Butterfly Clay Relief Tile

 

           Here is the last project that our class did this year.  It is a clay relief tile. (I don't know why it's a 'relief' tile)  We started off with two sketches of what our tile would look like and chose one.  We took a thick square piece of clay on a wood board, and modeled other pieces to add onto it.  I made a rainforest scene with flowers and butterflies.  There were three flowers, lavender, pink, and orange, and two butterflies, blue and red.  The molding was pretty hard.  You had to make the right shapes and the soft clay didn't hold well, but I managed without ruining the thing.  I also make the clay look 3-D by propping up the wings of the butterfly and the petals on the pink flower.
        We let the clay dry for a few days, and it turned a light grey color.  Then our teacher fired them for us to paint. Unfortunately I didn't get to finish, there are still shadows to add and still a few mistakes for me to paint over, but it's pretty much done.  I had to be extra careful with the leaves on the edges of the tile because they are really really thin. I don't know how I'm going to be able to take this home. XD
         This project has been by far my favorite, it was interesting and really fun to work on.  The tile turned out well and looks even better when painted. I walked around and got to see the tile made by my classmates, and they looked really good too. Everyone enjoyed making these. I hope I will have the chance to do this again someday!

Monopoly Game Drawing

          This drawing was mainly to practice drawing scenes in perspective. I didn't like this project as much as some of the other ones that my class had done.  First our class took pictures of board games in interesting perspectives.  On a piece of paper, we sketched them out and started to watercolor them for a base.  That was the part I did not like.  I'm not good with watercolors because I haven't worked with them as much as other art tools.  The water  blended into each other and went out of the lines.  It was hard to get a continuous shade of a color too, depending on how much water or color was used.
          But the good things were that I managed to create the drawing in the right perspective, also that I was able to  cover the mistakes made with the watercolor.  Mostly.  I feel that the game piece Alice from, Alice in Wonderland, looks genuine. The cards sitting at the top of the drawing look realistic too.  Overall, not the best project, but not the worst either.

Stencils

1. Explain how you changed your photo in the lab to create a stencil.

To create our stencil, I chose a picture from the Internet, then in photoshop, changed the threshold.

Back in the classroom, we were creating collages for a background to the spray paint.

2. When creating the collage background explain your choices of colors, materials (magazine paper, books pages, etc), and placement. How does it relate to your topic? If no relation discuss general idea.

I was planning to do a clock tower of sorts, so I was thinking about England.  Lots of things came to mind so I just pasted random stuff from books and magazines to make my collage.  

3. Discuss the way positive and negative space was used to create your stencil.

I choose to spray paint int he negative space in black, you can't really see it in the picture, but the black and white created a really nice contrast.

4. When using the X-acto knife, explain the safety procedures, how to use the knife and any challenges you had to overcome while cutting.

The cutting part was really fun. When we used X-acto knives, we had to cut on a cutting board and cut it away from ourselves.

5. How was your experience with the spray paint? Discuss how color choice is important, placement of stencil, and any other concepts you noticed while creating this.

It was actually really really fun! You had to choose colors that wouldn't clash with each other and had enough contrast to the color of the collage so that the image could be seen.  I had to spray the edges and the little squares of the stencil in dark so it would show up.

Anamorphosis Sundae

               

1. Describe the process you went through to change your object into the correct perspective to create the drawing. This is when you were in the lab.

The first thing we did, was research some pictures of things we could draw. Then we went onto photoshop and transformed the picture. We changed the scale  and made the top a bit bigger to change the perspective. After we printed our anamorphosis drawing out, we used grid paper to transfer it into our sketchbook.  we finished by coloring the values in with colored pencil, and adding the shadows.

2. How did distorting and stretching the object allow for you to create a drawing that would look different to the viewer?

The farther away you stand from something, the smaller it gets, so if you drew a normal picture, the top would look pinched.  Making the shape of the top bigger and looking at it flat would make it look like it's real and standing up.

3. What were the most important concepts in the project to make it successful?

You have to really stretch out the picture and widen the top or else the affect wouldn't work.

Printmaking Butterfly

1.     Describe the overall composition of your artwork (balance, unity, rhythm and movement).

  

Basically, what I did was make a butterfly with a branch in the background.  I felt it was balanced really well. the butterfly took up enough space to show up and stand out, but the branches were long enough to support and show the depth of the picture. i feel that there wasn't any movement though.  unlike other pictures, i feel this print was very calm and not busy at all.

2.     How did you add texture and contrast to your print? Is this important? Why?

I used the thickness and thinness of lines to show texture, as well as used horizontal and vertical lines to show contrast. yes, it is important, because then we can see what the animal was compared to the background branches.

3.     Explain how you used positive and negative space to show your image.

my positive space was the butterfly and the branches. and my negative spaces was the empty spaces not taken up by those.  I decided to cut out then background because I wanted for the animal to stand out.

4.     Describe the craftsmanship of your print. (How good the project is technically crafted)

i feel it was done pretty well.  cutting out the small parts was a bit agonizing, but otherwise the lines were easy to cut and they turned out smooth.  I had some trouble with the inking because there was usually too much or too little.

5.     Were you able to achieve depth by showing a foreground, middle ground and back- ground? Explain.

yes i did, as mentioned, the negative space i used represented the background, and the branch was the middle ground.  the butterfly came out on top as the foreground when i cut a line in between the butterfly and the branch. 

6.     Explain your experience with Printmaking. What were the obstacles and advantages?

It was definitely not my strong point, i had never worked with prints or ink, other than the ink in pens. but it was fun.  Choosing the right animal and background to go with it really changed what the print would look like in the end, and i was at that stage for a very long time trying to choose between a dolphin and the butterfly.  The part i didn't like most was probably cutting out the tiny pieces of the linoleum.

Interactive Chalk Murals

1. Explain your experience working on a team and executing your ideas for the mural.

It was a lot more fun that I expected, but at the same time, it was really hard.  With my group by my side, we got the mural finished just in time.  It would have taken a lot longer if it was just me coloring a whole wall with chalk.  We all had great ideas on how to improve our art, and I liked the way this turned out.

2. Explain the importance of collaboration when working on a team.

If we didn't work together, we never would've gotten this done, it was great to have someone there who could help you with something when you needed it.

3.  How successful was this project? Explain how and why.

It could have been better, because I feel like the background is really empty and the tower doesn't really look like the tower, but at least you could tell and interact with it.  I think the chalking was nice though,  there is solid colors and you could tell the tower was closer to the people than the trees in then back.

4. Explain how you feel about creating artwork that others can interact with. Ex. Involving the whole school? 

I did not like the  idea at first, because i really didn't want the whole school to see my artwork,  but in the end it wasnt a disaster like i thought, and so it 's actually not that bad.

 

Print Making Sketches

1. Why is texture so important to have in your sketches?

It creates a contrast from the background and your animal.  When inking, contrast is very important because it is just one color, and your animal will blend in with the background.

2. Why is it necessary for you to have several references of each animal and each background? Explain.

So you can get more ideas of how that animal or background looks.  You can see the animal from all sides and get a good idea of how to draw the texture into the animal.

3. When you look at your sketches are you able to see which sketch is the strongest and will make the best print? How do you know this? 

I think that the butterfly will make the best print, because with the other sketches, the backgrounds are further away and I don't think that solid lines are going to show the texture.  Also, I love butterflies, and I really want to use the butterfly for the print. :DD