Final Portrait Project

In this portrait a created a visual representation of a crime scene. I used regular pencil for the outline of the whole portrait and a black sheet of paper to transfer the portrait from my sketchbook to a small sheet of paper. I included a chalk outline of dead body surrounded by bright yellow caution tape and picket signs. The picket signs read “Black Lives Matter” and “City of Brotherly Love”. I also included a police car because I felt the crime scene would be empty without it. I used color pencils to give the objects its main color and markers to trace over the different objects and bring them to life. I used a needle eraser to draw the white outline and make it look as realistic as possible. I used a black pencil to color in the ground surrounding the chalk outline. I used yellow pencil and marker as well as black marker to draw the caution tape and the headlights on the police car. I used brown pencil and marker for the handles of the pickets signs and black marker for the writing on them. I drew the police car with blue and red pencil and marker for the body, sirens, and writing on the side. I used black pencil and marker for the tires of the car.

The point of this portrait was to highlight the trend we see in today’s society where a black person is killed by a white cop and suddenly “black lives matter”. However, when a black man is killed by someone of the same color, suddenly black lives don’t matter. I included the picket sign titled “City of Brotherly Love” to contradict the black lives matter sign because I feel as though we can’t say white cops are the problem when we are out killing each other everyday.

I want this to portrait to make people reflect upon themselves and see that we need to address the core problem of black on black crime before we address the problem of police brutality.

The last I created a portrait with this much detail was when I drew a famous car from “The Great Gatsby”. Just like my current portrait, it started off as a pencil drawing and then I added color with the help of color pencils and markers and brought the drawing to life. It is a portrait I am most proud of because I put a lot of effort into it and was very satisfied with the end result. I am proud of my current project because in my opinion it makes a statement I think the whole world needs to hear.

One technique I learned while creating my portrait was the use of a needle eraser. It allowed me to create my chalk outline as neatly as possible. I feel being neat and precise is an integral part of creating art. There is honestly nothing I would change about this project because of the amount of freedom I had to create whatever I wanted. An artist by the name of Edward Rhea Hemphill inspired me to make this portrait. His work can be found at http://art.blacklivesmatter.com/blackfuturesmonth/. In conclusion, this project taught me that art really can speak to you if you listen with your eyes instead of your ears.