Oh, The Places You Will Go! - Part 1

When I heard the theme for this project, the first things I thought of involved going somewhere mentally, like dreams, afterlife, or even a drug trip or hallucination. Then I thought of virtual reality; going somewhere in your mind, but motionless in real life. It also has a futuristic approach, with both the advanced technology of virtual reality, and the futuristic place being shown on the monitor. For this project, we had to use pen and ink, which I am familiar with. We learned how to show value using pen and ink, which is shown in my drawing with stifling (dots) and lines.The lines on the monitor were the most difficult. No matter how carefully I lined up the ruler, my lines seemed unbalanced and crooked. I'm actually glad it turned out that way, because it gives it a more static-y look, like white noise. The building was also frustrating, because I have little experience drawing large structures. I really love how the girl and cords came out, though. The stifling really made the cords seem rounded and real. Virtual reality is something I have always wished for, so I had a lot of fun putting my vision on paper (although I made this image kind of surreal, with the cords and all).

NOTE: This is part 1 because I have been asked to work on this piece further. Please wait until part 2 for the final piece.

Zuzu Sees You!

When I was thinking of ideas for this project, my miniature dachshunds, Zuzu and Ilsa, kept popping up. I would remember how funny they look sitting on the bed and looking over, especially because they are so tiny and my parents' bed is so large. I tried to draw from an ant's point of view, or slightly under her. I had never drawn from this point of view so that was my first challenge. This perspective makes it seem like she's leaning towards you, ready to jump. I chose to use charcoal because I liked using it with my paper bag, so I wanted to use it again, mostly because it is easier to blend. The most difficult thing with this drawing was the fur. Zuzu has really short fur, so it was harder to make realistic. Using small highlights was a good technique I learned to improve the fur. Also, she has a wide range of grays and blacks in her fur, so I wanted to make sure they stood out in all the right places. My favorite part of the drawing are the eyes. This drawing was mostly a success, but if I had to redraw it, I would try and make the head/muzzle longer and more realistic.

Paper Bags

During this project we explored using charcoal and creating values in our artwork. I decided to use charcoal for my paper bag because I felt that I could get darker values by using it. Value is important because is gives the viewer a sense of depth and reality. It makes a drawing pop rather than look flat. Using value with the paper bag drawing emphasizes the creases and folds present to make the drawing seem more realistic. The most difficult part of this project was shading the parts of the bag that were caved in instead of folded. There are also places where I could have gone darker. Overall this project was successful, it looks like a pretty decent paper bag, and I learned a lot about shading and charcoal in the process.