My Art Projects (click the images to enlarge)
Pop-Art Portrait: "Satriani, The Legend"
This is a pop art painting of Joe Satriani, a well-known hard-rock guitarist. I made this by creating a grid on a picture of his, then transporting that grid to a canvas. I took the picture, which was originally black and white, and separated lighter and darker parts so as to end up with the five different hues of blue I used in the final product. So as to make the portrait stand out, I painted the background orange -- blue's complementary color. Multiple layers of paint were applied so that the grid lines, made with pencil, didn't show. This painting was made using water-based paint.
Using the grid lines certainly makes it easier to paint a portrait, though I wonder what it would've looked like if I hadn't used a grid. Maybe then the portrait would've been less exact, and yet have a more of a natural feeling to it. Anyway, the part I enjoyed the most of this project was actually painting the canvas, and I chose to use white as the lightest shade and very dark blue as the darkest so that the observer can actually point out the five different hues without any kind of problem. I normally don't use such exact colors because I like it when painting seems more spontaneous. However, this being a pop art portrait, I'd have liked to even out the different hues of blue by applying more layers.
Using the grid lines certainly makes it easier to paint a portrait, though I wonder what it would've looked like if I hadn't used a grid. Maybe then the portrait would've been less exact, and yet have a more of a natural feeling to it. Anyway, the part I enjoyed the most of this project was actually painting the canvas, and I chose to use white as the lightest shade and very dark blue as the darkest so that the observer can actually point out the five different hues without any kind of problem. I normally don't use such exact colors because I like it when painting seems more spontaneous. However, this being a pop art portrait, I'd have liked to even out the different hues of blue by applying more layers.
Finish the Picture: "Time"
The surrealist, chaotic shapes of this drawing help illustrate the exact, and yet completely abstract, concept of time. Time is explored as an idea that binds different dimensions, perspectives, and moments together. This drawing is an example of that limbo, neither past, nor present or future, that is simply too complicated for us to comprehend fully. In the picture, the two worlds are being teared apart, and yet "time," depicted in the symbol of the Big Ben, stays rooted to its place. It has no need for the human hand trying to keep it in place; it will go on forever, regardless of what happens around it.
This project was about cutting a picture from a magazine, and then finishing the "world" around it. That's why I took something from the real world, the Big Ben, and then transported it to this abstract dimension which exists in no real time. I liked to play with the idea that we could take something from the real world and then transport it to a place that can only exist in our imagination. The hardest part of this project for me was making the close-up of the clock on the upper left side; it had to look intricate and yet abstract. I put a lot of time into this drawing, and I'd like to do a version of it with rougher lines by not concentrating so much on the details and instead concentrating more on the overall effect.
This project was about cutting a picture from a magazine, and then finishing the "world" around it. That's why I took something from the real world, the Big Ben, and then transported it to this abstract dimension which exists in no real time. I liked to play with the idea that we could take something from the real world and then transport it to a place that can only exist in our imagination. The hardest part of this project for me was making the close-up of the clock on the upper left side; it had to look intricate and yet abstract. I put a lot of time into this drawing, and I'd like to do a version of it with rougher lines by not concentrating so much on the details and instead concentrating more on the overall effect.
Pop Art - Verbal Portrait: "The Edge"
"The Edge," guitarist of U2, is depicted in this image using words from some of the most famous songs by the band. His face is easily recognizable because of his hat, which has now become a kind of "The Edge" trademark symbol. There are two shades of pen, one for the darker lines in his face and the hat, and one for the lighter shades of the face and the facial hair. The picture is simple, yet that simplicity is made to look complicated by the fact that his face is actually depicted using words. The words used are in fact lyrics from the songs "Where the Streets Have No Name," "Sunday Bloody Sunday," and "Stuck in a Moment," all by U2.
This drawing was made by using a picture of the Edge, then drawing the darkest part with pencil, and finally going over those lines and filling the spaces with pen. The pencil was later erased, giving the feeling that the portrait was in fact made by written words from the beginning. Making this project was pretty straightforward, it was simple and fast. Yet there is some complexity in the idea behind the project, mixing both word and drawing. Hence, the words chosen to depict the face had to be of some meaning to that person. If the musician made the songs, do the songs make the musician?
This drawing was made by using a picture of the Edge, then drawing the darkest part with pencil, and finally going over those lines and filling the spaces with pen. The pencil was later erased, giving the feeling that the portrait was in fact made by written words from the beginning. Making this project was pretty straightforward, it was simple and fast. Yet there is some complexity in the idea behind the project, mixing both word and drawing. Hence, the words chosen to depict the face had to be of some meaning to that person. If the musician made the songs, do the songs make the musician?
10th Grade Sketches
Sergio E. 10D