Artist Statements
Will Smith
Describe: This piece depicts a head shot Will Smith screaming like he’s frustrated.
Analyze: I used value to create contrast.
Interpret: The meaning I am conveying is frustration.
Judge: I think this piece is successful because it looks like the reference and there is a lot of contrast
My inspiration for this piece was that I like Will Smith and this piece has lots of contrast, so it looked like a fun one to do. It has his face scrunched up and I felt like challenging myself and, it was very challenging, but I feel that I accomplished my goal.
The process that I used to create this piece was mapping out the face so I would know where all the facial features were, then I shaded the eyes, nose, and mouth, and finally I shaded the rest of the face. After I was done I went over with a cotton ball to smooth out all the shading
Ace of Spades
Describe: This piece depicts a pistol with a spade and 2 lines on it on a stand with a die in the background.
Analyze: I used negative space to create emphasis on the spade on the side of the pistol and on the handle.
Interpret: The meaning I am conveying is that life is a gamble and is as dangerous as a gun to your head.
Judge: I think this piece is successful because i used different values and textures on this gun to make it look realistic and, I accomplished my goal to make it look realistic.
My inspiration for this piece was a gun from a game called Destiny 2 and the gun is called the ace of spades. It is based on gambling and I think i did a good job conveying that.
The process I used was that I first drew the gun and mapped out all of the details on it, next I tried out different shading techniques on it to find the right one. Finally, I went in with the pen and ink to shade and texture it to create value in the piece, and added some small things in to fill in some of the negative space.
Venom
My artwork is Venom from the new live action Venom from the live action movie that recently came out. It has Venom in the center and strings of hot glue in the bottom right of the piece to show the symbiote coming together. The title of the artwork is Venom and the most obvious elements and principles are line, color, and shape.
My artwork is made of acrylic paint and hot glue. First I sketched out the face and shoulders of the image and drew out the tendrils on the top right side of the piece and made them pop out of the page with hot glue and i made a circle with strings of hot glue in the bottom and it looks really cool.
Randy Scheuller is the creator of Venom and I was inspired by the live action movie that came out recently. I mean't to show fear in this piece and i think I captured it.
My goals as an artist are just to improve my skills in the best way I can. This piece helped me reach my goal because I learned new ways to create texture on my artwork by using hot glue and I experimented with mixing paint to get the colors I wanted.
I learned that hot glue can get really stringy and you can use that to your advantage. This isn't the final piece that I imagined but is close enough that I can say I'm proud of it. I will try to experiment more with my future pieces and not be afraid to mess up.
Illumination
My piece depicts a luna moth on a tree branch with a glowing green aura done in charcoal and chalk pastels.My subject matter is a luna moth which is a type of moth in North America.The title of my artwork is illumination, some of the most prominent elements and principles are line, color, contrast, value, balance, and shape.
I created my art with vine, compressed, and pencil variations of charcoal and I used a chalk pastel for the green aura, and it's on paper. I blended the charcoal with my finger to make it look smoother and I started with vine charcoal, and after that I went in with the compressed charcoal for dark spots, and finally went in with the white to put in the highlights.
I was inspired by Robert Longo, a hyper realistic charcoal artist. This piece shows how I used to not like any types of insect but I do like this moth and that's why I sort of illuminated it to show that it can be pretty cool.
My goals as an artist are to always improve and try new things because if you don't try new things you could miss out on a lot. This piece helped me discover a new media that is fun to use and looks great in a final piece.
I learned that in the beginning it will look pretty bad and to not let that discourage you because in the end it will turn out great. I feel like I could have put a little more detail into it but other than that, it is the final piece i imagined. This will encourage me to use charcoal more and to take risks because sometimes they can turn out really good.
Harmony and Discord
My artwork depicts a robot monk holding an orb of light and an orb of darkness and there are spiritual hands coming out of the back. My subject matter is the character Zenyatta from a game called Overwatch. The title of my artwork is harmony and discord, some of the most obvious elements and principles are value, form, shape, balance, contrast, unity, and line.
My piece is made from watercolor paper and watercolor paint and some pencil but just for mapping it out. I used a flat brush when I started to do my under painting and I did washes of paint to go under the details. I used the wet on wet technique when I wanted to blend things out and I used the wet on dry technique for my details which were done with small round brushes.
