What I wanted was this character that is set in this world that has many things going on

In it, he takes on problems that can be true in real life many

For my art, I had a vision of this character living in this game world fighting as a TMS operative.

In this TMS Is a coalition group that Is fighting a revealing faction named the local people’s unite.

The LPU is government resource unit focused on control of the economic flow to the local

Residents of the nation,

In the year 2040 laws are passed that all 85% food and water will be reduced

For 15 years Residents of the nation are suffering from lack of basic needs, the united nations are

Put into action. For the next few years, the UN deploy a chain of spokesmen, community leaders,

And private protection units out to help.

The year 2078 UN staff are being murdered and prosecution from the native government

Leads to The UN on an attack with their small coalition.

For my portrait assignment, I decided to focus on something that I feel has had one of the biggest impacts on my life which is the environment that my brother and I grew up in. The point of the picture is to show how close me and my brother were and show that even though we were raised in the same environment, we were in two completely different worlds. So ultimately, the portrait is supposed to depict two pictures in one, in a sense. The drawings of street signs and guns on my brother’s half of the picture is supposed to represent the negativity that he was brought up around while I have sunshine and A plus symbols on my to represent how much positivity my childhood consisted of. Both sides of the split line have love and money symbols which were placed with intentions to get across that we received the same amount of money and love so there was no reason for him to get involved with half of the things that he did. Two of the most important things in the portrait are the figures above our head which represent our mother and his father. My mother is split down the middle because she had to be a parent for both of us while, there if a male figure placed on my brother’s side but not mine because he had a father figure growing up, I did not.

For this assignment, I only chose to use pencil for my materials because I didn’t want to get caught up in figuring out how to make certain things stand out with color. I used different types of pencils for shading and making some lines darker than others and other lines lighter. I had some experience with these techniques in another art class I took a few years prior to this one. I wasn’t able to find the name of the artist but, I found a drawing of a treehouse which to me, represents childhood. The artist seemed to include a bunch of different lines and shading techniques just as I did in my portrait. The artist also incorporated some symbolism into his/her portrait with the flag that has some type of symbol on the right side of the picture. After looking at my portrait and the one I found online, I am able to see how important your pencil technique is when it comes to how you draw your lines and how dark or light you make them. The definition of the line can help things stand out in a picture or, it can help balance your picture. I definitely got to play around with this technique a bit during this assignment and when I received some feedback on how to make my picture more balance, I saw how making a line darker can make such a big difference.

I don’t exactly consider myself an artistic person. I usually dislike anything I create because I can never put what’s in my head on the paper. So, I’m just really proud that I stuck with my first mind and went through with my first draft rather than choosing something different to draw each checkpoint but, if i could do anything different, i’d try to work on the pencil technique a bit more because I witnessed how small changes made such an impact on my drawing. I would have to say that has to be the most important thing I learned during this project. At first, I chose pencil for my only material because I figured it to be an easy way out but, as I started exploring I realized how much of an impact something so simple as a pencil could have.

So, my portrait represents my family as a whole when it was the best time and together. So, on my picture I made my mom, dad, and sister this was to show how good of a family we were but, still had some problems. So, I made it seem like we were a nice and peaceful family like the old days and had it so we were in a park having fun because that is what my sister always wanted to do. In this art work I wanted it to represent my family and how good it was and how the sun was shining and also the bad times by have two colored skies and gray clouds. For this art work I used a lot of materials well just color pencils and then when I used a blue color pencil to make different shades and also I used gray and mad different shades I used each color pencil in a detailed way and also pencil which I used to outline. This only related to my work by how it symbols my living situation but, the other I used different materials and had fun. Vincent Van Gogh makes self portraits and has done crazy things for the people he loved so that’s why I did. I learned a new technique in art called shading along with my outline and it was the best thing to use in this artwork. I am most proud of my use of color and different shades because I think it was well done and fits great in my portrait. If I could change one thing I would change the clouds because maybe I should have kept them white to resemble more happiness in the portrait.

