For my project proposal, I would like to do organics mixed with one of my favorite themes: grunge. I like the industrial roughness that can elicit a specific dark feel, or a creative feel, to most wall papers. The feel can exemplify simple things in the picture, drawing attention the even the smallest but smooth additions to the pieces. The idea is to place simple images according to the rule of threes, having well balanced images, on a rough and moving surface. There will be plays of light and dark, and it’ll be based off red and blue colors.

So of course, I change my mind halfway through.

In my last post I talked a lot about how I wanted to draw a certain image because I was inspired by it. But the last image I was using as a reference inspired me to something, but it didn’t inspire me to do the  right  thing, if that makes sense. Naturally, I started over.

I have this new image with two musicians that I constantly listen to while drawing. They are Father John Misty and Lykke Li. The two of them are so naturally inspiring that I chose to draw them in this piece. I don’t want to give everything away behind the piece, just so I have something to say for when I’m finished, but I’m very excited to finish this!

Here is a quick concept sketch:

For my final project I plan to create four pictures that represent four seasons. I’ve seen a lot of beautiful pictures online that combine people with different nature and urban scenes and depict beauty of both elements. Each picture should incorporate a silhouette of a women and a picture that captures one of four seasons. Even though most pictures of nature are in color, I’d like to create pictures that are monochromatic in the shades of blue. There are two reasons for color blue: one — I like the color, and two, if a final product is of a reasonable quality, I would have it printed on canvas and hang in my office or bedroom.

I have selected Photoshop to expand my knowledge and skills in using this software. Before this semester I had no prior experience with it and during this class I have discovered how versatile it could be and how it can be used for manipulation of existing images or creation of new ones. Understandably, it was not the main focus on the class, but short exercises that were part of the class allowed us to explore some basic functions and see opportunities for some future art projects.

The upcoming challenge I see with this project is that I’ll have to find tutorials that will teach me steps that are needed for creation of the pictures. I am not very experienced in using Photoshop so I anticipate that much more learning will be involved. I’ll also have to find pictures that will match the purpose of each picture and communicate the mood of each visual representation.

Here is an example of a double exposure picture.

    For my final project I would like to do a series using the LowPoly Portrait technique we learned during week seven of the Photoshop lessons. I would like to use several of my own photographs for this final project. I would like to focus on nature, landscape, and wildlife photos. I am going to do a serious of five photos that go along the theme I stated earlier. I think that the LowPoly Portrait gives a unique look to realistic photos. I think it would be fun and interesting to use my own photos with the technique.

                      I want to take my time with this final project and use as many different sizes of shapes that I can. I think that the more variety in sizes there are of the shapes the more shading and depth there is to the photo. I am defiantly way more into the digital aspect of art than I am the painting aspect. I think that using the LowPoly portrait technique with help me become more comfortable in Photoshop. I also would like to play around with the lighting, hue, and/or saturation of my photos before transforming them.

                      I have choses this for my final project because I think that it defines me more than painting will or does. I find the digital world to be very interesting and limitless. I had a fun time with the LowPoly Portrait assignment and wanting to expand using this technique. I am excited and ready to get started on my final project. Here are a few photos I plan to use in my series.

When I was thinking of what I wanted to do for my final project, I was planning on doing another project with hands. I really like drawing them, and the ones I’ve done in exercised with bright color were a lot of fun. I haven’t been very happy with the mouths I’ve produced in the past, so I wanted to focus on that instead. I took a few pictures of my face for reference, then sketched them on to some paper. I’m still not sure if I want to do this in acrylic or digital, but I’m leaning towards painting the piece.

The idea would be to color the different mouths to match the emotion that those colors could be conveying. Since body language conveys a lot of meaning, I’m hoping I can take the shape of the mouth, and further detail the emotion with color. In our color temperature exercise, we went over which emotions are associated. I think that I would like to paint them monochrome or two-tone expressive. I think that two tone could make some good combinations.

The following are what I’m currently considering for color combos:
Top Left: Yellow and Orange to show happiness with a bit of  excitement
Top Right: Bright red with Orange, intense glow for anger
Bottom Left: Green and Purple, this should clash more than the others and hopefully convey disgust or fear, just general discomfort
Bottom Right: Green and Blue, Calm, relaxed.

I plan to use a few hues of each color, and use them for the mustache if I decide to keep it in.

