Digital Photography- Composite Project

Digital Contact Print

Images That Are Not Mine (Cited)

https://pixabay.com/en/wooden-windows-window-shutter-old-949805/

https://www.maxpixel.net/Jellyfish-Fluorescent-Glow-Aquatic-Fish-Aquarium-1645450

https://www.maxpixel.net/Starry-Night-Cosmos-Stars-Night-Sky-Night-Sky-Stars-2953440

https://pixabay.com/en/snowboard-girl-winter-sports-2982391/

Final 4 Composite Final Images

1. Filters Gallery

The first composite technique we learned in class was "Filters Gallery". This technique was a lot of fun to work with as there were so many different filters to pick and choose and blend from. When you're using Adobe Photoshop, there's an option at the top menu bar under "Filters" titled "Filters Gallery". After clicking this option, the photographer/editor will be able to play around with a series of filters, ranging from these categories: Artistic, Brush Strokes, Distort, Sketch, Stylise, and Texture. In the image below, I started with an image of stars in the night sky that I found on Creative Commons (I really liked this photograph because of the ombre of colours). Next, I applied a filter over it titled "Ocean Ripple". After that, I found an image of my sister, Jackie, pointing upwards towards a tree. I thought it would be a cool idea if I could blend Jackie with my background image of the night sky to make her look as if she's pointing up towards the stars (because she loves to stargaze). I used my "Quick Selection Tool" to select only Jackie's body (not the background of trees) and copied and pasted her onto the background star image. I also applied a filter gallery effect on her also titled "Ocean Ripple" to make the image appear as "one". The reason I chose the "Ocean Ripple" effect was because I wanted both these images combined together to look like a painting in a museum. Overall, I was really happy with this photo because it captures the essence of stargazing.

2. Blend Modes

Another Composite Project technique is called "blend modes". There are three types of blending options: opacity, blending modes and blend if scale. The type of blending I used in the image below is opacity. It's one of the quickest methods, and you can make adjustments to each specific layer by decreasing the amount of visibility. In the image below, I started with an image of a flower that I took near my house. I then used the filter gallery option in Photoshop, and added a filter called "glowing edges". After that stage, I noticed that the flower with the "glowing edges" filter added looked very multicoloured and vibrant (like an electric neon sign or a jellyfish). Therefore, I decided to blend an image of a jellyfish (that I found on Creative Commons) with the image of the neon flower. I used the opacity technique to blend both of the images together (at an opacity of around 33%), and then I also downloaded a brush effect called "water" and added a waterfall on the left corner of the image (overlapping with the jellyfish on the left) because it matched the theme of the jellyfish. Overall, this image is one of my favourites because of the vibrant assortment of colors used.

3. Transformations Tools

The third composite project technique is called "Transformations Tools". The transform tools allow the photographer/editor to manipulate the image on the layer selected in a variety of ways, such as "Scale/Rotate", "Skew", "Distort", "Perspective", and "Warp". The transformation tool technique I decided to use was one Mr. Laurence showed us in class. This technique involved starting with a base layer/background image. In this case, I chose a Creative Commons image of a window on a shed. I thought it would be really cool to put an eye behind the window of the shed, so I took an image of Samantha's eye and copied and pasted it onto the background image of the window and tool shed. Before that, I also used the quick selection tool to cut a hole out of the window where Samantha's eye would now be. I then enlarged her eye to fit completely over the window, and I also used the filters gallery to put the window back over her eye in order to make it look more realistic. Overall, this image is one of my favourite photos because of how realistic and simple it looks.

