as well, while our presentation and demonstration was well organized, I felt that some people weren't engaged in our demonstration, possible because the live demonstration is difficult to show a large group, and having a small screen for our presentation also made it hard for everyone to see. I noticed the other group was very engaged because they used a large screen, so in the future hopefully if each workshop had its own room this would allow us to use the projecter to easilly demonstrate and engage everyone.

Hi Emma,

Thank you for taking the time to help us with our presentation and assisting us in managing the blind contour workshop. With your involvement it allowed for us to organize and manage the workshop and helped us explain the skill and it's purpose. I enjoyed drawing each other and exchanging papers to decorate and color. Your comparison to a minion was very amusing and your involvement helped get everyone involved in the activity.

Thanks for your help!

I saw your piece for textilles and fashion at the dragon made and it caught my attention! For this piece I noticed the use of dyes and ways of portraying the animal to make them recognizable and to stand out. I noticed the different patterns in the solid blue areas in order to give some detailing to the area and patterns to the whites to get rid of empty spaces. The use of white contrasting the blue also helped allow for the tiger and dragon to be easily distinguishable from their features. The use of composition and detailing on the animals also stood out to me. The use of composition and movement within the Dragon helped give the piece visible focal points along the curve of the dragon following the tiger. The placements of the animals also helped maximize empty space to prevent leaving empty spaces and causing the piece to look awkward, along with that the way they are placed are also done in a natural look without making it too forced which helps unify the components of the piece. The intricate detailing along the dragon's scales and the tiger's stripes also brought a very majestic and visually pleasing to look at. For this piece the choices of animals, symbols paired with the blue and white of the piece represents aspects of asian culture well, as dragons and tigers are animals prominent in asian folklore and beliefs, and portraying them in this sense can show a reflection towards asian culture, even further enhanced by the characters under the curve of the dragon. The dark blue of the dye and white of the fabric also reminds me of traditional pottery often done by eastern asian cultures and connects to the symbols and animals present in order to use symbols to create a piece that mirrors asian culture through animal and colors. These animals in particular, are also powerful animals in asian culture and this could show a powerful stance on asian beliefs and folklore, possibly connecting to the strength of asian culture and values. The placement for this piece also played a part in drawing my attention. By placing it on its own easel makes it stand out on its own, drawing attention to those viewing the artworks to come and take a look. The placement, being an open area also made it easy to look at and allowed for people to observe comfortably. When I saw this peice it reminded my of my own culture and how the dragon and tiger has thier own significance in Vietnam. The dragon being one of the 4 sacred animals of Vietnam. This connection also inspired me to look into how I can use art to potray my Vietnamese culture, and to possibly look into this next year for my AP drawing course. Overall, this piece stood out amongst the others and helped bring interest to asian culture through its careful use of techniques to portray these symbols.

Thank you,

Kylie.

What are 3 ideas you are considering?

What materials and processes are you considering?

What is your topic about?

For this project I am considering on doing a self portrait to portray aspects of my life that make me who I am, or to show important ideas that people should be more aware of. By doing a self portrait I can show how these things affect me as a person and contributes to my character and development.

For some of my ideas, I thought of doing a peice on how the internet affects out daily lives, which will be shown through using digital symbols or recognizable patterns and characters to show this and how the internet is being integrated into the daily lives of our generation. My second idea was to again use a self portrait to show my own experience being pre-diabetic and how I myself have to make choices to improve my sugar intake to prevent myself from crossing the line into being diabetic. A last idea was to show how my Vietnamese culture is present in my daily life. This was not shown in my sketches here however I was thinking of using a self portrait and introducing Vietnamese animals and traditional aspects to show how even in small ways it is still present in my life.

My idea is to use a self portrait (the large drawing) to show how the internet impacts our everyday lives and how we perceive things. By having a regular sized version of me looking down at digital versions of me or characters I associate with, it can show how we care too much about the internet, through my depiction having all her focus on these figures in her hand. For many of my previous paintings as well, using a character with closing eyes or looking down to the point the sclera is not visible for me represents the things that affect our subconscious and character, which in this case is how the internet is shaping us and our generation today. By having contrasting styles with attempted realism on myself in contrast to the simplified characters in my hand, it is supposed to show how you display yourself online is not the same to who you really are as a person in hopes of being perceived as better than you are. I than am thinking of having screens behind me with websites or social medias everyone would recognize in order to depict an idea that everyone cares too much and are only thinking about being on the internet and keeping up with these pages. Having it behind myself is supposed to depict how we are all thinking about these as it is as if the internet is "haunting us and what we do.

