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.
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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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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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:
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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.
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.
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