WEEK SIX - A

 

THE ZANKEL SCHOLARSHIP ILLUSTRATOR

The illustrator I chose to comment on is 2011 recipient Wankel Scholar Paige Vickers. 

I chose this piece as I am drawn to the mix of realistic photos and line work and the repetition elements throughout the composition. Even though the objects seem to be floating on the white space, the illustrator creates a sense of depth with the minimizing mountains and hills that travel your eyes backward and around the scene. 

I have been trying to incorporate both analog and digital art into my work (as seen in my last two assignments using sand and printed out maps). Even though the artists only used the photographs as a smaller percentage compared to the digital drawings, it creates a strong focal point and contrast for the work. I'm not sure if I would apply for the completion at this exact moment as I am continuing to strengthen my skills still, but as I keep exploring my illustration style I would love to participate one day. 

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After completing the one-page review on the three TedTalks, I began working on the 100 Hands Assignment. I will admit, the challenge is pretty daunting but we all have to start somewhere. I had drawn some hands last semester for my sculpture class so I tried my best to use the techniques I learned from sketching for that assignment. My professor emphasized focusing on the negative space rather than the parts of the hand itself. Also, set out planes and angles to have a general idea of the directions. I started to look at my hand and began practicing on sketching out the negative space.

I created a 10 x 10" canvas and drew each hand on a separate layer larger and then minimized them to sit side by side. I started to get frustrated as I started because I was struggling with capturing the poses, but I told myself to keep moving forward as I have many more to do and hopefully, as I go on they will improve.

LANGSTON HUGHES PORTRAIT

Here is my completed portrait for the assignment. While my ideas began to skew along the way, I am happy with the final piece as I feel it represents Langston's work of his identity being from places and from the river. 

For my final piece, I went to a nearby creek and rested the paper in the water there. Even though I thought the one above worked I felt like it didn't match the poem I was inspired by. So below is my finished piece. 

WEEK FIVE - B

On Wednesday I started working on the final piece for the project. I've worked through a lot of ideas so far, but I feel like I found a unique solution to this assignment. First, I found a photo I wanted to use for his portrait. I then opened the photo in Word and lowered the opacity so I could see my tracing easier. I then printed out a few copies of the photo to work with. 

 

From there I began drawing over the images trying to find identifying lines and shapes for the stencil. I referred back to the video I shared in the previous post to see the best way to block out his features so he is still recognizable. After tracing with a pencil I then used a sharpie to color in the areas completely so I had a more clear visual before I began cutting.

     

I then worked with an exacto knife cutting out the image so I had a stencil to then trace over the map before cutting my map.

I'm glad I did a test run before cutting the map because there were some parts that didn't appear the way I had hoped. For the map piece, I want to make sure I adjust the mouth and the eye to the left. They filled into much and are not as clear as I wanted them to be. Also, the center of the shirt is completely detached from the neck so I want to make sure I leave some connection around his chin and or shoulder. 

I used the practice stencil to then trace onto the back of the map. I positioned him a little over to the side to add a little bit of visual weight to the composition. I used only a pencil for this step as I didn't want anything to show through the map side. 

     

Here I have a small section of the final cutout. I think it is coming along well. I'm thinking of doing two submissions for the assignment as I have two ideas for the background to lay the stencil on. 

 

 

WEEK FIVE - A

 On Monday I met with Professor Mata over zoom to work through more of my ideas. I have a handful of directions but I am not sure of the medium I want to use. During our meeting, she showed me a photo of a collage piece she made using a mix of mediums and techniques. Her piece uses both digital elements and found objects. We also spoke about me using maps and bringing them into a digital space or then drawing directly on them. 

I enjoy the map idea as I love the visual interest they have from both far away and up close. I am not sure yet if I want to draw on the map directly then or how I will illustrate the portrait.

I was hoping to find physical maps that were slightly aged, but the local craft store I go to isn't open because of COVID so I had to think of another idea. I could do this digitally, but I really want to manipulate the physical paper in some way. I began Googling maps and remembered AAA has maps and wondered if they had anything available to download. I found a search bar and looked for Mississipi maps as Langston Hughes speaks of the Mississipi River in his poem. 

https://www.aaa.com/mapgallery/

I found the two maps and printed them out in full color to use. I think I am going to use the second one (Jackson Ville) as I was able to print it out the largest without losing the resolution. Langston speaks of the rivers being apart of his identity and I want that message to still resonate with this piece. I began to think of other ways of using the paper rather than drawing it and I began to think about cutting into the map and using the negative space to make the image. 

I began researching into portraits using extoc-knives and I found stencil portraits which are used by graffiti artists. I found a video tutorial here on how to make one.