For this piece I plan to experiment with colored pencils and color theory or values. I plan to use colored pencils because it is a medium I haven't tried before, and with this open project it gives me the artistic liberty to try something new. I have also been considering what I could do next year for AP drawing, and colored pencils is something I was looking into. For this piece I also hope to experiment with value and color to improve lighting and understand how colors work in these situations to sharpen these skills. To get the proportions as well I plan to use contour techniques we learned this year to practice techniques to familiarize myself with proportion and methods, while also incorporating proportional techniques I am familiar with already to sharpen these skills along with the new ones I learned this year.

Please upload your examples of your experiments and provide a brief description for each.

For today I had expirimented with using colored pencils in order to get a grasp of the medium before I began. As you can see here I have a practice sphere where I tried lighting using this medium. When I did this however, I noticed that from pressing hard on my pencils immediately left me with unblended color shifts and less smooth gradients. For the second image where I drew a hair strand, I used what I noticed before and tried layering values to get better color shifts and shaodws. Because of this it allowed for me to create a more convincing looking strand, through layering values slowly to build up color.

After I did some practices with the colored pencils, I began my sketch for my project. I had used a mix of contour and my own simular steps to getting my porportions down, by using straight lines to mark the shape of the figure and using contour to get the details down, this helped me create a convincing and photo-accurate sketch.

Today I began working on coloring my piece and incorporating an understanding of lighting on complex shapes. My aim is to make it appear as the two small figures are the brightest area with light emmiting from thier general area. The screens in the back will also be emitting a light glow to further emphasize my topic of the internet consuming us. For the figures in the middle I had used the colors in a way of pressing hard a lot sooner in order to get the vibrant effect I noticed in my expirimentation in order to make them stand out from the realisting version of myself. When I began to work on the hands and skin I used a darker color to outline the areas, switching to a lighter color to outline areas closer to the light source. I then went in with a brown color to lightly color the darker shadows, and then a pinkish-brown in order to bring some life into the skin. In order to begin creating the light look, I used a cream color to lightly color in the brightest parts of the skin. Today's studio time allowed for me to firther expiriment and understand how layering can allow me to reach a wide range of colors and values and expiriment on the best ways to color skin and hair. For the future studio time, I plan to focus on creating darker areas to create a lighting source along with further building up my skills with this new medium. Today however, I think that I was successfully able to begin establishing a proper light source using lights and darks especially around the fingers, helping me create a look that makes the smaller figures stand out.

What is your progress looking like so far? What skills have you needed to refine along the way? What skills will appear as you start to finish up your project?

Today in class I focused on refining the glasses and smoothening out the skin, however on the forehead, because I went in too harshly in long strokes, these marks are much more noticeable rather than if I were to do circular motions to create smoother transitions. I also planned to start the hair, however before I began I realised that in order to properly show the lighting on the hair I must understand the light being emitted from the screens in the back, so I began working on the right one first. Today I was able to properly focus on the skin however in doing so it took a lot longer than anticipated.

For the next work session, I plan to refine my color transitions using colored pencil to create smoother gradients and values, better mimicking that of life. I also hope to strengthen my understanding of color and how using different base colors can change what our end result would look like. I hope as I continue on this piece I will be able to build an understanding on how light affects unusual shapes like the nooks in the hair or the curve of the sweater, and this connects with my overall goal to strengthen concepts and skills to help me further in sophomore year. One aspect of this piece I am struggling on, is how the light from inside the screen will cast onto it's frame and the hair, along with how this light can create cast shadows onto the other forms. To do this, I hope to develop a skill for analyzing and understanding how to light would shift, along with using strong reference images to understand a real model on how it works. A common subject of mine is portraits so this piece also acted as a practice for me to copy from reference images while including my own understanding of contour and accuracy methods along with proportions to allow more realistic subjects. This project will hopefully strengthen my understanding of art concepts like color and form and human proportions, along with how shadows change and bend based on the color and type of light shown, along with further improving and building an understanding of colored pencil techniques.

