Mixed Media

Mixed Media Project

For the mixed media project I decided to do a project about Dungeons and Dragons. D&D is an idea I got from my own life. A good friend of mine holds dungeons and dragon games, so why not do a project about something I love to do with people I love. One of the main parts of the game is the actual adventure. I found some sections from some adventures as well as a map made for it. As I was making my project, I was drawing the dragon with pen and learned to just draw rather than worrying about messing up. For example, I messed up pretty bad on the eye, but just turned it into a helmet rather than trying to cover it and hide it with something else. 

For trying new things, I wasn't really big on the mixed media. I struggled at first and had no clue what to do. I knew my theme and a couple of things to go with it, just not how and what to put them on. This is one of the first times I've used a collage style for one of my pieces and I decided to go with the DM's screen for the platform. Overall I'm pretty content with what I used and how it looks. 

Sticky Situation Project

Venus Fly Traps were my idea for the Sticky situation. This piece was made out of acrylic paint. I had worked with acrylic before, but this time I noticed a particular style that I was doing. When I paint, I like to do more strokes than blotches of paint. Mixing the paint, I also learned more about. I learned to notice what colors needed what other primary's to get the color I wanted. As I worked through my painting, I talked with other people around me about it, they gave me advice about what I could do to have more depth and what to do about the colors inside the plants. About half way through, I got the colors and outline of the plants done. I had to look and try a couple things to see what I could do to make it have more depth and make it a little more realistic. I added some darks and lights to add depth and some color to the inside, it just makes it pop a little. This project I think was a success. It turned out better than I thought, and the color really helps it stand out. 

Up-Close and Personal

For the "up-close and personal" art theme, this N64 colored pencil drawing was my choice. 

  When thinking of up-close and personal, the personal got my attention. The idea came from my childhood. The N64 reminds me of my brother and I, and when I was younger. With this, I created the idea and played with it, no pun intended, until this composition was perfect for the drawing.

  

  When working on this project, over time depth a value need to be put in to make the consol look more realistic. Stepping back and seeing where darks and lights need to go is very importand. Also, where details need to be more defined. With this project, how the light hits the consol and the wires is very important, and using light colors add a lot to the drawing. As well as value, the space around the consol needs to be tgought about. Looking back, and seeing the empty space and adding a simple yet just right background can change the whole piece.

  Colored pencil, for me, was a somewhat new medium for me. I have only really used colored pencils before to show color. I learned during this project how to layer the colored pencil and add darker and lighter shades of the colors. I feel a lot more comfortable and confident with the colored pencils than I have before. This project had definitely been a good learning experience, and has shown me skill and what I can actually do with colored pencils.

Candy Medium

Our candy project was used to try out color mediums. For the wrapped candy, chalk pastels were used. The pastels create vivid, smooth color, but for me were hard to control. For the lolipop, colored pencils were used. These were very easy to control for me. Multiple colors can be used to create lighter and darker values. They're a little hard to blend but pressure on the pencil can help blend colors. The last color medium is oil pastels that were used on the can. Yhe oil pastels were fun to use. They're not smooth, but create vivid color. They are also a little difficult to transition to the other colors. These mediums create really vivid color, but can be hard to control. Out of the three, the colored pencils were my favorite to use. 

Scientific Project

This stump pencil drawing was done for the scientific and contrast project. Along with the idea for the stump, mechanics and the human body were also a part of the scientific theme. The lessons that were taught were very helpful with the drawing medium as well as techniques. They showed how to shade with a certain medium, and how to use the medium for getting depth in the drawing. With my final art work piece, I used pencil for my medium. I showed the value and shading by applying different amounts of pressure with the pencil. Also, different leads were used to get deeper or lighter values. I chose pencil because for me it's easier to show that value with the amount of pressure that can be put on of off the pencil. With pen, for me it's more difficult to show that shading, and not getting it too dark too quickly. Charcoal has the same issue, getting too dark too quickly. With charcoal, it's also not refined enough. The lines aren't able to be very precise, to the point where it looks too rough. In my art, I used shading to show the bumps and ridges of the tree, and the value of how the stump is curved around the edges. The risky thing that I had done was all the bumps and curves in the root of the stump. This definitely worked for me, it gave the stump character instead of it being boring and just straight. This project was a good first project. It allowed me to practice and work with perspective and value through the shading and darkening in certain places. It was very beneficial.