These stenciled outlines are the style I was looking for with making a realistic image but without needed full value. I am going to start by drawing out the stencil image.

WEEK FOUR - B

I began sketching out my ideas. I referred back to my Pinterest board and found some photos of Langston Hughs on Google. Here are some of the photos I used from my sketches. 

I like my original idea of using the pen and water, but I want to keep thinking and not cling to my first thought. I want to incorporate the sense of water but possibly also the location he speaks of. My sketches are rough but it helped me begin to think more of ideas, possibly incorporating all the techniques? I'm going to continue working on the ideas and sketches over the weekend. 

WEEK FOUR - A

Today we began our next project: A Portrait of a Poet. For this assignment, we are to illustrate a portrait of poet Langston Hughes. We are not to do a straightforward image of his face, but rather to look at the writer’s habits, work, and use writing imagery to illustrate him. 

I wasn't really sure what way to illustrate a portrait creatively besides using a unique material like I did for my sandman. On the page about the assignment, Professor Mata shares Ana Santos an illustrator that should visit to see some unique narrative with portraits. After viewing some of her work on Pinterest I got a clearer understanding of how to incorporate imagery and narrative into a portrait. I created a Pinterest board of some portrait examples and other images I could refer back too.

https://pin.it/3IxD4Lo

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I first had to begin with the research and collect more information on Langston Hughes' work and historical importance. I watched this short biography video on him to start.

https://www.biography.com/video/langston-hughes-mini-biography-2174109638

I took a few notes from the video as followed:

• Leading voice in Harlem Renaissance
• Shared the dignity and beauty of black lives
• Wrote of being lonely (moved around) 
• The Negro Speaks of Rivers most popular poem
• Coalbed with musicians, jazz & blues
• Promoted other young writers. 

I wanted to learn more about his popular poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers, so I searched online for the full text and an explanation of the poem. 

Here is the full poem:

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

BY LANGSTON HUGHES

I’ve known rivers:

I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:

Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44428/the-negro-speaks-of-rivers

I found some information on the poem and some other of his poems on the same website. Here is what the website shared about The Negro Speaks of Rivers.

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers”
Hughes wrote this poem, one of his best known and most celebrated, on the back of an envelope when he just 17 years old. As he recounts in his autobiography The Big Sea, he was traveling to visit his father when his train crossed the Mississippi, and he “began to think what that river … meant to Negroes in the past.” In the poem, the river offers both pain and the possibility of identity: it connects Hughes not only to the history of slavery but also to a much greater African American ancestry—one that he can trace back, along a series of rivers, to the very cradle of civilization. This short composition introduces many of his enduring themes, and it brought him onto the national stage when it was published by W.E.B. Du Bois in the Crisis.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/88972/langston-hughes-101

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After my research, I started to reflect on all of the information I collected. I looked back at Ana Santos' work so see if I could find a direction after knowing more about Langston Hughes. Ana uses watercolor to create her portraits and I started to think about water and using that as one of my mediums and then transitioning and adding more elements digitally. However, I don't want to just use watercolor I want to somehow incorporate clear visuals of the water itself. I continued searching through Pinterest and found this photo: 

The medium is still watercolor but the rings, drips, and paper texture show more of the presence of a liquid then just using watercolor as a medium. Langston writes how the rivers show his a piece of his identity like the river is a part of him. I began to wonder what if I drew a portrait of him out of marker or pen and dripped on brushed over the paper with water allowing the ink to bleed and blend as if he is made of water.

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Here come the experiments. 

I took a handful of different pens and markers I have in my room and began to test out if they would bleed. I used regular copy paper and made two rows to test. The first would be where I brush over the water onto the different inks and the second side I wanted to see if I put water on the back of the page if it would bleed and spread differently than brushing it on.

After my first experiment here is how the inks bleed with brushing and dropping water on.

The liquid pen was the best at bleeding while still staying clear enough to see the initial detail. However, setting the ink on the paper did not work since when I picked the sheet up the water began to pull and drip downwards smearing the lines a little too much. 

I wasn't sure how I felt about the ripple paper texture that was left from using the brush. At some angles, it became a little too distracting as shown in the image below.

I wanted to see how else I could get the paper to bleed so I cut out two small stripes and drew some lines using the liquid pen. I then filled up a takeout container with water and let one rest on top of the water and the other I submerged until it reached the bottom

The submerged paper became a muddy gray whereas the paper that rested on top began to have this soft fuzzy texture to the lines. 

After allowing the papers to dry the one that rested on the water dried the quickest and had only a very minimal texture left compared to the brushing technique.

 

I'm not sure if I want to submerge the entire drawing, have only a portion of the image have this bleed or maybe add little water droplet marks at the end? I'm going to continue brainstorming to see what direction I want to go with the pen and water. 

