AP Art Portfolio And My Year Reflection In Art Class

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14cynHcG1dhfAG5o5hhDVlxWxkJhDaF-DvwzEz0QztYg/edit#slide=id.p
REFLECTION:
Before the class started, I was nervous and kinda intimidated. I thought I would have to do so much more work in this class and that I wouldn't be able to handle it. However, I was wrong about not being able to handle it. It was definitely more work than I was used to, but eventually I became comfortable. For me art is almost like therapy. As soon as I start, I relax and find new things I like. The second day of class we started our first project, which was with prisma color pencils.The theme of the project was reflective objects. Again, I was overwhelmed by the idea, but as soon as I began my project I came to really love it. I feel like I really improved with each piece I did over this year. There were some challenges along the way and I did my best to overcome and improve on them. I absolutely loved being in the class and will leave with the many helpful things that I have learned here.

(Breath) Project #21 (project 10 of the second semester) My cat

For my 10th project of the semester I decided to make a painting of my cat. My mother took a really cool picture my my cat one day. I thought it was a wonderful picture to use  for art class so I did. I began with doing a light red wash on the canvas. I let it dry and then I started to sketch the cat's face and all the little details of her fur so I wouldn't forget where they were. After I sketched her out, I started mixing a light green. First I colored in her pupils using black. I then went in with light green from the inside, working my way up using darker green for the outer part of the iris. I used black for the outline of her eyes. Then, I mixed pink with a little bit of yellow to create the color of her nose. I blended it on to the canvas. Next, I painted the bridge of her nose, which was a light tanish brown color. I painted all of her face using light browns, medium browns, and dark browns. I used a smaller brush for her patterned fur, continuing this fur all around her face. Then, I used white for her whiskers and hairs coming out of her ears. I used a very light tan color mixed with white to paint her chest. After I painted the whole cat, I just had to finish the background. I actually really loved the color of the wash I used in the beginning so I decided to make a light pink for the background. My color palette consisted of light pink, dark brown, light brown, tan, white, medium brown, green and black. This was a challenging project because of all the detail I had to do in the fur, but I also think it was a success.

(Breath) Project #20 (number 9 of the second semester) Colored Pencil Drawing Of Holding A Cap

I wanted to do something different and interesting for project number 9 of the semester. One day while I was in my kitchen I noticed a rusted metal bottle cap in the sink. I held the cap and thought about how cool it would be to make a prisma colored pencil drawing of it. First thing I did was got a piece of yellow pastel paper out and began to sketch my hand. I made sure all the proportions were right and then I started with the hand. I used light peach flesh tones and blended them into the pink. Then, I added turquoise and blue. I continued these colors thought the hand. To deepen the value, I got some navy blue and filled along the shadows of the inside of the hand. I then worked on the finger nails with the polish on. I started with a light yellow blending in the middle and then adding light brown outside of the yellow. I added gold and then dark brown to show the value of the nails. To highlight I used white to bring out the shine. Next, I worked on the metal cap. I started with silver and a little bit of black, blending towards the outer edge. I carefully added the letter using black then filling them in. Lastly, I added the rust of the metal cap by blending light browns with yellow and trying to show the rusty texture. I added white to show the highlights in the bottle cap as well as the hand. I used a light red to softly shade in the background. My color palette consisted of pink, peach, light blue, turquoise, navy blue, gold, yellow, light brown, dark brown, silver, white, and a little bit of black. I think this was a successful project for me.

(concentration) #19 Guitarist On Stage

For project number 8 of this semester I decided to paint a picture of Buzz Osbourne from the band Melvins. I took this picture last summer when I went to his solo acoustic show. I took a couple of pictures of him, but it was hard to do that because he kept banging his head and dancing as he played the guitar. However, I liked the way the picture looked and thought it would make an interesting painting. First, I got a canvas and started to draw out the proportions. Next, I went over to make sure everything was in the right place and if not, I erased some things and changed them to look more like in the picture. Near Buzz's head was blurry so there was not a whole lot of detail. I also thought the lighting in the picture was interesting. After I made sure everything was in place, I began to paint the floor mixing light reds into deeper reds. Then, I painted his shoes, shirt, and guitar. Next, I mixed flesh tones with red to make his arm and face. Then, I took some while and a little black to make his hair, then added a little more black to show value. After I painted his whole body and guitar, I painted the background. Since the lighting on the stage was mostly darkness and a little bit of red, that's what I used. I mixed the light reds into the painted black part of the canvas to blend them in, making a deep effect. I added a few more details and then I was finished. My color palette consisted of reds, white, grey, black, and a little bit of flesh tones. This was challenging at first because I wasn't sure if I could create a blurred image from a photograph.

