Independent Project
For my independent project this quarter I drew a kinda crazy piece. It has church decorations and stained glass, clocks, Greek & Roman style statues, Alice in Wonderland inspired imagery and classic Americana tattoos. This piece incorporates lots of juxtaposition and avant-garde ideas. The style includes prominent outlines and fairly primary colors that are a bit muted. I also drew it without shadows between the objects because I did not want it to look like a stage set or something that actually existed with light shining on it. I wanted it to just be ideas floating around in thought, not real.
I made this piece in my sketchbook with ink and markers. I started with a pencil outline of the clocks, statues, wings and other details. Then I inked the outlines with Copic fine tip ink pens. I like using outlines in a lot of my art, I think they have a nice aesthetic. After inking, I used Prismacolor and Artist Loft alcohol ink markers to color it in. This part was the most fun and also the most stressful. I used color for the base layer of marker on the hat, stained glass, tattoos, wings and clocks and other smaller details and then I went over almost all of it with grayscale markers to mute the colors. I also used the grayscale for all the stone in the background and statues. Lastly, I added some highlights with a white ink pen.
Almost all the art I make is inspired by my ideas and thoughts and all the stuff floating around in my brain. It’s also heavily inspired by philosophy, the music I listen to and the artists I look up to such as Emerson Barrett. In my art I like to make people think. I like to have people take something away from the art they see. That’s one reason I have a lot of juxtaposition in my work. In this piece, I like the combination of the pure, classic Greek statue with the Americana inspired tattoos. Tattoos have a weird reception and are viewed differently depending on the style, location and person. But a lot of tattoos, especially Americana style tattoos (classic tattoos with eagles, roses, diamonds, knives, hearts etc,) are looked down upon and considered adulterated and distasteful. I think the combination of something considered so abhorrent with the imagery of a “perfect” statue is pretty cool. I also included the Mad Hatter’s hat and Cheshire Cat’s smile. Alice in Wonderland is something that inspires me a lot and I love the whole “we're all mad here” concept. Another detail is the devil horns and halo in opposite sides of the paper. All the statues are headless but the horns and halo give the impression of a head and a bit of a personality. I think the concept of good and evil is interesting to play around with and it kind of goes with the tattoos on the main statue. Some of the most noticeable things in this piece are the bat wings. They are big and the darkest thing on the paper. I like the contrast that they create. The bat wings also make the biggest statue look like it's flying away. The piece also includes a clock and a pocket watch. I love drawing clocks and watches. They have a very nice aesthetic and are really fun to draw. I like to include clocks and the aspect of time in many of my drawings. The background is stone and a stained glass window that looks like it was from a church. I love architecture and it makes a very interesting backdrop. The colors in the glass are slightly muted so they don’t take away from the other drawings.
In this piece I worked a lot on drawing architecture. I love drawing buildings and all the stonework and detail. I have never really been motivated to actually take the time and use a ruler and make it look nice but I did that here. I also used a lot of color in this piece. Usually I draw in black and white ink or grayscale instead of color. It was cool to learn how to use color better and how to balance and contrast it.
I made this piece in my sketchbook with ink and markers. I started with a pencil outline of the clocks, statues, wings and other details. Then I inked the outlines with Copic fine tip ink pens. I like using outlines in a lot of my art, I think they have a nice aesthetic. After inking, I used Prismacolor and Artist Loft alcohol ink markers to color it in. This part was the most fun and also the most stressful. I used color for the base layer of marker on the hat, stained glass, tattoos, wings and clocks and other smaller details and then I went over almost all of it with grayscale markers to mute the colors. I also used the grayscale for all the stone in the background and statues. Lastly, I added some highlights with a white ink pen.
Almost all the art I make is inspired by my ideas and thoughts and all the stuff floating around in my brain. It’s also heavily inspired by philosophy, the music I listen to and the artists I look up to such as Emerson Barrett. In my art I like to make people think. I like to have people take something away from the art they see. That’s one reason I have a lot of juxtaposition in my work. In this piece, I like the combination of the pure, classic Greek statue with the Americana inspired tattoos. Tattoos have a weird reception and are viewed differently depending on the style, location and person. But a lot of tattoos, especially Americana style tattoos (classic tattoos with eagles, roses, diamonds, knives, hearts etc,) are looked down upon and considered adulterated and distasteful. I think the combination of something considered so abhorrent with the imagery of a “perfect” statue is pretty cool. I also included the Mad Hatter’s hat and Cheshire Cat’s smile. Alice in Wonderland is something that inspires me a lot and I love the whole “we're all mad here” concept. Another detail is the devil horns and halo in opposite sides of the paper. All the statues are headless but the horns and halo give the impression of a head and a bit of a personality. I think the concept of good and evil is interesting to play around with and it kind of goes with the tattoos on the main statue. Some of the most noticeable things in this piece are the bat wings. They are big and the darkest thing on the paper. I like the contrast that they create. The bat wings also make the biggest statue look like it's flying away. The piece also includes a clock and a pocket watch. I love drawing clocks and watches. They have a very nice aesthetic and are really fun to draw. I like to include clocks and the aspect of time in many of my drawings. The background is stone and a stained glass window that looks like it was from a church. I love architecture and it makes a very interesting backdrop. The colors in the glass are slightly muted so they don’t take away from the other drawings.
In this piece I worked a lot on drawing architecture. I love drawing buildings and all the stonework and detail. I have never really been motivated to actually take the time and use a ruler and make it look nice but I did that here. I also used a lot of color in this piece. Usually I draw in black and white ink or grayscale instead of color. It was cool to learn how to use color better and how to balance and contrast it.