4. Brushes Tool Set

The last composite project technique is the brushes tool set. Online, there are millions of brushes to pick and choose from. For this image, I chose three main brushes to play around with: Clouds, Flying Birds and Stars. With these three brushes, I was able to enhance my image of a girl snowboarding on top of a mountain (that I took from Creative Commons). I first started by playing around with the Flying Birds brush. I knew I wanted to include some birds flying around in the background because the snowboarding girl was on top of a mountain, and I thought the birds would complement the scenery. Next, I took the stars brush and put some stars around the image to enhance it (because the moon was slightly visible in the left corner yet it was day time). This helped to create a "fantasy" look in the image. Lastly, in order to make it look more realistic, I used my clouds brush tool set to add some clouds around the whole image. Lastly, I used the filter gallery to apply a filter titled "film grain" on top of everything to blend the image a bit more and make it look more realistic. Overall, I'm really proud of this image because I think the flying birds, stars and clouds enhance the image.

Composite Images Before/After with Layers Panel with Description of Editing Process

1. Filters Gallery Editing Process

For my filters gallery editing process, I started with an image of my sister, Jackie, pointing upwards towards green leaves. I thought it would be really cool to make her point at the nigh sky instead of the green leaves (because I knew how much she loved to stargaze). Therefore, I took an image of the night sky that I found on Creative Commons (that I really liked because of the ombre of colours). Next, I used my quick selection tool to copy and paste Jackie from the original image to the new background of the stars. Then, I used the filter gallery effect options to apply a filter on both images (which was "Ocean Ripple" because I wanted it to look like a reflection seen in water but also have the impression of a painting one would be able to see in a museum). Overall, I love the filter gallery editing process because it's a really simple technique that can enhance your image to the extent that it's unrecognisable anymore (in a good way).

2. Blend Modes Editing Process

For my blend modes editing process, I started with an image of a yellow flower that I took near my house. I then used the filter gallery option in Adobe Photoshop and added a filter called "glowing edges" because I liked the inverted vibrant colors this filter made the flower look like. After that, I noticed that the flower with the "glowing edges" filter looked very multicoloured and vibrant (like an electric neon sign or a jellyfish). Therefore, I decided to blend an image of a jellyfish (that I found on Creative Commons) with the image of the neon flower. I used the opacity technique to blend both of the images together (at an opacity of around 33%), and then I also downloaded a brush effect called "water" and added a waterfall on the left corner of the image (overlapping with the jellyfish on the left) because it matched the theme of the jellyfish. Additionally, I noticed that the image was really dark, so I added a new layer where I used the Curves Adjustment function to brighten up the image (in order to make the colors pop and stand out). Overall, I think my blend modes editing process was a great example of how far one person can take photoshop to the extreme to create a truly new and inspiring work of art.

3. Transformation Tools Editing Process

For my transformation tools editing process, I chose a Creative Commons image of a window on a shed. This image really stood out to me because it was very simple, yet there were so many things I could play around with on the image on Adobe Photoshop. One idea I had was I thought it would be really cool to put an eye behind the window of the shed. In order to do that, I first used my quick selection tool to cut out the window and delete that portion of the image. Then, I took an image of Samantha's eye and copied and pasted it onto the background image of the window and tool shed. I then enlarged Samantha's eye (using the shift key and my mouse) to fit completely over the entirety of the window. After this stage, I was pretty happy with how the image was looking; however, I wanted to make it even more realistic, so I used the filters gallery to put the window back over her eye in order to make it look more realistic (as if Samantha's eye was really inside the shed). Overall, I think my transformation tools editing process is a great example of how photographers/editors can merge and mix two images together (that normally don't fit well) to appear realistic.

4. Brushes Tool Set Editing Technique

For my brushes tool set editing process, I chose three main brushes to play around with: Clouds, Flying Birds and Stars. With these three brushes, I was able to enhance an image of a girl snowboarding on top of a mountain (that I used from Creative Commons). To begin, I knew I wanted to include some birds flying around in the background because the snowboarding girl was on top of a mountain, and I thought the birds would complement the scenery. Therefore, I used the "flying birds" brush to create the image of birds flying around in the background. Next, I took the stars brush and put some stars around the image to enhance it (because the moon was slightly visible in the left corner yet it was day time), so I thought this would really help the image stand out, helping to create a fantasy look in the image. Additionally, in order to make it look more realistic, I used my clouds brush tool set to add some clouds around the whole image. Lastly, I used the filter gallery to apply a filter, "film grain", on top of everything to blend the image a bit more and make it look more realistic. Overall, I think the brushes tool set editing technique is a great example of how to use brushes to enhance one's images and make it look more realistic & unique & interesting.