The photo I took

The painting

(Concentration) Project #18 Testing Keyboard

For project # 18 I wanted to do another watercolor painting of a picture from a past concert I had been to. This was from the Ty Segall show. In the picture it shows odd lighting on the band member, Mikal Cronin as he tests the keyboard he'll be playing the next song on. I chose this picture because I really liked the sort of thinking expression he gives as he's playing with the keyboard. I also really like the unusual lighting that makes him look multicolored. My color palette was blue, pink, red, green, brown, orange, and yellow. The medium I used was watercolor paint with pen. I started by sketching him out and then the keyboard. Second, I used brown water color pencil to evenly color his hair. I added pink, reds, and yellow on his skin and blended them together. I then took a wet brush and watered the colors on the paper and blended them more. After that I drew the shirt and filed it in with green and brown to make an olive green color. I wetted the brush again and blended some more. I lightly colored in the keyboard. After it all dried I went in with pen and outlined the guy and his keyboard. I added more detail to the face, hair, shirt, pants, and instrument. Although this was fairly simple and not a completely time consuming project I really liked how it turned out. I wanted the guy to look like he was in the moment when playing with his instrument and I think I did. I also enjoyed working with the color combination. It reminds me of a lava lamp in a way.

(Concentration) Project #17, Singer

I did a watercolor with pen and ink for project # 17. This came from a series of concert pictures I had taken at the concert for the band, Sleigh Bells. The woman who is the singer for the band is in the painting. I started off with drawing her out. Next, I added more detail throughout the figure with pencil. The detail is focused on the makeup, shirt, leather shorts, and fishnet stockings. I then used watercolor pencils to put color in the figure. I used black for the hair and evenly colored in. For the skin I used a light peach color and blended it with pink to show how the stage lights would hit the figure. I used a little bit of black to shade in around wrinkles in the leather shorts. Then I mixed green with brown to create an olive green for the woman's shirt. After that, I painted the background blending in the colors pink, purple, and blue to make a contrast between them. The colors represent the lighting on stage. After the watercolor paint dried, I used pen to outline the woman and all the details. My color palette for this piece was purple, pink, blue, olive green, peach, and black. My medium was watercolor. This project started off well, but I think I could have spent more time on the face because I think I over did it and went too strong with the pen. However, I think I did well on the rest of the body and its shape.

(Concentration) Project #16 music show

For project 16, I decided to look at some old pictures I have taken at shows I have been to. I had taken this picture of one of my favorite bands, Best Coast at a local record store. Best Coast's style of music is 60's, beach alternative. The songs are mostly upbeat so I wanted to incorporate that into the picture I would draw and paint. First, I drew out the lead singer and guitarist, Bethany Cosentino and her guitar. Next, I drew in her skin using a flesh toned water color pencil and mixed in a little orange to make her skin look tanner. Then, I filled in the color of her hair using brown and yellow watercolor pencils and blended them in. Since her dress was originally white, I decided to add light blue to show the shadows in her dress. After that, all that was left to color in was the hat and the guitar. Last thing I painted was the background and I used an ombre of yellow, orange, and red to portray the beach like sound of Best Coast's music. After the watercolor painting was all dry, I added in pen to outline details as well as stippling. The medium I chose was water color pencils and pen. My color palette for this piece was yellow, orange, rad, peach, light blue, brown, and some black.

