cut paper

1/2 Project

             

Describe

This piece is monochrome (red), depicting a scene from Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera". The medium of the piece is watercolor, and it is shaded using layering of the paint, creating the monochrome look while still retaining the depth of a shaded piece. In the forground is Erik (The Phantom), crying and looking really upset, yet crazed. In the background you can see the broken chain, and the chandelier falling, along with silhouettes of Raoul and Christine.

Analyze

This piece takes place during the song "All I Ask of You" in the aforementioned musical. During this song, Christine rejects the Phantom, for her other suitor, Raoul. After this, he infamously cuts down the chandelier, which is one of the most thrilling parts of the stage show. I tried to capture all of this in my piece, from the intense emotion the Phantom is feeling to the literal events occurring during this scene. To do this, I included a chain of the chandelier breaking in the mid ground. This symbolizes both his break in sanity and the literal image of the chandelier falling. Another detail I included was the platform Raoul and Christine were standing on. As you can see, it is crumbling, almost as if the world is falling to pieces are the Phantom finally realizes his only love has rejected him in favor of someone powerful, and traditionally thought of as attractive.

Interpret
The main intention of this piece was to capture the raw emotion in this scene, as I believe that, besides the finale, it is the most effective and moving in the show. It shows the Phantom's change, from..rather morally questionable, to completely insane. I tried to convey this, mainly with the chain I mentioned earlier and his expression. The expression on his face is important, as it shows him grinning wildly, but as he does, he is crying with tears streaming down his cheeks. This was supposed to convey a very pained soul, which is what I was meant to get across with the piece as a whole.

Judge
I am very proud of this piece. I think it displays the emotions I intended well, and I am very happy with how it looks considering how I am not very experienced with watercolor. If I had to do it again, I would probably do it on watercolor paper and try to avoid some of the mistakes I made with this version (such as Raoul and Christine's shadows..I messed up a few things about them). Overall I like it a lot, but I could have tweaked a few things about it to make it better.

Airport Project (2018)

DESCRIBE
This piece is a colored pencil image of a leopard gecko, more specifically my pet Julius. It uses very soft colors from the gecko's light yellow/orange to the light purple background. As a result, the thing standing out the most is the dark spots on him. The picture is a profile shot of the lizard, allowing the viewer to see all of his facial features. 

ANALYZE 
I based this piece on a picture I took of Julius, that I particularly like. In the picture, you can see his eyes and their details rather well, which I liked. Not only that, but it was a nice profile shot of him, which allows you to nice and easily see what the picture is about and what it is. For the composition, I decided to go with this set up because it was how the reference image appeared.

INTERPRET 
The emotion I intended to create with this piece is a very happy one, using warm colors and a cute animal was how I did this. I also did this with the background, the light purple creating a soft and friendly appearance. With this piece, I meant to make viewers thing of their own pets, which I think I accomplished based on the reactions from others to it. Most people see it and have told me about their pets, whether they have a gecko or not, which is what I was hoping to accomplish.

JUDGE
I am very happy with this piece. The realism is very impressive to me, and I am very proud of my ability to capture the happy energy that I feel whenever I see Julius or any leopard gecko. They're such precious creatures and I believe that this picture demonstrates that well. If I was to do this picture again, I think I would give it a different composition to make it more interesting, maybe showing more of the gecko's body. 

value project

References:


Final project:



Describe:
For my project I chose the option that include a detailed image of a plant, the plant that I chose being a Venus Fly Trap. For my composition, I placed the two plants on either side of the canvas, one open and one closed, with leaves in the background. There is a heavy focus on shading and blending, especially in the background.

Analyze: 
This piece uses lots of balance, created by placing two plants on either side of the  canvas. I chose this over one plant in the middle because in my opinion it is a much nicer composition and it allowed me to have one open plant and one closed. The background uses a sense of pattern and unity with the leaves and the way that they are positioned, all facing towards the middle.

Interpret:
This piece has a special meaning to me because I personally really enjoy Venus Fly Traps, they are one of my favorite plants. This is also why I had one plant open and one closed, I wanted to show off how the plants work. I considered drawing an insect inside the closed one, but it didn't really work out and clashed with the composition a bit. 

Judgement:
I really enjoy how this piece came out, however, there are a few things that I would change if I could. For example, I like the concept of the background,but it didn't come out as nice as I expected. I also think I should have made the leaves a bit darker and closer to the color of the fly traps. Along with this, I feel that the open trap was not blended very well. The red part could have been better shaded and blended to look better. Overall I think this piece is very nice, although it has a few parts I could improve 

Typography Project

Describe:
This piece uses a quote from the song "The Point of No Return" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical adaptation of "The Phantom of the Opera". The quote is "The bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn, we've passed the point of no return". At the bottom, it has the credit to the quote and a drawing of the iconic mask from Phantom. The background consists of a bridge over water, which fades into the curtains of a theater halfway down the image.
Analyze:
This piece uses a heavy sense of contrast, as the quote seems to start out happy, and sounds motivational with "The bridge is crossed.." but it transitions into a red, flaming text with a red background at the bottom being stage curtains. This represents the change in tone in the quote, from hopeful to angry, and hopeless. Along with this, it uses a sense of emphasis on the word "burn"
Interpret:
This quote, especially within the context of the show and the song means that the person saying it has done something that cannot be taken back, they've already crossed that bridge and it's "passed the point of no return", hence the bridge burning. They can't go back. Within the case of the show, this is at the point where Christine has been with Erik (The Phantom) and she cannot take it back. He's
Judge:
I really like how this piece came out. It is very impressive in both variety in text and coloring. I'm really proud of the typography and shading. The word "Burn" in particular, and the curtains at the bottom are very well done in my opinion. If I had to fix one thing though, I would change the background at the top to look more detailed and less rushed. I would also probably line the "crossed" with sharpie as well.