Compositional Device Project Student Example

Compositional Device Project

Theme:

The theme I chose for the compositional device project is the color red. When looking for theme ideas, I noticed there was a lot of red on campus, at home, and on the streets. My theme of the color red allows me to go about my daily life and be able to capture images in a variety of locations. Red is a very powerful and energetic color that draws attention from the eyes due to its vibrant emotion. Also, there are many different shades of red which allows me to play with the emotion of the picture.


Plan of action:

My plan of action is to use class time to go all around the school, looking for red subjects that I can capture for any of the 9 compositional devices. Over the weekends I plan on taking more pictures of red objects at home and outside of my house (streets, sports training). I will try to take most of my pictures in the daytime for better lighting and I'm not going to use a tripod so that I can have a more flexible angle of the camera. I also want to focus on adjusting the aperture of the camera to have either a deep or shallow depth of field. When editing, I'm going to make the image black and white, and just paint in the color red in order to have more of a focus and emphasis on the color with minimal background noise.

Images of Inspiration:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tuulai/4063780177/sizes/z/
I like this picture because it shows how you can capture an image of a simple object, yet make it very appealing to the eye. I can draw inspiration from this picture of a red rope because it represents the compositional device of rule of thirds and it has a shallow depth of field. It also shows how even though the background is green, our eyes are drawn to the ref rope because of the way it is in focus and sharp while the background is soft.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/luvbichons/13499709333/sizes/l/

I like this picture because a rose is one of my favorite flowers and this shade of red is really bright so it draws attention. I can draw inspiration from this picture because it is a good example of the compositional device of filling the frame. The camera is very close to the rose, therefore the majority of the frame is of just the rose with a little bit of background which doesn't distract you from the main subject.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/its-only-lines/8971675397/sizes/l/
I like this picture because it is also of a simple object, however the camera angle and depth of field makes it more interesting to look at. I can draw inspiration from this image because it represents several different compositional devices such as lines, leading lines, fill the frame, symmetry and pattern, and point of view. This shows how some of the images I take can have more than one compositional device but I have to choose which one fits best. This picture also uses a large aperture so that one part of the image is in focus and the rest of it is blurred.

I have taken about 150 images in total for this project. In this digital contact print, I have narrowed down my pictures to my top photos of all the compositional devices. The pictures in the squares are the final 9 images that I chose to edit. Below are 9 digital contact prints of my top 3 images for each compositional device.

Below are my examples of the 9 compositional devices for the project

Fill the Frame Digital Contact Print

These are my top 3 images for fill the frame. I found this compositional device one of the simpler ones to shoot because I understood this concept from the beginning. I ended up choosing the coca cola piggy bank image because it was different than a typical fill the frame with a flower photo.

Fill the Frame

This is my final edited image for the compositional device of fill the frame. To capture this image of a red coca cola piggy bank, I lied down on the floor and got close to it in order to have it fill the frame. I used a small aperture to have the piggy bank in focus, and the simple background of the floor and wall to be blurred. In camera raw I enhanced the color red by increasing the exposure and saturation, and in photoshop I made the image black and white, and colored in the red piggy bank.


Follow the Eyes Digital Contact Print

These are my top 3 images for follow the eyes. I thought this compositional device was a little more challenging to shoot but it allowed me to capture a variety of images. I ended up choosing the statue image because it was different than following a real persons eyes.

Follow the Eyes

This is my final edited image for the compositional device of follow the eyes. I captured this image of follow the eyes on Orchard Road of a red statue reading the newspaper. I kneeled down a bit in order to get a better angle of the statue to be able to see his eyes. In camera raw, I increased the exposure and brightness of the red and in photoshop I used the black and white adjustment. I also cropped this photo on the right side because there was a person sitting that was distracting from the main focus of the image, the statues eyes.


