01
Hand Study
For this project I was inspired by both Michelangelo's and Deviant user greyfin. Michelangelo because I love how messy he got with his sketches and studies. I think it allowed him to focus on the art and learning without getting caught up in small details. He also got very dark values which I sometimes struggle to do tastefully in my own art. I was inspired by greyfin because of their composition and how much they stylized it. If I were to do this again I would have some of the hands overlap partially and try to get more realistic shading. I would also like to practice more with hands holding props. During this process I started by heavily applying shadow everywhere this ended up backfiring a bit and so I had to go back to tone it down. I think this was necessary though because it made me more aware of the how dark the shadows were making it more realistic in the long run.
02
Story Inspired
For this project my master artist was Dave Mckean I was especially inspired by the cover he illustrated for the novel Coraline. My current artist was Salman Toor, I feel that he expresses the same energy of the main character In crime and punishment Romanovich Raskolnikov. When making this piece I wanted to maintain a yellow hue so instead of using a skin tone I am more accustomed to working with I used mainly yellow lightening it with white. There are many things I would change if I were to do this over again. I think the black background takes away a lot from the cramped and paranoid feeling I tried to achieve. The book is centered around an impoverished man killing a woman to rob her and his following dissent into madness as he begins hearing and seeing things. I wish I had stuck with my original idea for having a very patterned and outlandish background to represent that mental state.
03
Storyboard
If I were to do this piece over again I would choose a different medium or practice more with markers. I think this scene would have looked much better colored digitally although I do like how the story flows. For my current artist I was inspired by James Duppen from my fourth period art class. I admire his storytelling abilities as well as his rubber hose style that still leaves room for ample character design. My master artist was Joseph Barbera, a storyboard artist who is known for Scooby Doo, Where are you? and worked on many other popular cartoons including Yogi-Bear. His work is very sketch like without a lot of the polish other storyboard artists usually have, allowing for more creative freedom.
(My full storyboard is in the classroom I caught Covid before I was able to take a picture of it or James Duppen's work)
04
Little Cat
I completed this painting in one sleepless night. I had been ten days cigarette free with the help of an intensive outpatient program. A woman and her daughter had picked this unknown kitten up gently with a towel off the side of the highway that morning. They did not know that he was my Fran they knew only that some family's cat wouldn't be coming home. He died on the way to the vet but they took him anyway, bundling him up in white cloth and placing him in a small box the perfect size for a casket. They placed delicate flowers into a small bouquet and we picked him up in the evening. I couldn't stop shrieking or get out of bed or sleep at night. And so I painted the small stupid cat who had kept me alive for many months when I didn't want to be and thanked him for coming into my life. The reference photos were from a different breakdown and a cat who still slept in my bed and attacked my feet in the morning. I am better now but I will never forget that stupid little cat.
05
Portrait of an Old Man Practice
If I were to do this piece over again I would render the hair and try to add more imperfections to the skin as well as texture to the shirt. This was my first finished piece with my artist's tablet that I got for my birthday and I think I learned a lot about shading from it.
06
I Come Bac k in Dreams
This watercolor piece is about my attachment to houses as someone who had a traumatic childhood. I feel very attached to houses as landmarks of things that were happening while they were a part of my life. For me my childhood homes are a way for me to look back in time at the kid I once was as someone out of that situation. I was small then and didn't understand what was happening, I was invalidated and abandoned but by revisiting these walls that carry so much pain I am able to give that girl the care and recognition she deserved. While this is partially uplifting it also feels debilitating as if I have scattered parts of myself throughout childhood homes forever tying me down and leaving me incomplete, only able to come back in fits of nostalgia.
07
Portrait of a Freak
I like the term freak. So many people after learning the name of this piece have gave me sympathetic looks and have tried to "change my mind" about what they perceive to be insecurity. The truth is I chose to look the way I do knowing I'll be seen differently because of it and doing it regardless. In the same way people have looked into the title as a reclamation or a key to understanding a deeper part of me the actual explanation to how I dress and the name of this piece is much simpler. I think it's fun. People need to do more things just because they're fun.