I made a visual representation of myself that is completely immersed in African culture. This would be the reason why I have a book of African history, the kinara ( candleholder ) with the candles, as well as the crown since we derived from kings and queens.I want to communicate that I didn’t forget about my african history or lineage and that’s why i drew some prominent themes.The tools that I used was a pencil to sketch the drawing, a eraser to remove mistakes, micron pens to outline the whole drawing & color pencils and markers to color the rest of my drawing. I don’t think this really relate to any of my previous work because I never did work on that represented the  African culture before and that’s the reason why I did this. So when I was creating this, I  thought it was unique because I was working on something that I had information on and then I decided to make an alternative version of myself, indulging in African culture and holidays because I actually appreciated and respected them. That’s when everything went well for me because everything flowed from me sketching the drawing to coloring it,so my process was really simple and easy.

I didn’t have an artist that had inspired me to draw this piece and I really didn’t search the internet for ideas. I just knew what I wanted to draw, so I drew it. The only technique that i liked was adding texture to the hair for the drawing because once I colored over it, it made the hair look better to me. I didn’t really learn any new technique because I didn’t do anything different. I’m proud of the end result of the project because it looks really good to me and it just pops and stands out from the rest so I really like it. I actually don’t think I would change anything about this because i really just love the image as a whole, so i don’t want to change it at all.In conclusion, I learned that i still have a passion for African culture even though it had been years since I last indulged in this kind of things.

My art is located in space where a NASA rocket cruises around the earth with a cat who has a headset, spouting music, driving it. What I want for people is to identify me, through this drawing. The setting where the drawing takes place is in space with a rocket ship surrounding the earth, which is my dream for when I grow up. The NASA logo represents where I want to work. The cat represents my search for curiosity. Finally the headset he is wearing and the piano looking thrusters at the end of the rocket represents my love for music and dubstep. For the drawing, I used simple tools which included: a pencil, an eraser, a black charcoal pencil and a grey charcoal pencil as well as some colored pencils (yellow, red, orange, blue, light blue, and brown). Every material except the charcoal pencils where used to draw the entire drawing. As for the charcoal pencils, they were used to make the drawing have an “accent” as well as a smoke and steel tone on the rocket. As a whole, I have never worked with charcoal materials until now, because they seemed too messy and add too much “accent” to drawings. As for the style of drawing, I have done “toony themes” before as well as drawings involving rockets.

Relating to my past work, this is definitely not my best, however, I can say this is the most “toony” I have done. While doing the drawing I always thought in my mind, what else, what could I add that related to me and the drawing. Every step I added new stuff and almost every detail in the drawing means something (ex. The cat meaning me, and the headset- the music I  like, as mentioned earlier). With this work and any artwork I do- I never get work from “popular artist” instead I go for the media and get motivated from 3 or more drawings of others to make my own. In this drawing, I used at least 4 different separate artworks of rockets to make my own. While doing this I used circle techniques which involved over tracing circles and other shape techniques which involved sketch work. Something new I learned while doing this project was how to draw with charcoal pencils and how not to be “messy” with them. While doing this I was proud of being able to draw a “visually appealing” cat since I really don’t go well with animals. If I could change one thing about this project, it would either be the white background (since space isn't white) or the stars (which some looked funky). In the end, I really liked the project and my artwork as it displays me and who I am.

Dexter Le

10/16/17

Art 1

Artist statement portrait

My picture is complicated because of the colors in the scenery and the grasses. The scenery is vibrant with many colors, using Crayola colored pencils. The grasses stand out with a usage of ebony Prismacolor pencils, contrasting the green hills. The dark tree is to the left of the canvas; almost black. The dark sun that seems to only be absorbing the energy at the top right. The house in the middle, colored brightly for the reader to visually understand the meaning of home.