I was inspired by the game Overwatch for this piece, it shows how there is a balance between the light and dark or the harmony and discord in the world. I tried to show a balance in the light and dark in this piece.
My goals as an artist are to explore new media and just generally get better. I think this piece helped me achieve this goal, but I still don't really like watercolor that much. I had fun doing this piece because I don't normally use watercolor and this was a nice change.
I learned that I should probably always have a background because it can end up looking empty. This is almost the piece that I imagined because I don't really like the detail in the arm in the foreground. In future artworks I will probably make backgrounds if they don't take up the full page.
Kanaloa
My artwork looks like a one eyed tiki with an angry expression a wooden texture and tentacle dreads and beard. My subject matter is the tiki god Kanaloa which is the god of the sea and is distinguishable by his tentacle dread locks. The title of my artwork is The Mighty Sea God. Some elements and principles of my artwork are Form. Texture. pattern, emphasis, and balance.
To create my artwork I used clay, wooden clay tools, and my hands. I started out with a slab of clay and I cut it into the shape of a circle, then I took another slab of clay and wrapped it around a cardboard tube to get the shape right, if it wasn't long enough then I would roll it out a little. Once I wrapped it around the tube I slip and scored it together and slip and scored a coil around the bottom to secure it to the circle shape. After that I cut out the holes I had and sculpted all of the parts I needed to carve, finally I slip and scored coils on for my dreads, lips,eye, and whatever else I needed to add.
I was inspired by the tiki god Kanaloa which is the god of the sea in Polynesian culture. I tried to show the anger and the strength in the facial features I gave my tiki sculpture.
My goals as an artist are to become an animator, get better at the basic art mediums, and to just have fun. This piece helped me get better with clay because now I better understand facial structure and I can better manipulate the clay to form what I need.
In creating this artwork I learned how facial structures work better so I can make a persons face or something with human facial features look right. This isn't the final piece I imagined because I wanted to add more but I didn't have the room or time to add those things. This piece will inspire me to try things I'm not comfortable with because I wasn't very comfortable with clay at the time of making this but now I feel that I am way more comfortable with it.
The Elements of Life
My artwork depicts the four elements of life, air, water, earth, and fire with a rock elephant in the top left, a flaming tiger in the bottom right, a sea turtle in a wave in the bottom left, and a flying owl in the top left made of clouds and gusts and wind. The title of my piece is balance, the most obvious elements and principals are line, color, value, contrast, and rhythm.
My piece is done in acrylic paint on a canvas board. I used round brushes, and flat brushes to paint this piece and I started with the background first and put the details on top.
My piece was inspired by the four elements of life.I wanted to show that each element had certain traits to it like fire being fierce like a tiger, earth is strong like an elephant, air is quick like and owl, and the water is majestic like a sea turtle.
My goals as an artist are to always improve and to find which media I am most comfortable with. This has helped me realize that I like acrylic but, I work too slow when I use it so I should probably use something else.
I learned that you need lots of layers to cover up something with white so do that first and go around it later. I feel like this is the final piece I imagined and I did my best. I probably won't do much more acrylic because I tend to take a long time.
The Hidden Demon
My artwork is a demon mask being blown by the wind with cherry blossoms blowing with branches behind it.My subject matter is a hannya mask and a cherry blossom tree.The title of my artwork is The Hidden Demon.Some elements and principles most obvious are line,value,contrast,rhythm,and shape.
My artwork is made of acrylic paint on a canvas board. I used mostly flat brushes and round brushes for this piece.
This artwork was inspired by Gustav Klimt, I wanted to show that everyone has hatred and anger but it can all just go away if you just try to find the good things in life.The demon mask represents hatred,anger,and jealousy and the cherry blossoms represent happiness and everything good.
My goals as an artist are to improve in different medias in art and learn new skills and techniques with them.This piece helped me learn how to make small details and lighting changes with paint just using my imagination not using references for lighting.
In creating this piece of art I learned that in the beginning it will look flat but if you take the time to put in details it can look really nice. This is better than the final piece I imagined because I thought it would look really bad but it might be my favorite piece that I've done. In my future artworks I will take the time to put in those details.