Colors used on Vectornator: #A7F9B7 and #74C4ED

What are some of the key elements that made you decide on the chosen composition?

I picked these objects because I felt that they represented shapes and perspectives that were both achievable and challenging at the same time. Although I was scared to tackle the drawing of the flowers, I wanted to challenge myself outside of my comfort zone.

What is the focal point of your piece?

The focal point of my piece was the elevated bowl-like object that had a candle resting in it. These elements make up the focal point largely because they are more in the foreground of the still life than any of the other objects.

What were some of the techniques you used to make the objects look 3 dimensional and how do you feel you were successful in achieving this?

I tried to make the back of the box clear so it looked more like a rectangular prism than just a rectangle. I also thickened some of the lines to give off a more 3-dimensional look.

What were some of the main challenges you had when working on the piece?

I found it difficult to maintain the perspective of the still-life. It was always very tempting to draw the objects as if they were head-on, just because that would be the easiest to achieve.

How did you overcome these challenges?

It was always helpful to review some of the videos and lessons from previous classes to remind myself how to create perspective. I also decided to not overthink the perspective and work more off of what I was actually seeing.

What are your top 3 tips for next year’s students doing this project?

I would tell them to not worry too much about details, focus on the big picture, make sure you are happy with your perspective after the pencil drawings.

How have you grown as an artist?

I think I’ve grown in that I am so much more comfortable with shapes and perspective than I ever was before. Although I think I can continue improving, I’m happy with the progress I’ve made since the beginning of this course.

Was the journey (project) relatively easy or hard? and why?

In my opinion, the project was relatively hard just because I found myself wanting to rush the process when I just needed to take it step by step. I also kept getting caught in the details of my still life which I still wish I could change.

Which techniques did you try, and which did you feel were successful, and which were not so successful?

I tried using the rule of thirds when choosing the view I wanted to use for the skill life which I think added interesting dynamics to the drawing. I also tried to use line thickening to add perspective. This, however, did not go too well for me as when I would mess up I would just end up thickening lines too much.

How do you think you could improve on your final Still Life Contour Drawing?

To improve my final Still Life Contour Drawing I would probably blacken parts of the background to add a more dynamic perspective to the final piece. 

Presentation on the Elements and Principles of Design

You are to choose four drawings, what should your criteria for selection be? List your criteria.
1. Clarity of gesture
2. Proportions
3. Angle
4. Accuracy of pose

Why these, How did they meet the criteria
I chose these because I feel as if they capture and exaggerate the gestures the best. Although I believe my proportions were a bit off in these, I think they ended up working with the gesture. I also think that these were the ones where I best captured the pose of the model and the gesture they were making.

Reflect on your journey and your learning as you experimented with gesture drawing.
I really enjoyed gesture drawings as it simplified drawing the human body for me. Because I was forced to take my mind off of the details, I could focus on the main shape of the body and practice that effectively. I understand now that you need to understand the big picture before you can get to the details.

In what type of situation would you use gesture drawing?
I think gesture drawing would be very valuable when drawing figures that are in action poses so that you can effectively capture their movement into your drawing. This may also be helpful when you are drawing a model who is in a complicated pose/angle because you could focus on their main pose first before getting caught up in the details.

Thinking back over the lesson, what have you learnt?
I have learned a lot about how drawing the human body works and thus have also learned how the human body, particularly the spine, can move. Like I mentioned before, I also learned that when it comes to drawing movement you need to understand the big picture before you can get to into the details.

Did you learn new techniques or processes as part of the work for this project?
While working on this project, I learned how to utilize my sense of touch to better my art, particularly while blind drawing my self-portrait. I had never thought about the fact that more than just your sense of sight can help contribute to making art, so it was really valuable to expand that mindset.

Did you gain skills with familiar materials?
I had never tried sketching with a pen before, so it was interesting to see the difference in drawing with a pencil versus a pen. I was forced to put much more thought into each mark I made and made the process much more thoughtful.

Did you try something that you weren’t sure about as part of this project?
While working blind, I had to be more comfortable with trusting my senses and not worrying too much about the end product. It was nice to experience art with no pressure for it to look perfect or high expectations. It showed me a more relaxed side of art that I am excited to explore.

Did you pick a material or technique that was new or different over something that was familiar?
The material we used was pretty familiar, but the technique was not. I had never tried blind drawing so it was very exciting to explore a new method.