Rule of Thirds Digital Contact Print

These are my top 3 images for rule of thirds. I also found this compositional device quite simple to capture because I just moved my positioning to have the main subject in one corner. I ended up choosing the water bottle on the field image because I like how the size of the water bottle is large in proportion to the rest of the field.

Rule of Thirds

This is my final edited image for the compositional device of rule of thirds. To capture this image of a red water bottle on a field, I lied down on the ground in order to have a more interesting angle and to make the water bottle large in proportion. This image displays the device of rule of thirds because the water bottle is in the bottom right of the picture. I used a large aperture to capture this image, therefore everything is in focus. In camera raw I increased exposure, clarity and saturation, and in photoshop I once again used the black and white adjustment to have the eyes drawn to the red.



Leading Lines Digital Contact Print

These are my top 3 images for leading lines. At first I had some trouble finding objects to shoot for a leading line, but in the end I found some things. I ended up choosing the image of the slide because of its angle and the brightness of the color red.

Leading Lines

This is my final edited image for the compositional device of leading lines. This image of a red slide displayed leading lines because there are the side lines of the slide, and several lines on the slide than lead towards the top of it. I decided to take this picture from the ground leading up to the top to give it a different angle, as most slides are usually going from the the top to the ground. In camera raw, I enhanced this color of red to make it more bright by increasing the vibrance and saturation, and in photoshop I used the black and white adjustment tool, and colored in the red slide.


Symmetry and Pattern Digital Contact Print

These are my top 3 images for symmetry and pattern. I understood this compositional device, however had some trouble finding objects that fall under this device. I ended up choosing the playground image because of the angle and how bright the red is compared to the background colors.

Symmetry and Pattern

This is my final edited image for the compositional device of symmetry and pattern. This is an image of a piece of red playground equipment that is symmetrical down the middle and creates a pattern on both sides. When capturing this image, I got down low in order to create a more interesting angle. In camera raw, I enhanced the color red by increasing the exposure and saturation. Then in photoshop I used the black and white adjustment tool, and colored in the red, which took some time because the lines are thin. I think the black and white really worked in this photo because nothing else besides the red is symmetrical or show pattern, therefore the black and white reduced the background noise and pulls focus towards the red.


Balance Digital Contact Print

These are my top 3 images for balance. I also found balance another difficult compositional device to shoot because I didn't really understand it until later into the project. I ended up choosing the vending machine photos because it was the best photo I had for balancing the color red.

Balance

This is my final edited image for the compositional device of balance. I captured this device with two red coca cola vending machines right next to each other. I like how the shades of red of the two vending machines are different but balance each other out. I used a large aperture in order to have everything in the photo in focus and to have more of a balance. In camera raw, I enhanced the color red by increasing the exposure, and in photoshop I cropped the image to have it balance more equally. Then I used the black and white adjustment tool and colored in the red parts of the picture.

Framing Digital Contact Print

These are my top 3 images for framing. I had more trouble finding things to capture for this compositional device because I didn't really understand how to frame objects until later in the project. I ended up choosing the tennis court image because it was the best image for framing that I got.

Framing

This is my final edited image for the compositional device of framing. This device was the hardest for me to capture because I didn't clearly understand the concept at first and I couldn't find anything that would fall under the category. However, the tennis court at my apartment turned out great for this device because I was able to frame the red court with the black lines of the net. To capture this image, I kneeled down, got close to the net and used a small aperture in order to have the red court in focus and the net blurred. In camera raw, I enhanced the red color of the court by increasing the exposure, vibrance and saturation because it was a faded red at first. In photoshop, I used the black and white adjustment tool and painted in the red court.


Lines Digital Contact Print

These are my top 3 images for lines. Once I understood the difference between lines and leading lines, I was able to capture more images. I ended up choosing the umbrella photo because there is a variety of lines going in different directions, which makes it more interesting to look at.