(Concentration) Project #15, Playing Guitar

One day I was practicing playing my guitar when all of a sudden I had my next idea for project 15. I would draw a closeup picture of me playing guitar. First I got out a sheet of lavender paper and drew out the proportions and everything in the picture I took. Then I began to fill in the color of my forearm as well as my hand. I started using light flesh tones to dark and then adding in brown to add shadow and depth. I drew in the nails using red to create the look of my nail polish chipping. Next, I drew the wood part of the headstock of the guitar. I used a yellow cream color, browns, and tans. I used gold for the Fender lettering. Next, I drew the metal nobs on the headstock of the guitar. I used silver, a little bit of black, and white. After that I used a dark brown to color in the neck of the guitar. I added in the frets with sliver. I didn't want to leave the background blank so I decided to color it in using a sky blue. I thought by using the color, the image would pop out more. The medium I s=used was prisma color pencils. My color palette consisted of sky blue, flesh tones, tan, browns, silver, white, red, and the tiniest bit of black. I think I did well on this project. I took my time in making the hand look realistic and well as the headstock and neck of the guitar.

(Concentration) Project #14, Reflective CDs

For my 14th project I decided to make a prisma drawing of CDs with the reflective side up. I thought this was a good idea since I haven't drawn CDs before and it would give me a challenge. At first I started with a sheet of blue pastel paper, but this did not work out well. Even though I drew out the CDs and the detail of the different colors reflecting off of them, I accidentally made the proportions blobby and it just didn't look right. I also wanted a different background behind the CDs that wasn't wood. This led me to choosing black paper because I could just leave the background black and this would give me more time to focus on the CDs. The black paper was nice for that, however, The colors did not stand out as much and were less vibrant. Anyway, I started to draw it all out on the paper and then went in with color. I started on one CD at a time, adding colors and blending them in into one another. My color palette for this piece consisted of white, browns, blues, green, yellow, orange, red, and purple.  I'd say this was a challenging project and I did the best I could, given the about of time I had. I wanted to re-do it a third time, but I knew I would run out of time.

(Concentration) Project #13, Guitarist In Space

For this project I made a painting of my best friend, Michael playing guitar in space. Originally I was just going to make a painting of him playing guitar, but  I thought it would look more interesting if he was in space. Plus, I have noticed that some music gives the effect of feeling like you're in space. The first thing I did was make a list purple wash all over the canvas. Next, I drew out Michael and his guitar. For this part I really took my time in trying to get all the proportions right. I did not have much experience with foreshortening so I knew this would be a challenge for me. After drawing and erasing again and again I thought I got it close to right. Then I looked up pictures of space to get an idea for what the background would look like. I did not really use much of a reference because I didn't find a picture I really loved to base on the background. I just knew I wanted a galaxy looking background with pretty colors blended into each other and clusters of stars. I didn't know exactly where I was going, but I just began to paint the background. I started with a medium dark turquoise kind of color that I made and patted in certain areas with the paint brush. I then made a lighter shade by adding a little bit of white and repeated the technique around the already filled in parts. I did this again making an even lighter shade. I felt like the first color was not dark enough so I added more blue and a little bit of purple. This made the deep color I was looking for and I added that to the painting to show depth. Then I added stars using white. After the background was finished, I began to paint the guitarist. I started with the paints, then the hair, and then I worked on the face. I went with light skin tone to dark and made the areas of the face that had shadows darker by blending in brown. When it came time to doing the guitar I put in strings, but did not like the way they turned out. I really tried working with the tight space that I had, but it ended up too sloppy looking so I decided to paint over that. I think with all the detail I put in already, it wouldn't be so horrible if I left the strings out. I used more dullish colors with this piece. My pallet consisted of dark blue, turquoise, green, flesh tones, and browns. I am pretty happy with the outcome of this piece, knowing I took a lot of time in making it the way I envisioned.

Project #12, Music Concentration

For my twelfth project I decided to paint a picture of a past show I went to of the band, The Julie Ruin. They are a feminist band with powerful messages and at the same time they are pretty upbeat and fun. I wanted to create a more vibrant atmosphere to fit the band's mood. So I used more intense, vibrant colors. My color pallet consisted of Blue, turquoise, green, yellow, pink, and purple. For my medium I used acrylic paints on thick poster paper. First I drew out the image of the picture I had taken. Second, I painted the background using a dark blue, then focused on the light fixtures above the band, I added turquoise, green and yellow paints. After that I started to paint the woman singer using flesh tone and adding purple for the shadows around her skin. I painted her dress using green, pink, and yellow. I painted the woman in the back using blues and purples since the lighting made her look that way. The last thing I painted was the drum set as well as the string lights wrapped around it. For this part I had to use a smaller brush to get the details in the lights. However, in the process of doing so, my brush managed to break (probably from using it for a long time, not sure, but it was surprising). I had to make an extra trip to Ac. Moore to find a a small brush. When I got home I finished the piece. I think in this project there were things I did pretty well like the Woman and her dress with all the detail. I think I lacked with painting the woman with the bass guitar in the back. I also believe that it wasn't the wisest choice to paint on poster paper with all the fine detail. I think if it was larger I would have a bigger advantage with all the room, but I could not do that for I would run over the due date.