Visual Narrative Project

References:

WORK IN PROGRESS:

DESCRIBE:
This piece is meant to be an illustration of a race between a cheetah and a falcon. The cheetah is anthropomorphic, unlike the falcon. The cheetah appears to be in front, and they are racing on a dirt road. the background is clear sky and grass behind the track. It uses soft, almost lifeless colored pencils. The cheetah is realistically colored, while the falcon is blueish-purple colored
ANALYZE:
This piece is inspired by children's stories, mainly the tortoise and the hare, for the story I portrayed with the image. It is meant to be fun and entertaining for younger viewers, with dynamic poses, an exciting story, and cool animals to keep their attention. I think this is conveyed quite well in the cartoony vibe, and soft coloring.

INTERPRET:
The story behind it was similar to the tortoise and the hare, with the cheetah thinking it could be faster than the falcon because it was larger and the falcon did not have strong legs. However, it did not realize that cheetahs do not have a lot of stamina and tire quickly, while the falcon was flying more consistently, if a bit slower. This means that the outcome of the race was the falcon winning over the cheetah.
ANALYZEJUDGE:
I am very happy overall with how this project turned out. The anatomy, posing, and overall coloring was very good and I am pleased with how it turned out. However, it was never finished and I am very unsatisfied with this. The art itself was finished but I was meaning to write a description of the story at the bottom of the piece, describing what was going on, and how the characters got to where they were in the image. The art I am very proud of, but I wish I had taken time to finish the story.

Human Figure Project

(I do not have any pictures of my piece because it was hung in the hallway before I could get a picture)

References:



Describe:
For this project, I used colored pencils to create it. It is a figure of a human-like crane flying, posed as if she is dancing or performing a show. The background is meant to portray a Japanese setting, as that is what the species of crane I used for this project. It is a mountain in the distance, with a clear sky and field.

Analyze:
In this piece I tried to convey a feeling of both movement and peacefulness. It is meant to be serene, yet still show posing and movement in it. I think the was accomplished, as you can tell the image is conveying movement, though a lot also points to the calmness and happiness in the setting. The bird looks calm, and the setting helps show a peaceful world.

Interpret:
This piece symbolizes the tranquil and calmness often associated with Japan's natural landscapes and the crane itself. It is meant to show beauty and grace in nature, with the appearance of a human to create a more visually interesting and dynamic piece. Since we had to do a human form, but I still wanted to go with this theme, I figured it would be much more interesting, visually, to use a crane (an animal known to be graceful and majestic) to convey this message.

Judgement:
I really like how this piece came out. The crane itself looks very nice and proportioned, with the pose looking natural and correct. I also like how the coloring came out, it was very even and didn't look streaky at all (I think I am improving with colored pencils). However, I don't like how the background looked. It was extremely rushed, and I wish I had worked on it more, making it look more interesting. If I could redo the background, I would probably add a river and some detail to the mountain. Overall, if I had worked on the background, I would have been fully proud of this piece, but as it is, I only like part of it.

Donation Piece- "Leopard Gecko"

References:






In progress:


Final Piece:




Describe:

For this project, I created an image of a leopard gecko climbing down a shelf of multi colored rocks. I used colored pencils, layering them over each other to create the effect of the shining stones. The gecko itself also contains lots of layering and blending. This helped  me more accurately create the natural yellow/orange effect that the gecko's scales create. The gecko appears to be walking down a wall of rocks, but judging by the color of them, compared to a leopard gecko's natural habitat, this picture likely takes place within a gecko's terrarium.

Analyze: 

I mainly tried to go for a picture that very heavily used the unique movement of a gecko as it's focus. You can almost see the lizard crawling down the rocks, especially with how it's tail is swaying as well. Another principle of design used in this piece is emphasis. The gecko is very light, and while the rocks in the background have color, they are mostly dark, which actually allowed me to use almost no lines on the outline of the gecko. You can see it's form without them because of the contrast and emphasis on the lizard. As you can see from my references, I took heavy inspiration from the one with the rocky background. Also, you may not have noticed (I doubt you are a leopard gecko expert) that the lizards in my references are not normal leopard geckos. (normal and wild geckos look like this ). They are a specific morph, or breed, of gecko. While still a leopard gecko, the morph is called "Tangerine" and is personally my favorite gecko morph.

Interpret:

This piece was created while I was setting up a leopard gecko enclosure in my house. I was very excited to soon have such a wonderful pet, and used this as inspiration for my donation piece. The piece is meant to show the unique charm and nature of this curious gecko. It stands out because it shows that a lizard, though not a traditional pet, can be cute too. I really like this aspect of it because it means a lot to me, a person who really loves reptiles.

Judgement:

I really like how this piece came out. It was extremely helpful practice for blending colored pencils, creating textures, and overall learning the anatomy of a rather strangely built animal. The biggest challenge for me was the texture and shape of the gecko itself. I wanted to give the illusion that the lizard was climbing down, towards the viewer. To do this, I needed to recreate the side to side motion of a lizard walking, and correctly build it's anatomy. I think I succeeded at both of these things. The only thing I didn't really like the look of in this project is the background. The yellow stones to be specific. They have a little too much yellow and stand out from the other, more black stones. If I did this piece again, I would not have as much yellow in the background. Overall, I was very happy with this piece.