FOUND OBJECTS ILLUSTRATIONS

Here are my five final drawings using my found objects. 

WEEK THREE - B

After looking through my odd collection of desk treasures, I picked out five that I feel like I had a direction for. 

Similar to the examples I found on Pinterest, I'm going to sit the item on paper and draw around the item and capture a picture of the new compound illustration. I was thinking of taking all of the photos of the items first and then drawing on the pictures, but I enjoy how the shadows sometimes overlap the drawings in the examples I saw on Pinterest. 

I then began sketching out some ideas in my sketchbook. I started the whiteout and binder clip. I'm going to draw in pencil first and then draw over the pencil with a pen for the final illustration. 

I'm going to finish up the rest over the weekend and then post the final photos on my blog. 

WEEK 3 - A

For Thursday we were assigned to read two chapters in Discussing Design to help us learn and understand how to give/receive a critique. Chapter one titled Understanding Critique shared information on the importance of collaboration and coordination and the different versions of feedback. Chapter two titled What Critiques Look Like is a list of tips and explanations on how to give a critique and also how to prepare yourself to receive one.

After completing our readings and posting our final compound words, I then had to critique my partner's work. Here is a link to my partner's blog and his word and final illustration:

https://timheiseler-desn37501.blogspot.com/

finger food

The critique I posted on Tim's work: 

• Tim,

  I find the word you chose to be a very fun and creative choice and your execution of finger food to be effective. I believe the strongest element of your piece to be the inclusion of texture. The subtle shading on the fingers and fry container and the speckling of the sign creates some virtual interest. I also think the added drop shadow on the word finger helps emphasize the word you are alluding too. While I think your shop french fry sign works when I think of finger food I think of fancy tiny sandwiches and desserts. Possibly you could have done a small platter of colorful small appetizers presented as if staged for a magazine but the food is made of fingers. 

  Either way, I think your piece is affective with illustrating your word and I agree with Rebecca that it would be a great addition to a Halloween display :)

Our next project is creating five illustrations out of found objects. I'm very excited about this project because after using sand I'm open to explore working and including different items into my illustrations. After exploring Pinterest for some inspiration, began to rummage through my desk and around my dorm room looking for smaller objects. I piled a small collection of items I collected. 

I think I have a lot of directions to go with my small collection. My next step is to pick five specific items and begin thinking of ideas. 

COMPOUND WORD FINAL PROJECT

Here is my completed compound word illustration.

sandman

WEEK TWO - B

I continued working on my illustration adding in more of the facial details. 

I think this direction is much better than what I began with. Next, I started to work on adding the eyes. I tried to refer back to my drawings as I worked. I wasn't sure how to begin the eyes so I did two little piles of sand that came out as little outlines. Here is what I had at first: 

I saw myself falling back into the everything-being-outlined trap so I erased the eyes and tried again. I looked at my researched artists again for some guidance to see how they created the eyes. Here is what I ended the evening with:

The eyes are softer now and blend in a little easier since they are not fully outlined. My next steps are to figure out the mouth and the background. For the final submission of the project, I am going to crop out the paper showing on the edges so it's just the sand. I think I should also add a little bit of shoulder too or something else so it's not just a floating head.

WEEK TWO - A

Today I began playing in the sand but rather than at the beach I was in my dorm room sitting at my desk. 

I began by pouring some sand on a black piece of construction paper. I wanted to see how the contrast looked like with the paper before I decided on trying to make a lightbox. I think the paper works great and creates a good contrast for the sand. The sand also has some black specs in it so it blends nicely with the paper. I used a paintbrush and began pushing the sand around trying to see how I can create values and shapes. 

To create a smooth surface I would use the edge of the brush and the tip to create the designs. I also found that using my fingers is the best way to get a cleared surface. 

I poured an even patch of sand and began trying to shape the patch into a face. I referenced my sketches from last week as I worked.

As I began to add the features to the face I started to have some problems. I don't want eyes. mouth, etc to just be black lines from the sand being pushed away but to rather have some shading and value to them. This is just a very rough look but I already wasn't a fan.

So I poured the sand back into my bucket and started fresh. I looked back into my research and the artists that use sand. I watched another one of Kseniya Simonova's America's Got Talent performances and saw how she illustrates people.

Her technique is the inverse of what I am trying to do. She has the light table be the main skin tone and the sand is added for the facial features. This technique will also help me fill in the paper so it is not just the black paper as the background. 

So I smoothed out a very thin patch of sand and tried to push the sand away to clear out the face. I was able to create the shape of the end and worked on the hair and ear.

I feel much more confident about this direction and I am going to continue adding and editing as I go along.