Drawing Final Portfolio

1.)My animal drawing was the most successful in my opinion. The theme of this topic was to draw any animal like they're moving so I drew a few thumbnails of different animals and different ways that they move. After looking at the different thumbnails, I decided to go with the butterflies flying away. I decided to draw this project on blue paper with prismacolor colored pencil because the orange contrasts very well on the blue paper. By using the prismacolors, I was able to layer and add value to the butterflies, the flower, and the bush. If I had just used regular crayola colored pencil then I would not have been able to make them look real as if they were flying away right in front of you. I went over the black part of the butterflies many times because the oranges and the yellows were causing the black to slowly fade and if you look at a real monarch butterfly than you can clearly tell that the black is very dark and not faded at all. The way I drew the butterflies makes it look like they're flying away from the flower but in the direction of the bush. Each of the butterfly's wings are drawn in different perspectives instead of in just the same perspective because when a butterfly in real life is flying, the wings are moving up and down constantly.

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2.) I feel like I overcame the most obstacles in this project because I have always had serious trouble drawing people and getting the proportions of the person right. Also this was in pen and ink so there was no "messing up" on the final drawing. I practices every part of this drawing at least 3-5 times. I especially practiced making the proportions of the gymnast exact and making them seem rounded with value. I practiced different techniques such as stippling and crosshatching on every part of this picture except the watercolor background. I feel like I did a good job adding value and making her look real. I practiced this pose many times also because it is not an easy pose to draw. You have to make the legs the same length and shape which is hard to picture because they are not right next to each other. Also you have to make the head look proportionate with the rest of the body. If the head is way to big or way to small than the picture as a whole will look off. If you look closely you can see that I did a paisley print for the leotard. Drawing paisley is very hard because there are so many little details in each of the shapes. I practiced about 10 times to get the paisley just right. Overall, I think this was the hardest project of them all but I was able to overcome every obstacle and it turned out looking nice.

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3a.) I grew as an artist in the drawing because drawing fur is not easy. I learned how do properly draw fur with pencil and charcoal and how to add value with those materials. I learned the technique of drawing fur because I used to just shade in where the fur would be. Now I know how to make the fur look real and how to add value to the fur. Fur isn't just shading but it is hundreds of separate lines going in different directions and different colors that add of to make fur. Also with the point perspective, I learned how to look at a picture from a different angle which could possibly make it look more interesting than it would if I had just drawn it as if I was looking straight at it. I was able to apply the principles and elements of drawing fur and making the eyes look realistic. I believe this project my creative side of being and artist by showing me that there are different ways you can draw the same picture. Also I do not think i would've drawn my cat like this ever. I most likely would've drawn her as if I was looking straight at her.

3b.) I believe I have grown as an artist with this piece because I learned how to shade and crate folds in a picture. I used different density pencil leads to draw this because the more dense a pencil is, the more dark your drawing will be. I learned the technique of creating folds in a picture by making it really dark where the crease of the fold would be. If you draw folds the same color as the rest of the bag, than it will look like you just colored in the bag. This piece improved my artistic vision by showing me it is possible to draw a crumpled up paper bag. Before I drew this and learned the different techniques of drawing this, I thought it was impossible to draw this type of picture. I learned the principles and elements of shading and value by drawing the paper bag. This project improved my creativity because I probably would not have drawn the bag all crumpled up, but I would've drawn is just a normal standing up paper bag. I also might not have drawn this at all.

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4.)This semester of the drawing course was awesome! I feel that the teacher did a good job of explaining concepts and new principles and elements. This was a very effective class because I learned so many new techniques. I learned how to do gesture drawings as shown in the picture below. I learned how to draw hair/fur. The most important thing I learned was drawing proportions of a human body as you can see in the picture below. In the picture it shows that the legs and to torso compliment each other well because they are proportionate with each other. The arms are the right length and the head is the right size. Overall, this was a very effective course and I am glad I decided to enroll in it.