Self Portrait

Description

This is my self portrait. I used regular pencil for the drawing of me and then used prismacolor for the butterflies and the background. I chose to do myself in pencil and the butterflies in color because I wanted them to pop and I think it worked out.

Analysis

The piece actually turned out quite different from what I had planned, because I made myself too big and didn't leave too much room for all the butterflies I planned to do- I wanted to do a bunch at the bottom of it but it didn't work out that way. I am happy, though, with how it turned out and I like it a lot. I tried to arrange the piece in an aesthetically pleasing way and I made every butterfly different.

Interpretation

I would say the piece makes me feel just happy and free- because of the butterflies. It doesn't really symbolize anything specifically so I am leaving it up the viewer to interpret it how they like. But I think butterflies can symbolize change and starting anew. It reminds me of the new live action Cinderella because she has butterflies on her dress.

Judgment or Evaluation

I think some of the things that I could have done better were make the background more smooth or make it match it better. I also would have done more shading on the face. In real life it looks better and my face looks less white but on the picture it looks like I did no shading. I think this is the best drawing of  person I have ever done and I love the hair. I practiced a while to get the technique down. I love the butterflies- I think they turned out very well. I'd also say my piece is pretty original. I don't think anyone did anything like this.

Practice facial features

We are learning how to draw faces so these are my practice drawings before I do my self portrait. First are my eyes, then my nose and mouth. Then we learned about the facial proportions so I did an entire face! I like the eyes a lot (first picture) and my entire face looks alright, but one eye is bigger than the other and it really bothers me. So for my self portrait I will be very careful when starting out so I don't make any mistakes like that. But I've loved learning how to do this because I've never been good at it!

Opacity

1. Describe the craftsmanship of your drawing? (Is it neat and well executed?)
I think I did a pretty well job with making this drawing look like the picture and to me, it looks pretty neat.

2. Describe how your background choices help unify the three artworks and tie them together as one piece of art.

3. Describe your choice of colors/color harmonies and how you used them throughout the artwork.
I chose colors to match the picture but also with prismas you can add different colors and blend them together so I tried to do that a little bit, like have different shades of similar colors.
4. How did you create contrast in your drawing?
I created contrast in my drawing by using lights and darks and replicating the shadowing and light in the picture
5. How did you use textures, highlights, and shadows to enhance your artwork?
I tried to capture some of the texture of the fruit in the picture and highlight the lights of the back the fruit was in
6.Why did you choose a particular background color to mount your work?
My background was basically the complete opposite of the background in the picture, but I wanted to do something different. I chose a light background instead of a dark background.
7. Discuss the importance of understanding the media (prisma or pastels) and acquiring the skills necessary to create a successful project.
It was important for me to understand how to use prisma colored pencils so that I could understand what I needed to do to make the piece realistic
8. Describe any difficulties you had creating your drawing and what you could do to improve your drawing.
I had some difficulty making the bag look transparent but I think in the end I did a pretty good job with it