MY IDEA
As a child, “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” By Dr. Seuss was one of my favorite books. Specifically the quote, “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...” has really stuck with me. This book has always shown me the importance of choosing my path and the influence of different places and things on my life story. This is something I wanted to capture in my sustained investigation by creating pieces of feet or shoes that show the places and things that have made an impact on my life.
Final Slideshow
PIECE #15: Future
For this piece colored pencil allowed be to created vibrance and texture for the various aspects of campus. I wanted to capture my uncertainty as I moved to a college campus next fall. I did this by illustrating detailed shoes walking away from the viewer with my college campus in the background. Moving away is something new and uncertain, but I am excited for what my future holds. Throughout this piece I had to experiment and practice with all the different textures such as grass, stone, and brick. What was difficult about this piece was combining multiple reference photos while still creating a cohesive piece with realistic perspective.
piece #14: Family
My use of colored pencil in this piece allowed me to create more vibrance and detail in the shoes. Since this composition is pretty zoomed, I thought the detail is something that would make this piece really pop. This is one of my most important pieces because it shows one of the most important things to me: my family. I have a mom, dad, and older brother who all mean the world to me and I would do anything for. I wanted to show that by first taking a pair of each of their shoes and taking many reference photos for composition. Then I chose a composition and went shoe by shoe with my prismacolors. This piece had a lot of textures I hadn't drawn before so that required a lot of practice and experimentation as I did the piece. If I could change one thing about this piece I would make the textures a little more detailed, but I do really like this piece, especially the shoes themselves.
Piece #12: Faith
My use of collage for this piece helps me create an interesting background that is meaningful without being overbearing. I really like how the acrylic paint creates a messy look but still makes a statement. For this piece I wanted to show the impact that growing up in church with a Christian faith had on me. I get made fun of or criticized for my faith a lot, but it is something that is so important to me and I will never compromise on. I would say it is a huge part of my life, but to be honest it is my life. When doing this piece I experimented a lot. I started with the pages of the Bible and glued them on with mod podge but there was some red on my brush so it made the paper look pink so I had to recover that. Then I didn't like how the words looked so I covered them with gesso to make them less bold. Then I tried to do a palette knife painting but I didn't like how it looked so I just resulted to a normal painting with a more painterly style. Overall I really like this piece and it's really different from anything in my portfolio!
Piece #7: Home
By using colored pencil for this piece I was able to really capture details, especially in the fur on the slippers themselves. It definitely gives it a more sharp and precise look which is what I was going for in this piece. This piece was done to capture my love for the coziness and comfort that home provides. Especially now, I spend a lot of time at home and have come to really enjoy it. My favorite things about home that I wanted to incorporate in this piece are being in my PJ's, drinking coffee, and watching movies and TV shows, which I showed by putting Grey's Anatomy on my computer screen. Although this might not be everyone's idea of home, this piece really shows what the word home means to me. I had never drawn fur before, so this piece required me to learn something new. I had to practice my technique by watching videos and practicing, which you can see on my brainstorming page. I think this really helped me achieve the best result that I could produce in the fur. One thing I love about this piece is the slipper itself, specifically the fur. I was hesitant about doing something so textured but I absolutely love how it turned out. If I could change one thing about the piece I would change the keyboard because in my eyes it looks sort of messy, but I don't really think that's what your eye is drawn to and overall I really like this piece!
Piece #6: Passion
The use of colored pencil for this piece allowed me to really capture details that would otherwise be missed with another medium. As a close-up, the whole point of this piece was to show detail and really exhibit the theme. This piece shows something that was a big part of my childhood: NC State Football. I went to my first game at 8 weeks old and have gone every year since. I love the atmosphere of Carter-Finley Stadium and spending time with my family at these games. Every game that I went to is now a cherished memory in my heart. As I won't be near NC State during the next football season, it will definitely be something that I will miss. Throughout working on this piece I struggled with achieving texture and depth especially on the shoelaces and the football. In the first in progress picture the shadows look too purple without the red but I decided to see how it would look, and it turned out great. With the football I wanted to create the look of the little bumps without making it look polka dotted so through trial and error, I was able to make them subtle and more realistic. For this piece I started with the big highlight of the piece, the shoelaces, then moved to the surrounding shoe, then to the football. When working with colored pencil I have found that it works best for me to move from light to dark, which is again what I did here. One thing that I don't like about the piece is the football simply because it didn't meet my original expectations for how I thought I wanted it to look, but it looks good all the same. I think that this is my favorite piece so far!
Piece #5: Sentimentality
For this piece I chose to do an acrylic painting because I wanted to capture the beautiful setting. I really think paintings are the best way to capture nature's beauty, while colored pencil is my choice for detailed subjects. This piece shows my love for New Life Camp, the camp I have attended my whole life and now work at. There are so many good memories from NLC and it is my favorite place in the whole world. This spot in particular is my favorite spot with the cross overlooking the lake. Right before doing this piece I got new paints, so throughout the whole time I was working I was trying new techniques because I wasn't used to the paint. I ended up struggling on the wood so I practiced on canvas paper and it worked out really well. Additionally I changed my idea for the background to add more greens and blues and make it really pop. My strategy was to start with the most detailed things and move onto the less detailed things later. This worked really well for me in this piece. If I could change one thing I would add more values to the trees in the background, but luckily that's not what my eye is drawn to. Overall, I love this piece.
Piece #3: Growth
For this colored pencil piece, I drew some baby keepsake shoes that I was given when I was born, with the background being my childhood baby blanket. This drawing was to depict how far I've come since the day I was born. Not only have I grown physically, but I have experienced growth in every other aspect of my life. One thing I really like about this piece is the shoes themselves. I think I did a really good job capturing the values and textures. I also really like the pink baby blanket in the background, since it is sentimental and an important part of the piece, but not distracting. If I could change one thing about this piece I would change the color I used to create the shadows in the blanket. It is too grey in my opinion and wish I would have added more purples and browns. Overall, however, I really like the way this piece came out.
Piece #2: wonderland
NFor this second piece I decided to show my love of the snow through showing my pair of duck boots in a snowy forest in a 11"x14" acrylic painting. The snow houses so many good memories for me and I really wanted to depict this in my portfolio. Overall, I really like the way this piece looks. I especially like the boots themselves and how detailed and precise they are. One thing I don't like about this piece is how the sizing and perspective is a little off. In reality the trees should be much bigger or further away. Hopefully I will improve on this in my future pieces in this portfolio.