Art 1 Final Portfolio

- What was your favorite material that you used this year? Why do you like working with it?

In my personal experience, plain pencil is my favorite material to work with by far. The way you can get such a wide range of shades from this simple piece of wood and graphite is quite extraordinary. It also lets one capture great detail and implement extreme precision in pieces. I have and plan to continue exploiting it to its widest extremes. There are many reasons that I honestly enjoy using pencil in my pieces: the way it is small and portable (unlike a paint set and brushes); the way it fits snugly in my hand; and the feeling of free motion with the pencil. There is no end to the uses of the #2 pencil. It is so simple yet allows the artist to create complex pieces of art. Myself and many others favor pencil over other materials. Other mediums and materials may be better in some situations, but in most cases, I will choose pencil. As seen in the photo below I did use charcoal as a background medium, but I used pencil for my focal point.

- Regardless of whether a project was successful or not, describe the one where you learned, grew, or developed the most from?  Please explain.

In one of my art experiences I had done a (not so successful) project that did, in the final run, teach me a thing or two. The piece presented below was one of the first pieces I composed in my Art 1 class. It turned out to be not as great as expected but it wasn't a complete flop. What I learned from this certain piece was all about shading. Prior to this piece I was completely unaware of the potential of correct shading and how it could tie a piece together and make it complete. As I discovered after having finished this piece I had obviously gone AWOL on my shading and angle of shadows. I had consultation from my art teacher about shading which helped a certain amount, but I had still not gotten my mind around the concept yet. I learned that in shading you really have to imagine where your light source is coming from and what kind of shadows certain shapes cast. I had to learn that in every nook and cranny there is a special shadow hiding in there, and if brought out it will really add life to a piece.

- Regardless of whether you liked or disliked a project, which one did you learn, grow, or developed the most from?  Please explain.

When asked this question the project the comes to mind is the perspective project which I took part in a week or so before Christmas break. I did quite enjoy this project in whole because it opened a new field for ideas and imagination. I also liked it for the eye-opening lessons I learned from it. Before I came into this art class I lacked much skill with any artists tool, but coming out I am glad to say that what I learned I will remember forever. This specific project taught me the valuable lesson of perspective. As any artist knows, perspective is a very important thing to have when making art. I first implemented my new knowledge of perspective into the piece below which portrays the Tardis from the famous British TV show "Doctor Who". In this piece, the perspective is of the Tardis careening through a "time vortex" towards the viewer. I chose this angle because it gave me the opportunity to draw the Tardis from something other than a head on angle. All in all I have learned a many great things from my art class and hope to continue using what I have learned for the foreseeable future.