"Her Natural Habitat" - Colored Pencil
The title of this piece is “Her Natural Habitat.” The subject matter is my sister drinking a cup of coffee while sitting in a coffee shop. I chose to draw her because I knew I wanted to do a portrait for my colored pencil project and I thought it would be funny if I drew my older sister because she drew our older sister for her colored pencil project. I found this picture of her posted online and I loved her expression in it so I tried it to give myself a challenge. The composition is made up completely of colored pencil. Since the piece was done with color rather than black and white, I knew it was really important to still achieve different values throughout. I made sure that I had a darker shade of most of the colors I used because I needed to show a change in value in order to show different forms. I also used a lot of perspective in this drawing because I wanted to show how she is sitting in the foreground and the coffee cup is further in front of her face while the background goes far behind her. I think I did a good job showing how the background of the coffee shop is a one point perspective going back behind her. The piece shows a lot of movement through the folds in her shirt and into the one point perspective in the background. I paid close attention to directional shading in everything which I think helps move the viewer’s eye around the drawing. I also think the proportion of her in comparison to the coffee cup and the people in the background are well done and make the piece seem realistic.
"St. Ildephonsus Cathedral, Mérida" - Pen and Ink
The title of this piece is “St. Ildephonsus Cathedral, Mérida.” The subject matter is of a cathedral in Mérida, Mexico. I visited this church with my family over the summer when we stopped in Mérida on our cruise. It was an incredible cathedral and reminds me of the good times we had on that vacation, so I was excited to draw it. The composition of this drawing is done with a variation of mark making. There is clearly a large amount of line used throughout. My main form of mark making was mostly hatching and cross hatching, which led to a very linear look. The lines are not super prominent from a distance, but each small line and mark gets clearer as the viewer gets closer. One of the things I strived to accomplish with this piece was to develop form through my various mark making. I think the form in both the pillars and the ceiling came across really well through the use of directional lines and shading. The pattern through each square in the ceiling and the repetitive pillars into the distance really draws the viewer’s eye across the image. I think the use of repetition through the ceiling unifies the piece in a prominent way. The other thing I found successful in the drawing was the proportion of things as they moved into the distance. The size difference in the pillars make it clear that I was standing far away from the door and organ.
"Hollywood Winds" - Charcoal
The title of this piece is “Hollywood Winds.” The subject matter is the bottom half of my Hollywood Winds alto saxophone. I chose to draw my instrument because I felt it was a combination of my two passions, music and art. I love playing my saxophone and can’t imagine my life without music in it. To me, this drawing shows how much I love creating art both through my music and fine arts like drawing and painting. I used a lot of line and value throughout the drawing to make the subject matter clear. The saxophone is really linear in its construction of the different keys and bars and was even more so in this picture because of the different reflections showing in them. I used a wide variety of values to show contrast between the highlights and lowlights in all of the reflections. I think the piece would look really dull and confusing if I didn’t use so many different values throughout it. The highlights are definitely emphasized in comparison to the dark black background. The whole saxophone itself is also emphasized because it stands out on the negative space in the back. I think contrast between the bright highlights and the background was needed to make the piece more interesting to the viewer. I spent a lot of time ensuring that the drawing was proportional and accurate to the photograph. Since my saxophone is a manufactured product, I felt like it had to be drawn as accurately as possible. It was really difficult to make sure each little piece of the instrument was drawn to scale, but it definitely paid off in the final product.
"Arbitrary Objects" - Still Life
The title of this piece is “Arbitrary Objects” because the subject matter is the corner of a still life containing a wide variety of objects. It consists of an iron, a piece of wood, a hand, a person, a cello, two crosses, and part of a head with a crown on it. There’s no particular meaning to the content as it’s just random placement of different things. I spent a lot of time focusing on the different forms in this piece so they would seem realistic. Portraying the different shadows and values correctly was crucial to the success of the still life because there would be no forms without them. The highlights and shadows on the objects changed depending on the weather and brightness outside and from any slight movement I made which made it difficult to draw correctly since it was a pure observational piece. I think considering the circumstances of experiencing this as my first large observational drawing, I was successful in portraying the different values to make the forms feel very real. In addition to form and value, this drawing shows a great amount of rhythm and contrast. The viewer’s eye is constantly moving around the piece because there are so many things to look at. The iron and piece of wood on the left draw the eye across to the cello which has a lot of movement towards the back and top. The shading on the bigger cross also has a lot of movement because it’s so geometric and random. I think the contrast between the dark cello and the lighter cross and hand plays well together as a focal point. The piece is more interesting to look at because of the sharp difference between the different values throughout.
"Reality in Space" - Hallway Drawing
The title of this piece is “Reality in Space.” The subject matter is a hallway at Peoria Notre Dame that I was interested in drawing. I focused a lot on line and shape as I was working on this because of the subject matter being so linear. The lockers each have a set of grates on the top and bottom and the walls are both composed of a type of brick, so I spent a lot of time drawing each line to make the subject clear. Along with all the lines, the drawing shows a variety of shapes through the rectangular lockers and individual bricks. I think the piece is inherently very geometric because of the one point perspective I was following. I was excited by the idea of adding windows to the hallway because it seemed dark and dull to me. The idea of creating a galaxy came randomly but I think it plays well with the reality of being at school doing work every day. Outer space is so vast and unknown which contrasts with being confined to one building for so much time. The galaxy itself is emphasized by the use of chalk pastels versus charcoal and pencil. My goal was to draw the viewer’s eye to the atmosphere outside rather than focusing solely on the black and white walls and lockers. Although I emphasized the windows with color, I still wanted the piece to have a balance of color throughout. To fulfill this need I added a blue undertone to the floor and impulsively colored the locker tags and exit sign purple. Although the purple is subtle and unnoticeable from a distance, it draws together with the slight use of purple in the galaxy.