Today should have been your second work day on your piece. How did your progress go? Did you seek feedback? How did you make adjustments/ revise your work?

Today for my peice I focused on creating smoother areas rather than textured spots where I layered my colored pencil. The day prior, I had asked my friend who lent me the pencils for advice on shading and layering. She had told me that for colored pencils I need to be patient but also understand what colors I could use underneath to get the colors I wish. Today I had used that feedback and it allowed for me to create more vibrant color differences within the shading of the hands, giving them a more life-like aspect. Additionally, I also experimented on my layering for the face. Where the forehead is darkened in order to make the small figures appear glowing, I experimentad with using different shades of blue and crimson to bring in undertones and color to my piece, making it more dynamic rather than flat.

I found that today I made a decent amount of progress and I was able to finish the hands and the under layering of the face. Considering our time frame however, I may need to work faster to fit the submission date.

Today, I mainly focused on finishing the coloring and expirimenting and this allowed for me to learn which colors I should stick to using in order to create a cohesive look within all the aspects along with making the skin look like skin rather than beige colored spaces. For the next session, I aim to finalize the shading on the face and begin work on the hair, which I consider the most tedious part due to all the strands and shapes that need simplifying.

For this project I had chosen to use colored pencils in order to explore and take a risk in trying new mediums. For art I had never chosen colored pencils as a medium, however considering I plan to take AP drawing next year, it's important I expand my skills and ability. The composition for my piece is where my realistic version is presented in a higher view. By drawing my eyes to be closed, this is supposed to reflect how our subconscious is affected by this. 

The screens in the back are used to show different applications that consume our day. The screen on the right is a reading website I use often, and the apps on the left are my social media. Positioning them behind myself shows how the internet is always following us in this generation, reflecting how we can't escape the influence of social media. The screen on the top left is supposed to be a Tiktok screen, where I drew a photo of me along with an upside down text saying "You care too much." In flipping this text it expresses how people can see clearly the effects of the internet had they looked a little closer. In this case, if you read this upside down you would be able to read the text. The caption, in saying "It's all I thought, the trip I mean," It is supposed to act as a caption to a vacation where it's "all I thought about," however also reflecting how social media is often all we think about. The search bar saying "preform," as a cutoff for the internet slang "preformative," is used to establish how we often are "preforming," for an audience online. 

The lower left screen is reflecting an instagram home page. The profiles are those of my different accounts. From the left to right, being my art account, my close friends account and then my main account. This careful choice shows how we are perceived differently on different platforms. Because each account is towards a different audience it is supposed to show how we often cater to different audiences online, wearing digital "masks." The song choice under the username is also a reference to my favorite band, "Arctic Monkeys," but also is telling us directly to "snap out" of the control the internet has on us. 

On these two screens and the smaller figures, they all express anime/cartoonish eyes, to show an overly happy and glorified version we show of ourselves online. The screens shining on the edges of the figure creates an illuminating effect towards them, but also showing them shining onto our lives. 

Through having the background black, with keeping the area around the smaller versions glowing, creating a lighting situation that makes the face illuminated by only symbols of the internet and social media, shows how our regular lives are being over-shined by the internet and makes the rest of our lives seem dark without it, reflecting the addiction many people have to their devices. 

For this piece, I took risks out of my comfort zone by using this new medium, which I was unfamiliar with. In trying this medium I needed to experiment with layering to figure out the best ways to reach certain colors or lighting. A big problem I had was I was often unable to desaturate certain colors which left a lot of my colors being too vibrant. I also had an issue where I didn't know how much pressure I would need to put to create smooth textures but not overpower the area with the color being used. Eventually however, I figured out how to evenly layer colors to achieve the value I desired while also creating a smooth area. In my piece you can see how my technique improved over time. First, I colored the smaller figures however I used too much pressure so my colors were much more vibrant. When I colored the hands and face, my coloring technique was not as smooth and had many variations of colors, however I also learned how to layer colors that I wanted. Near the end, when coloring the hair I figured how to create smooth areas while also creating the colors I needed, showing a developing control in this new medium. Through my use of mediums I was able to take risks and convey a theme that reflects our current lives with the influence of social media and the internet.