(Last project for first semester) Choice Project ,Ghost girl, project # 11

In this project I didn't have much of an idea. I just started to draw a girl and went from there. I knew I wanted to make her look different from a normal girl. I made her have light blue skin and bright red with pink hair. I wanted it to look as if she's running away from something because I thought it would fit the background of darkness with the trees. After I drew out the girl, I began to paint her skin using a turquoise sort of blue, painting light to dark. Then I painted a medium blue background for a night time sky. After I painted the sky, I put in the grass using yellow mixed with sap green. I made the grass lighter where the moonlight was shining down at and darker on the other side. Then I worked on details with the girl's hair and face. I wanted there to be more in the background so I put in some trees. With the face I was originally going to put in eyes, but I discovered that I liked it without them better. I thought it created a spookish vibe, as if she was a ghost. For this theme I decided it would be "Preserve and protect." I thought this would be a good theme because it looks like there could be a story behind this piece. The ghost girl could be running away from something that's trying to get to her land, so she would be trying to preserve and protect. The topic is value because I showed the value of color that went from light to dark. I painted the light moving to the darkness on the other side of the girl. For the medium I used acrylic paints. My color palette for this piece is blues, pinks, reds, browns, and greens.

(Concentration) Cassette tapes, project #10

In this project I decided to do a picture of cassette tapes I had laid out on the floor. For the medium I used water color for the background and pen for the cassette tape. First I drew out the tapes and then I painted the background using really watered down red. When it was wet I dropped some salt on it to create an interesting effect. I then used violet watercolor paint and dripped it onto the light pink background with salt. Once it dried, I brushed off the salt. I added the color of each tape with watercolor paints. After that dried I began to outline the tapes again using black pen. After that I went over the tapes with hatching and crosshatching. Once I was done with that it was finished. Although this project came out okay, I wish I had worked on it longer so that it came out looking as I wanted it to. For the most part I think it looks okay. It could be better though. I might actually redo the whole thing later on so that I have a better looking piece for my portfolio. But for now, this is what I have.

Tapes.

Light pink wash with salt technique and purple drips.

Close up of some of the tapes.

(Concentration) Guitar project # 9

For project number 9 I had to do something that would fit into my concentration. I decided I would do a drawing of my guitar. I contemplated whether to use acrylic paints or prisma colored pencils. Even though I had just done a project with prismas I knew this project would be perfect for them. Plus I was really excited to use my set of brand new prisma color pencils I had gotten for Christmas. So, the decision was pretty obvious, I went with the pencils. I began drawing out the guitar on a piece of pastel paper. Then I used violet to shade in most of the guitar. I used other purples to show the reflection through the guitar and what it showed in my room. most of the reflection is distorted, but it's supposed to be that way. I went on top of those colors with the same ones to push the value of it all. I then worked on the upper part of the guitar, as well as the pickups, and outside of the guitar with magenta and pinks. I went back with white in the areas that needed it to show highlight. For my color palette I used violet, blue violet, magenta, dark pink, light pink, and white.

Pet Project # 8

For the pet project I decided to do a prisma colored pencil drawing around my dog Sage. I know I hadn't used colored pencils in a while do it would be a challenge, but also a great opportunity to use them. I began drawing the outline of my dog, then I started using browns and tans for the ears and face. I then worked on drawing his chest part with the same colors. I used blues and browns for the collar for those are the actual colors of his collar. I went back and put in darker colors in his fur to show more depth. For the background I thought I would make sort of an ombre with greens. I blended light greens into darker greens. For my color palette I used dark green, medium green, light green, turquoise, dark brown, reddish brown, tan, white, and a little bit of black. This was a tricky project because I was not sure how well I could pull it all off. In the picture my dog is at a strange angle of looking up to me and his ears are back. As I worked on the project more it all came together and I have to say I'm pretty happy with the results.