Well, on the 15th of September I started my whole create section with tracing the portrait. Well, we had the projector set up against a plain clean white wall and stuck the paper on it so that the actual photo reflected on it. Well, it was an easy process therefore fun. I do not know why, but I really enjoyed doing that and felt like I was doing a create job. It actually inspired me, which leads me to the next thought of mine that I actually discover one more characteristic of mine. I found out that I like tracing things. Because it was fun, I did not leave a line that was not drawn. By the way, it was done during IT class.
Then on the 17th of September, when I had an art class, the creative part started. I came up with my own ideas. I was thinking about myself and looking at my design specifications and thought about the materials i can use for my portrait. So this day was spent on some sketches in my workbook and ideas I came up with basing on my opinion as well as portraits of previous years.
Next day was the day we had Art. I prepared some numbers painted on a graph paper. The numbers were big, black and neat. The idea of painting them on a graph paper represent me that I love math. The numbers also symbolize my favor in Math class. Some others can also notice that even those numbers were very neat and even though they were not glued chronologically it looked neat anyway. I love neatness. I just can not stand dirtiness; however I do not have anything against with organization. As long as something (of me) is clean; it does not matter whether its unorganized or not. Again, I stuck those numbers on the background using a paper glue. [By the way, numbers were cut separately with a little bit of why frame.] When I put the glue on the back of the graph paper, the paint became moist and started making prints on my fingers. The consequence of that was that I was making the portrait dirty because I was touching them; however I solved the problem by using a wet cloth next to me and whipping the paint of my hand every time I dirtied them. Therefore the conflicts did not finish, I did not make enough numbers, there were very scarce from each other. As was planned, the background had to be filled with numbers; so I made some more. It was not a difficult thing to do.
On the 18th of September I also started painting my hair. The reason I painted them was that I love art and I love creating artworks. But the question was what color should I use. I could have used just black or dark brown which was the natural color of my real hair; I wanted to make it meaningful. So basing on my believes, red is craziness and black is control. And when we mix those two colors we come up with dark red, the color I like and it represents maturity to me. I, personally, want to be mature but sometimes my crazy side just takes over the control I have. That message was a media for my hair. I decided to paint my hair with a dark red but at some edges there would be more red and some areas would be covered with thick solid black color. That totally represents me. Sometimes I become so crazy but some of the time I control myself so badly that I forgot about what I really want. I just used water colors. It was a great fun process and easy.
Up to this point I was satisfied with what I have achieved but when I actually touched the face on the portrait I started the "Dark Ages".
DARK AGES
It was horrible to work on the face. First, i used soft crayons (those were chalk-like) and it actually had skin color which was a lot easier. But then I used black pen over the hair that was fallen on my face because of the wind. So writing with a black pen on a soft crayon was not a great idea, therefore I highlighted the shadowed areas on the face with the black pen. I was so displeased and felt like I should improve it somehow. It did not look real plus on the portrait I looked old. Well, then I talked to Ms. Sudra seeking for a solution. She suggested to put paint on, which sounded alright but I was not sure. The reason I was not sure was that putting paint on the crayon may solve the way it looks a little bit, but still there would be a layer under the pain. It will never go away. That bothered me, I do not know why I have this feeling that everything has to be in order and organization. I like things to look neat, but I also like when there are clean inside. Its just like my principles. In the real life, if I believe in something then I should believe that particular thing 100% and nothing else. That might be counted as one of my weaknesses; and that is also deeply related to how I am raised. Well, since I started painting I had no other way to go back and change. Ms. Sudra told me that there is a good thing about paints that you can put over and over again. It was true at the end.While painting my face, I had a hard time to come up with skin color. Whenever I came up with a skin tone that matched mine I tested them and then started using them. However I did not realize from the beginning whether I have made enough or not; so I ran out of the paint. Then, when I mixed the skin tone again. I never got a chance to come up with the same one. So to solve this problem I mixed more of those skin colors and actually made 4 different types:
- regular skin color
- darker (for shadowed areas)
- lighter (for the parts where sun was shining)
- a really dark one (for the real dark areas)
You can also see that there are baby footprints at the background.
There are photos that were taken during the photos:
Here is me satisfied with the facial part of my portraiture
So after I finished my portrait i felt like it look "naked". So I wanted to add more things and more expressions that actually told the audience who I am. So since I had the background done and the face and hair, I had to work on my neck and shirt. I had planned to put woods on the neck part which shows protection and fence at the same time. Fence because it represents that I like to be protected and safe but at the same time it also shows the countryside fence. I love countryside. The process went well and I have accomplished my plan however there were few additions such as putting dirt like facial mask on it. It was supposed to represent the nature after rain. It does not mean i like mud, but it should show that I love nature with the combination of the fence.
I was coming toward to the end my process, there was only a small part left for me to do. On the real photograph it was the shirt I was wearing or a part of my shoulder. So since I love photography I actually put some of the photos I had taken and cut them in pieces and stuck on. I had imagined something to look so cool and it was a combination of 3 photos that i took, however things didn't turn out that well. So I used sharpie to color the spaces between the shapes. It was an ok solution and my portrait looked really neat and nice.
That risk was to redo the last little bit, but how. I really wanted something unique. So as I had watched like ages ago on Art Attack I wanted to make a model of mountains. I used newspaper and a lot of glue. I rolled or smudged the newspaper and put glue on the paper so it was connected. Then I let them dry. So I got this shape of my model, then to put a paint on I needed a plain surface. So used more glue to cover the surface by tissue. Tissue was a great deal because I carry tissue all around. Maybe it is something that I really love. =] So then after it was dry I colored them green and a little bit of brown using watercolor.
I was satisfied and felt like it really represents me. Here is how my last product looks like.
You can go and take a look at it - In the hallway next to Mr. Mewbourn's room, 2nd floor, ISU school building, Mongolia, Asia, Earth.
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