Since I want to use for mouths to evenly fill up the board, I’m going to use the rule of thirds to position them, since the rule of odds will be out. I think that it will lend itself well to a white background, but even if it doesn’t , I’ll have a easy time applying one afterwards. I’ve been having a better time with black paint for outlines. I’m starting to get a lot more comfortable with my brush strokes which is a relief.

I  really like having these bright colors on the white background. It makes everything look really crisp. I think I’m going to do the same this with the mouths. I started drawing the cheek lines, but I think I’m going to get rid of them. I’m going to just use the lip shape and mustache to give the mouth dimension. I didn’t have very much shading on my sketch, but that’s something I plan on really working in once I am ready to paint. I hope to use the two tone for expressive color shading. Facial hair is another thing that I’ve always had a hard time with, so hopefully I can tackle it here. I was happy with how the ‘stache looked in my reference photos, individual whiskers had a lot of variance in their brightness. Hopefully with some appropriate colored paint I can recreate the whiskers.

I’m excited to get started on this now that it’s all planned out.

My concept is a patriotic design. I wanted to incorporate the combat boots because my husband is an Infantryman and he has been through many pairs, walked miles upon miles in them across various countries. I wanted to include some kind of memorial in the sketch, commemorating all the hardships and heart ache he has gone through. I think I want to put in some depiction of the American flag, and the unit patches that signify the deployments and soldiers my husband has lost. I know that I want to focus on an expressionist kind of style, where the concept of sacrifice is the main component, and use a color scheme that would highlight that concept.  I am not quite sure on how I am going to do that yet, and that is why the boots are the only thing sketched. I am leaning toward having certain parts of the picture in a gray scale or black and white scheme, using color to highlight the emotional points.

I do know that I really want to make sure I take my time with this, and focus on design and the use of color.   I know that those are the things I really need to work on. I chose the expressionist style because I think that my last attempt at this with The Rose wasn’t as successful as I thought it would be. I need to make sure that I use the colors to express an emotional response, because that is what I am looking for in this picture, or what I hope to convey once it’s completed. I think I am going to incorporate a red, symbolic for blood, but I want to also incorporate a little bit of a different color. I don’t know if I want to have the flag be vibrant and stand out, or have the patches, or the boots stand out. I was thinking about having the flag fall to the ground and the red from the stripes at the end of the fabric create pools of blood around the boots, but I really hate even drawing a picture of the flag touching the ground, so I am struggling with how to portray that in a different way.

This piece would be titled “There is always a bigger fish’. The idea behind the art is based on a story by Vincent V. Cava about a serial killer has stalked and attempted to kill his victim, but unknown to him he has in turn been stalked by a spree killer who intends to take his life. It is a character study really for both of these two. One is a selfish man who blames all beautiful woman for the constant rejection that has happened throughout his life. He is furious that He cannot be a ladies man, therefore he has begun to murder woman in sequences. The other is a far more unsettled mind who’s sanity has fled and he is left with only thoughts of killing. He is a creature of slight mystery a man who straddles the border between being human and supernatural. The picture will be done in a darker color pallet to capture a gritty and disturbing color sequence to unnerve the viewer and bring them into the dark mindsets of both these characters..

I will be using one point perspective in this piece since it is set outside the bathroom door looking in. This will limit the perspective enough that I will be forced to draw certain things like the sink the bathtub and the toilet in a odd fashion. I have never been good at architecture so this will also be a test of whether or not Jackie can design a competent bathroom. Many laughs will no doubt ensue from this mess. I have a hard time working with one point perspective and try to avoid it at all costs which is of course why I have based this piece completely around it. I hope the results will look, at the very least, interesting. Hopefully the toilet will not be to horrific by the time I have finished, I have my doubts.

Another thing that I am hoping to capture is the strange lighting in this piece. This bathroom is lit as any bathroom would be with an overhanging light. This will only partially spread threw the open door and it will create many highlights and shadows that will be quite fun to create. I have a particular problem with creating hair so that will be an area I focus on in this piece. I intend to look up some YouTube tutorials and ask some of my artist friends how the create hair, hopefully this will help.

The last problem I face is whether to do this in digital or acrylic. I find that the digital world, though less messy makes it harder to capture certain aspects of characters. Then again I do not think I have the resources to create this piece in acrylic. I would need to find the correct canvas and be able to afford the paint for the piece, neither of which it looks like all be able to do. So I’m going to make it digital to cut back on costs and other problems. This will offer several unique opportunities since I am no expert at digital work yet and this will give me a chance to hone my skills.