Lines

This is my final edited image for the compositional device of lines. This is an image of the inside of a red table umbrella. The device of lines is displayed in a variety of ways such as its size, thickness, and direction. I used a large aperture to have everything in focus, and I zoomed in to reduce background noise. In camera I enhanced this shade of red by increasing the exposure and saturation. In photoshop, I found the trying to just color in the red and not the lines under the black and white adjustment tool was too difficult because of the lines were thin and coloring it by hand doesn't allow for the lines to be perfectly straight. Therefore, this is the only image which is not in black and white, however I don't think it is really noticeable because the lines are a beige white color.

Point of Perspective Digital Contact Print

These are my top 3 images for point of perspective. I understood this device very well but had more difficulty finding red objects that I could do a point of perspective on. However, I ended up choosing the lantern photo because of the light that is coming in from behind the trees that enhances the red.

Point of Perspective

This is my final edited image for the compositional device of point of perspective. I captured this image of red Chinese New Year lanterns hung up on trees outside of my apartment. Since I was on the ground, I just aimed the camera directly up to the sky, to capture a low point of perspective of the lanterns. In camera raw, I increased the exposure, brightness and saturation by a lot since there isn't much red in this photo and I need to draw attention to the small lanterns. In photoshop, I made the image black and white, colored in the red lanterns, and adjusted the properties of the colors green, yellow and blue, in order to give the trees and sky more texture.

Editing Techniques

This is the image I edited for the compositional device of follow the eyes. First, I started in camera raw to enhance the color red by increasing the exposure, vibrance and saturation. I then increased the contrasts, highlights and clarity of the photo, in order to sharpen the statue and make it stand out more.

The first thing I did in photo shop was crop the image. I cropped the right side of the image because there was a person sitting that was distracting from the main focus of the picture. Cropping her out, reduced background noise and draws attention to what the statue is looking at.

Then, I used the black and white adjustment tool to make the entire image black and white.

I then adjusted the preset properties by increasing the colors yellow and light blue, and decreasing the colors green and dark blue. By doing this the black and white affect will change to be darker or lighter on those corresponding colors.

The last thing I did in photoshop was to used the paint brush tool to color in the red statue. This step was pretty time consuming for all the images because I had to zoom in and out, and adjust the paint brush size in order to color in only the red accurately.

Compositional Device practice

BALANCE

FILL THE FRAME

LINES

RULE-OF-THIRDS

LEADING LINES

SYMMETRY/PATTERN

FRAMING

POINT OF PERSPECTIVE

FOLLOW THE EYES

Art 1-Perspective Drawing- A+

LINEAR PERSPECTIVE- (Claire Zhang)

Application of linear perspective
A church interior showing the vanishing point
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Over this unit, we learned about the concept of linear perspective by creating two projects: one point and two point perspective drawings.

Linear perspective is a concept of realistically creating the basic three-dimensional illusion of space and depth on a two-dimensional flat surface. The idea of linear perspective along with three dimensionalities started to emerge since Renaissance (14-16 century). This revolutionized the way artists perceive the surrounding world considering the depth of objects rather than just roughly drawing outlines which are commonly found distorted and lacking the sense of three-dimensionality in Medieval art pieces. The principle of linear perspective further helps us understand the composition of contemporary artworks and serves as a building block for learning more complex art techniques.

The following are some key terms and main ideas introduced in this unit:

Depending on the number of vanishing points, the direction where objects extend their depth varies. The closer is the object to the vanishing point, the farther it appears from the viewer.

A horizon line represents the eye-level border of the drawing and is usually invisible. It differentiates whether more of the bottom or the top of the object would be seen. Therefore any object placed above the horizon means that we are taking a perspective of looking up, whereas an object below the horizon line is the opposite.

A set of parallel lines or converging lines (extend from the edges of the objects) appear to converge at the vanishing point(s).