I am honestly really proud of this drawing. It’s kind of a representation on what goes on in my brain every day. It has so many little things that make me happy. I spent 3 or 4 days on this drawing and I worked really hard on it. I had a great time drawing it.
Masterwork
For my masterwork I recreated Make Art Not War by Shepard Fairey. It is a very famous piece that resembles an old fashioned rock & roll style poster. The basic color scheme is red, off-white and black. The original picture features a woman's face and two paint brushes. I made 4 versions, each with a different face and symbol. The people I chose are some of artists who have inspired me: Gerard way, Kurt Cobain, Patty Walters and Emerson Barrett.
I made this project with paint and ink, however, the original was screen printed. I started by sketching the lettering in my sketchbook and painting the cardboard canvases red and white. Then I transferred the lettering onto the cardboard with carbon transfer paper. After that I filled in the letters with black and white paint. When I was halfway through the lettering I realized how dumb it was to use black paint instead of a sharpie or ink pen because you have more control over a marker. After spending several art classes on the letters I moved on to the faces. This was the hardest part. Drawing people is very hard and it is even harder drawing them in a specific style. I had never drawn anything in a style with just the shadow and only two values. This was the most fun part because it was something different. Drawing the background on them was very boring because it was so time consuming and I had to paint the exact same thing 4 times. I started the faces with a Winsor Newton charcoal pencil and then inked the shadows with Micron pens and a Pigma brush pen. I made a mistake and drew the faces before I realized I had to paint the faces white but it worked out because then I could paint over the charcoal that didn’t erase very well. After the faces I added the smaller details. In the original, there are two paint brushes in the bottom but I wanted mine to fit with the artists. For Gerard Way, I stuck with the paint brushes. Gerard is a comic book writer and illustrator and visual artist in addition to singing and playing guitar. On his instagram there are some pictures with his floor in the background and the floor is always covered in paint. This inspired the paint brushes. For Kurt Cobain, I drew microphones instead of brushes. Cobain was the singer in Nirvana and also a visual artist but he is not well known for that. Patty Walters is the lead vocalist in As It Is and plays guitar in a band called Crazy 88. He writes some pretty amazing lyrics and I associate him with writing so I drew pencils on his. Lastly, Emerson Barrett is the drummer in Palaye Royale and an incredible visual artist. I chose to draw drumsticks on his though, he is most well known for his band and I wanted to represent both visual and musical art in the project. The last two2 things to add were the background and the seal at the bottom. The background is a flowery design and lots of small lines around the head. This design was slightly tedious and hard to measure out because it had to be uniform and even but I think it turned out pretty well. The last thing I did was draw the circle in the bottom. It has more flowers, a peace sign and a star in it. On the original, the star has Fairey’s “Obey” logo in it but on mine I put my own logo, the letter e and a ghost, in it.
I made this project with paint and ink, however, the original was screen printed. I started by sketching the lettering in my sketchbook and painting the cardboard canvases red and white. Then I transferred the lettering onto the cardboard with carbon transfer paper. After that I filled in the letters with black and white paint. When I was halfway through the lettering I realized how dumb it was to use black paint instead of a sharpie or ink pen because you have more control over a marker. After spending several art classes on the letters I moved on to the faces. This was the hardest part. Drawing people is very hard and it is even harder drawing them in a specific style. I had never drawn anything in a style with just the shadow and only two values. This was the most fun part because it was something different. Drawing the background on them was very boring because it was so time consuming and I had to paint the exact same thing 4 times. I started the faces with a Winsor Newton charcoal pencil and then inked the shadows with Micron pens and a Pigma brush pen. I made a mistake and drew the faces before I realized I had to paint the faces white but it worked out because then I could paint over the charcoal that didn’t erase very well. After the faces I added the smaller details. In the original, there are two paint brushes in the bottom but I wanted mine to fit with the artists. For Gerard Way, I stuck with the paint brushes. Gerard is a comic book writer and illustrator and visual artist in addition to singing and playing guitar. On his instagram there are some pictures with his floor in the background and the floor is always covered in paint. This inspired the paint brushes. For Kurt Cobain, I drew microphones instead of brushes. Cobain was the singer in Nirvana and also a visual artist but he is not well known for that. Patty Walters is the lead vocalist in As It Is and plays guitar in a band called Crazy 88. He writes some pretty amazing lyrics and I associate him with writing so I drew pencils on his. Lastly, Emerson Barrett is the drummer in Palaye Royale and an incredible visual artist. I chose to draw drumsticks on his though, he is most well known for his band and I wanted to represent both visual and musical art in the project. The last two2 things to add were the background and the seal at the bottom. The background is a flowery design and lots of small lines around the head. This design was slightly tedious and hard to measure out because it had to be uniform and even but I think it turned out pretty well. The last thing I did was draw the circle in the bottom. It has more flowers, a peace sign and a star in it. On the original, the star has Fairey’s “Obey” logo in it but on mine I put my own logo, the letter e and a ghost, in it.
I made this project to get better at painting in general and drawing humans. It was also a bit of a tribute to some of the artist who have inspired me and taught me about life. The “Make Art Not War” idea is something that I have seen a lot in punk culture and it’s something that means something to me. I love the way the poster looks and it was something that I felt good about making. I feel like the conflicts about war are kind of pertinent in today’s world and art is a big part of that. Artists are incredibly influential and big in the politics world. The artists I chose are not hugely political but they all have ideologies that I feel fit the big idea of this project.
In this project I learned a bit about paint and how to get better at painting. I learned a lot about shadow and facial structure. That was very interesting and will help me out a lot in the future. I learned about doing a long project and time management because this project took more than 30 hours. It was a wild ride and Ii’m glad it’s over because I spent the past month eating, breathing, drinking, living this project but it was worth it and Ii’m really happy with how it turned out.