Blog post 3: Surfer & Waves

 Artists Develop Art Making Skills

Did you learn new techniques or processes as part of the work for this project?

I learned how to use chalk pastels within this project. I figured out how to use the chalk to make things blend easier. The shading under the front of the waves also made them look more 3D. 

Did you gain skill with familiar materials?

I didnt really gain any skill this time with familiar materials. In this project I used all new materials except for the little part that I used oil pastels for. So I didnt really gain any skill with familiar materials, more with new ones. 

Artists Solve Problems

How did you respond to challenges that occurred as you worked? 

I ran into problems with making the waves look like actual waves. I had the blending down, but when it came to making the wave look like it was crashing it was the main struggle of the picture. So  I had to take some of the darker chalks & shade in right under the white part of the wave to make it seem more like it was coming off the page. 

Did your work take an unexpected turn due to a mistake or did something happen that was unplanned? 

I didnt really know I was going to use the chalk pastels because we had just learned about them that day. So I figured since theyre good to use when trying to blend colors and drawing waves would mean blending a lot of colors, I decided to use these. So I guess that was something that was unplanned; the waves issue would come in there also

Artists Create Original Art

How did you use your own unique ideas in your work? 

Surfing is something I personally like to do. I know how the waves move and how a surfer would position their body accordingly. So I used my own prior knowledge in order to create this picture. 

Did you use a source for inspiration, then combine it with your own ideas to make it original?

I found this picture on the RipcurlUsa instagram page. It consisted of a huge wave and a surfer bending over inside the wave. I took this idea and changed it around and took it into my own perspective. I didnt want the art to look so realistic. So that and also my prior knowledge went into the originality of the work. 

Blog Post 2- Elefly

Artists Solve Problems
How did you respond to challenges that occurred as you worked? 
I responded to challenges that occurred while I worked by making it incorporate into the art and turning it into something new. At the bottom of my "Elefly", I messed up with the colors of blue. One ended up purple and one ended up blue which conflicted with the complementary color idea, so I ended up just mixing the colors together on both sides and making it look like it was supposed to look that way. 

Did your work take an unexpected turn due to a mistake or did something happen that was unplanned?
Yes, the proportion of the sides of the patterns in the butterfly wings/elephant ears were off. I had to move things around to make it look more natural. I figured out a way to make it look normal by using the technique of burnishing to ensure that the old lines were covered up.
 
Artists Collaborate
 Did you ask another student for feedback during your work process?
Yes I did ask another student for feedback while working on this piece. I had an idea of what I wanted to do but I didn't really know exactly. Someone at my table suggested the complementary color idea, I thought that would be a really good technique to use with this butterfly project. I used that and it turned out looking really good. 

Did someone help you understand important information or inspire you?
I had originally gotten this Idea from a post I found on Pintrest. This artist had done the whole body of the elephant. They had also incorporated a desert looking background for this with the butterfly wings for ears making it look more natural with the elephant being in a natural habitat. I took this idea and changed it by only doing the elephants head and by doing a more leafy and green background. 
 
Artists Take Risks
Did you try something that you weren’t sure about as part of this project?
I did try something I wasnt very sure about in this project. I wasnt too sure about this whole butterfly for ears thing because while I was looking up butterflies and examining the wing patterns, I found it hard to make the wings look very realistic. But I followed through with the idea and it ended up working out in the end. 
Did you pick a material or technique that was new or different over something that was familiar?
I ended up not really trying anything new in this project. After finishing the eyeball zentangle project, I found myself more comfortable with the technique of burnishing and incorporating the complementary colors in there to so I ended up just taking that route again. Although, I did end up doing a little bit of shading for the elephant head to really contrast the color from the elephant head itself. Also, there was the challenge of making the butterfly wings look more realistic like i said before in the first question.  

Blog Post 1 - Eye Zentangle

 Artists Develop Art Making Skills
Did you learn new techniques or processes as part of the work for this project?
In this project I learned more about the color wheel and about burnishing. I learned that burnishing can change the texture and overall look of the work. I exhibited the color wheel in my zentangle by using the complementary colors towards the middle of the eye to make that part stand out. 

Did you gain skill with familiar materials?
I gained skill with a familiar material, colored pencils. I learned how to make color change form and look more complex using burnishing. Its really cool how the piece turns out in the end and how it stands out from the rest of the portions of the artwork. 

Artists Create Original Art How did you use your own unique ideas in your work? I used my own unique ideas for this project. I used rainbow eyelashes to bring out the color of the middle of the eye. I also used value with rainbow colors against a black background to bring that out in the eye. Something else I did that made this unique was the colorful changing swirl in the very middle of the eye to make it look like the middle is sinking.  Did you use a source for inspiration, then combine it with your own ideas to make it original? I didn't really have a source of inspiration for this project. I thought of this idea and the patterns by myself. Theres a lot of originality in this work.  Artists Take Risks Did you try something that you weren’t sure about as part of this project? Yes, I knew I wanted to do something different shape wise but I didnt know what to do. I thought of the eyeball as my shape but I wasnt sure how it would work out. Another thing about this project I wasnt too sure about was the rainbow eyelashes, but that ended up being a key, unique part of the piece. Did you pick a material or technique that was new or different over something that was familiar? Yes, Ive never really tried using complementary colors next to eachother to make things stand out but that also ended up being a key technique in my project. I wasnt aware of the burnishing technique either before this project so using that for this piece was also something different and unfamiliar to me.