A one-perspective drawing is the easiest three-dimensional drawing. I started out labeling the vanishing point, drawing an invisible compositional horizon line which represents the eye-level and gets crossed with the vanishing point at the center of the paper. Next, I drew different shapes on blank spaces and converging lines joining the edge of the shapes with the vanishing point. Since I drew the outlines with light, technical pencil, I later used the fine marker to draw the final draft and erased the pencil traces. Subsequently, I used vine charcoal of a few different colors (pink, green, purple, turquoise, blue, yellow) for background and used a paper towel and blending stick to blend them. Eventually, I left more space by erasing color charcoal on the surface of the crate-like objects in order show the contrast.

One-Point Perspective Drawing

Material Used:

• A 50cm ruler
• Liquid Ink Fine Marker
• An eraser
• Vine charcoal (Yellow, green, blue, turquoise, pink, purple)
• A3-sized drawing paper
• 2H technical pencil
• A blending stick
• A paper towel

By adding another vanishing point in the vision, another variation of three-dimensionality is created. Firstly I drew a horizon line and spot two points at the two end of the horizon line, and then I connected the converging lines to the vanishing points. Based on the lines I drew cubes with edges overlapping the converging lines as well as the window openings of the cubes by a fine marker. I eventually used black ink to color the background to show contrast. Inner cubes are colored with pink, orange, and blue which represent the top, bottom, and side of the vision respectively. On the upper half of the paper above the horizon line, more pink (top) color can be seen. On the lower half of the paper below the horizon line, more orange (bottom) color can be seen. The color blue is always visible. I left the unopened cubes and outer surface white since it looks more simplistic. 

Two-Point Perspective Drawing

Material Used:

• Pink, blue, orange colored markers
• Liquid Ink Fine Marker
• A3-sized drawing paper
• 2H technical pencil
• A round brush
• Black Ink

Successes

For both drawings, I believe that I did well for not only completing the task but also challenging myself to the next level. I created more complex shapes with openings for the one point perspective drawing and made it colorful by blending a few vine charcoals for the background. For the two-point drawing, I challenged myself to color different internal sides of the opening of the cubes. For both drawings I did well illustrate the cubes accurately, erasing the horizon and vanishing points, fully coloring the background, and finding the correct orientation and framing.

Challenges

For the one-point perspective drawing, I realized that I drew too many crates which filled the drawing so the converging lines are barely visible. For the two-point perspectives, I found it difficult to color the background without accidentally painting a little bit onto the cubes. Therefore I had used some whiteout tape to fix this. Although with some minor imperfection, I believe that these two drawings are successful as a whole, therefore I am proud of my project.

Art 1-Still Life Drawing- A+

STILL LIFE DRAWINGS

Still life on a 2nd-century mosaic, with fish, poultry, dates and vegetables from the Vatican museum

Over this unit, we are introduced to the concept of observing and depicting inanimate real-life objects. Still life is a genre of Western art emerged early since Middle Ages and ancient Greco-Roman era, and still remains a predominant work of art nowadays. With subjects easy to access in everyday life such as either natural flowers, fruits, plants, rocks, or artificial containers, tools, furniture, books, musical instruments, still life drawing is an intrinsic stepping stone to develop art skills to challenge to a higher level.

The following are some key terms and main ideas introduced in this unit:

The composition is the organizations or grouping of the different parts of a work of art so as to achieve a unified whole.

Thumbnail sketch is a quick, concise description of drawing/sketch small in size.

Local shadow is the shadow on the object itself.

Highlights are the area of most intense light on a representative form in painting.


We primarily learned about skills to analytically observe objects in composition, shape, dark and light values and to be able to illustrate them.

The above figures are thumbnails sketches that I illustrated over this unit, this could be a very simple sketch which determines the approximate outline with full consideration of its proportion. It works as a reference or draft for the final drawing.