During Hurricane Harvey, a similar experience took place when the harsh raining nearly made visibility in front of me, impossible. However, I was able to see the forming rivers on my street, filling up slowly as if it were growing; a monstrous but illustrious experience.The hills are colored green. They could be seen for miles as the green stands out. The skies are lightful and they seem to like it’s glowing. The viewer would instantly know that the hills are green, and the skies were blue. Yet in the back, rests humanoid figures. Standing on top of the hill, behind the colorful skies, a story begins to play. I’ve made this story through Crayola colored pencils, graphite pencils, ebony Prismacolor pencils, and an eraser. I trace the canvas precisely with my pencil, so the viewer would understand that every line I carved into the paper; have to mean. Colors had to mean in my portrait. The green is supposed to symbolize the life in the world, the dark grasses to symbolize the dark. I used this technique, of coloring in lightly then tampering it with darker colors so that the objects of the canvas stood out to the viewer.

After analyzing a lot of painters, I’ve found a way to make the artist’s message stand out more. This technique consisted of doing very light strokes and using heavy strokes every so often; this was not perfected. I’ve gradually learned through trial and error. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, such as directing the attention to the side with lighter colors or making the sky way too dark. I’ve gone through many improvisations along the way. I’ve decided to continue this drawing style, darkening the foreground and light backgrounds, because of my experiences that I’ve witnessed through Hurricane Harvey; fully dedicated to the event. I wasn’t able to see outside due to the heavy rain yet the flooded streets stood out entirely. Almost as if it were a flowing river. I’ve decided to maintain that drawing style because it gave me more freedom to manually express myself. The color changes in the portrait give it a special theme. It looks bright at first until you start staring even more. An almost eerie sensation reveals later on as you continue the stare. Many questions begin to form as you continue, however, this is one of the many benefits; I love the drawing technique that I created during the process of this portrait. It allowed me to precisely trace my lines on the canvas and ability to color in easily.

I started my portrait off with coloring the background and foreground lightly. After that, I used a slightly darker color to fill in the foreground. I proceeded with minor details using a dark pencil to make the grass, the flowers, and the tree stand out. It develops contrast when comparing it to the light backgrounds because the ebony Prismacolor pencils are extremely dark. Making the correct marks on the portrait, I begin merging the light colors with the dark. I did this by rubbing my fingers on the portrait, smudging the dark colors with the light colors. Finally, I went back into my portrait to highlight the background by using a yellow color pencil. The yellow colored pencil easily contrasted with the blue skies. The technique of an art piece is extremely crucial to the artist. It allows the observer, the viewer, to understand the artwork and interpret it in their own eyes. Their eyes will translate your picture, your message, into something that is understandable only to them. What inspired me to the paint this way was from Darko Tolapski’s painting, Forest by the Lake. I was browsing the internet during my time in Houston, Texas, and found a painting that stood out. It was a lake that seemed to be glowing in my eyes, the foreground was nearly nonexistent. I wanted to mimic that same experience in this portrait, completely voiding the foreground and background.

If I had one thing to change about this work, I would definitely include more usage of other materials. I was having thoughts and relapses of including charcoal to signify the darkness even more, however, I thought the ebony pencil was great enough. With the changes that I would’ve wanted, I was happy overall with this work. I was able to communicate my message and my experience through a major transition in my life. I want this artwork to communicate the struggles of life. Although there is an eerie feel to the portrait, I’ve had terrifying experiences recently. I wanted the white humanoid characters to feel “pure”. Although it may look eerie, white is the color of pureness. Throughout my time this year, I want to alleviate my mental illnesses and start to smile more. I personally believe it’s better to be happy than nothing and sad.

In conclusion, this work that I had produced over a couple weeks allowed me to critically reflect on my life and experiences. It allowed me to capture the recent horrors in my life and allowed me to set positive goals. Although the goals may not be accomplished in a while, noticing weaknesses is more important than noticing the strongest points.