Concentration #8

For my 8th Concentration piece I did a scratchboard of my uncle David. This was a piece that I actually did in my spare time last year, but it happened to fit with my concentration this year, so I  added a few things, like some of his hair and his collar, and used it as my eighth concentration piece. This piece is a little more minimal than my other pieces. I eliminated the background elements of my reference photo to draw attention my center of interest through means of isolation. This isolation helps to emphasize not only the subject but also the high contrast values of the face and the dramatic lighting in areas such as his eyes which contributes to the mood of the piece.  The photograph on which this piece is based was taken on a very sunny day in Southern California. Such a bright and sunny setting could give the piece a very happy feeling, however, I wanted the piece to have a more thoughtful mood because of the pensive expression on his face. To create this look, I chose to emphasize the darker values on the left side of his face and leave the background dark. I also eliminated many of the lighter values of his hair, including only the highlights of certain strands of hair, which keeps the emphasis on the face while allowing the implied lines created by the highlights to suggest the rest of his hair.  To create the values on his face and hair, I used hatching techniques that followed the contours of his face, using less hatching lines for darker areas and more hatching lines for lighter areas.  On certain areas of his hair, I also went over my hatching lines with a fiberglass tool to soften the marks. Originally, the subject was placed in the center of the board however, I cropped the piece to create a more interesting composition which would take the eye of the viewer away from the center of the page.  Additionally, the curve of his collar helps to bring the eye back around to the left side of the piece.

Here are the tools that I used to complete this piece:

And As always, check out these other interesting art blogs:

http://www.bookspaperscissors.com/

http://christinaviotti.blogspot.com/

http://girlwiththeflower.blogspot.com/

This last one is the fashion blog of one of my friends from the Tennessee Governor's school for the arts program. Though it is a fashion blog, not an art blog, she really treats her wardrobe like functional art and it is a really interesting and inspiring bog to look through.

Concentration #7

For my 7^th Concentration piece, I did a colored pencil drawing of my mother. For this work, I used watercolor paper instead of the standard drawing paper that I used for my last colored pencil piece and I found that the texture of the paper absorbed the colored pencil pigment much better which allowed me to a achieve much richer color than before.  I used a complementary color scheme for this piece using mostly red-orange pigments for the highlighted areas and deep blue-green hues for the shadows.  The striped pattern on the blouse helped to create form on the shirt and also gave some good movement to a large area of the work that, if a solid color, might have become boring. The diagonal slant of my mother also creates a feeling of excitement for the work, because diagonal lines help to create interest and break up space in a work of art. I emphasized bold red orange hues, the striped pattern of the blouse and the diagonal placement of the subject because, despite the fact that my mother is lying down, I wanted to create a bright, happy, excited mood for this piece.

8.25 x 9.5

Here is a series of photos demonstrating my process for this piece,

and here is an photo of all of the various colored pencils I used to complete this piece,

and here is a list of a few new blogs I'd like to recommend (links in side bar).

http://beautifulvandalism.blogspot.com/

http://weeklyartchallenges.tumblr.com/

(this blog gives weekly art challenges and readers can submit their challenge results, which are featured on the blog)

http://artoftess.blogspot.com/