A Year of Art: A Reflection

This has been a great learning year for me. I've taken other art classes in the past and learned a little bit, but in advanced art I feel like I've really become a better artist. I think this is just because I can work on my own and at my own pace. I watch a lot of tutorials on projects. I also ask a lot of questions whenever I need help. Before I was a poor artist. Now I feel like I'm a decent, respectable artist. Unfortunately, I'm not taking an art class next year, as scheduling simply won't allow it. I will try to take an art class my senior year though, and I will continue to create throughout high school. I also would like to take a computer art class in college or a drawing/sketching class. Although I doubt I'll ever be a professional artist, I still am proud of what I create. I have a deeper appreciation for professional art now. I really want to start going to art museums to what other artists have created. I can see now why greats such as Da Vinci and Monet are so highly esteemed. This year, the biggest change for me is that I plan to create art even outside of a class.

Profile an Artist

This quarter, I reflected back on what artists have influenced me the most through the years. I came to the conclusion that a rather obscure artist (although I'm sure he'll do great things in the future) had influenced me the most. His name is Cyrus Schoonmaker VIII. His art doesn't always look completely life-like, but the backgrounds he uses for his projects always intrigue me, such as his scratchboard bunny or self-portrait. I tend to focus on the main thing in the scene and detail that; the rest is just a blur. But Schoonmaker draws your eye away from the center and makes you look at the entire work. This way, you can really appreciate the entire piece, not just the focal point. His work can be found at: http://advandcedartcyschoonmaker.blogspot.com

A Simple 3D person

For this project I made a simple person on the 3D application Blender. It took me a few weeks just to figure out how to use the software, but making this person once I had the skills didn't take very long. I think it was a fun project because what I created is the basis for almost every 3D cartoon character in any movie.

Project 3 - A Rough Draft

Right now this project is just a rough draft, but it will become more as time goes on. It is a surrealist pastel drawing of a cheetah running through pillar-like trees. The vertical lines are the trees and if you look closely you can see the outline of the cheetah, running and facing left. Naturally, the cheetah is covered up by the trees and covers the background behind it. However, in my vision, at parts, the cheetah will cover the trees and the sky will cover the cheetah as if the sky is actually in the foreground. It will be detailed and MUCH more defined in the final product.

Van Meter School

For this project I made a three-dimensional model of the entire Van Meter School on the computer program Google SketchUp. It is to scale and includes all the windows and details of the school. The textures like bricks and windows come from actual pictures of the school I took. It took me nearly amonth to make this model, but I finally finished it. I plan on applying to have this model uploaded to GoogleEarth before the end of the year. On GoogleEarth, everyone would be able to see the school in 3D in its proper geographic location.

A New Way to Create Art

This quarter I played around with 3D modeling software and I learned that there is a large online community of people who use this technology. They consider 3D design to be an art and take their work seriously. I read articles from some of the artists and learned techniques to use blender and google sketchup more efficiently. I also learned that there are many other 3D applications even better than the ones I've used.

My passion within art is seeing how far I've come when I work on a project. When i start out, I start slow and my artwork looks pretty poor, but by giving it time and diligence, I think it's fun to see how my art progresses and eventually I have a completed project. My favorite part is being able to see a final project with no white spaces and I know that it is done. That is my reason for making art.

Art is something that I'm proud to be able to do. When I get an idea, I picture it in my mind as a perfect finished model, and then I have to make my art be exactly what I picture. If I compromise anything, I immediately notice and have to fix it. This means that I have to jot down my ideas and then I layer on detail. I erase A LOT because I'm never satisfied with something until it's perfect. This can sometimes make my artwork messy and then I just have to restart. I guess this just slows me down even more, but it's worth it for the final product, and seeing that final piece makes the entire process worth it for me.

In the future, I think I will still like art as much as I do now. I want to continue drawing and painting as an adult for a hobby. Professionally, I also am considering graphic design and architecture, both of which would require a good imagination and artistic abilities. I think in the future, I will also make more artwork on a computer because it is fun to make and applicable to jobs in the future.

My Growth as an Artist

During this first semester of Advanced Art, I feel like I have grown more than in any other art class. I have been able to choose what projects I do and be my own worst critic. If I'm not good at something, I do a project focusing on that and I become pretty good at that style of art. I think that I did really well on my Santa sketch, because I was horrible at face drawings (as my first few practice sketches show), but I watched some tutorials and came a long way in face sketching. My favorite project was probably my Stonehenge because it incorporated so many different aspects of art. I had to use computer pictures, 3D computer models, clay, paint, paper mache, and wood cutting to make the final product, and it was a lot of fun to make. So far, I've done a lot of 2D work, but I plan on doing more 3D art next semester. I also want to make some computer graphics models next semester.

Shapes

My goal in this project was to make an abstract painting with depth instead of just being shapes. I used simple shapes but the black line running through the painting gave the scene depth and unity. At first I sketched the basic shapes that would be in the painting to get an idea of what the scene would look like, but before I ever started painting, I erased every line and did the painting free hand. I think the edges of the shapes were kind of blurry, and I wish I had made those edges sharper. In all, though, I like the way my project turned out.

In the spirit of Christmas, I made a sketch of Santa Claus in mid-laugh. I used a variety of sketching tools, including a number 2 pencil, ebony pencil, and eraser, along with a blending stump and my finger for shading. It took me several practice sketches to even make a recognizable face, but I think the final drawing turned out distinguished and well done.

For this project, I made a scene of my living room entirely from the words that represent the objects in it. For example, the recliner in the bottom right hand corner is made of the word "recliner". There are no lines or colors, just the words. It was a fun project to make, and all it took was a piece of paper and a pen.