Pencil-based still-life drawing of a distorted coffee can

Material Used:
2H, 2B, 6B, 9B pencils
Eraser
1 piece of sketch paper
1 coffee can

This is the first drawing of my final project. This pencil-based still-life drawing wasn't a challenge for me since I already have 3 years of experience. The first step is to determine the approximate shape by repeatedly sketching light outlines. According to the shaded area, find the optimum contour outline which maintains the correct shape and proportion of the original object. The following step is to fully erase the redundant lines and build on details on top of the previous step. Eventually, cast the shadow on the object itself in accord with the source of sunlight and depth (distance) of the different parts of the object. Erase wherever necessary to create highlights.

Reverse still-life drawing of a glassware on a black background using white chalk

Material Used:
White chalk
Black paper
Eraser
1 glass

The second drawing was a challenge for me since I have totally no experience in chalk drawing, especially when the paper is black instead of lightly colored sketch paper. However, I interpreted the skillset to complete this drawing by following the similar steps as the previous drawing. Just like the previous one, I firstly used chalk to outline the object and erase the redundant traces. Since the object is a glassware, its edges and corners yield a darker color while the rest primarily highlight. I shaded the highlight area and erased wherever seems comparatively darker. Subsequently, I realized that the property of glassware is highly reflective of light and is translucent. As a reverse, the shaded areas of chalk become highlight rather than shadows as in pencil sketch.

Successes
I am proud of both of my drawings in this project. I have put lots of efforts into it and I believe I did well figuring out the accurate shape and composition as well as casting the shadows correctly. I am especially excited about this project because I got to uncover the property of still-life drawing, acquire essential skill sets and techniques.

Challenges
Although the second drawing was quite challenging for me, it helps me understand that the principle of dark and light values is universal and never changes. With a great source of application and extension in other drawing methods, this still-life project is a great opportunity for me to experience various source of drawings such as chalk other than just pencil.

Art 1-Self-Portrait Drawing- A+

PORTRAIT DRAWING- Claire Zhang

Mona Lisa with the ginger cat Zarathustra, by Svetlana Petrova, based on Leonardo Da Vinci

Portrait drawing is the depiction of a person's face which displays the personality, prominent facial features, and mood. Self-portrait, however, flourished since the Medieval Ages. It provides us an opportunity for us to better prepare for higher level illustration with more complex elements.

The following are some key terms and main ideas introduced in this unit:

Framing: surrounding or framing in the main object in the picture frame creates a center of interest to the picture.

Proportion: still-life drawing or any drawing depicting real-life objects and features follows the rule of proportion in order to be in shape and recognizable rather than distorted. The facial features align with each other following the patterns below.

Grid method: a technique predominantly used by art beginners to divide the entire complex figure of an object into smaller, controllable, measurable squares in order to depict the most accurate shape and shades possible.

The standard proportion of human faces

This above figure is the standard proportion of human faces. By following this pattern, I tried to sketch a self-portrait without using the grid technique.

Rough pencil sketch of self-portrait

This is a rough pencil sketch by looking at myself in the mirror. The face seems to be distorted and not as accurate due to the human error in observation.

However, with the application of grid technique, the accuracy of the depiction of details, curves, shapes, and shades had significantly improved.

My self-portrait using grid technique (in progress)

The finished version of self-portrait drawing using grid technique

Material Used:

2H, 2B, 6B, 9B, and charcoal pencils

Eraser

Ruler

A piece of sketch paper

3*6 inch printed reference photo of myself

Successes:

I am particularly proud of my final drawing which I did well figuring out the shape and casting the correct shadows of my self-portrait. I realized that grid technique is a great way for art beginners to figure out the accurate degree of curve and shadows. Great improvement can be seen from the first rough sketch to the final self-portrait simply by using the grid technique. Other than those pencils provided on art class, I used charcoal and 9B pencils to outline the shirt, hair, eyes, and cast shadow for the teeth. It is particularly helpful and formed a more distinct contrast with the other lighter value of shades, thus made the drawing look nicer.

Challenges:I struggled to finish the project since it took me a copious amount time and efforts, especially when I equipped with perfectionist mindset to improve the flaws. I erased the eyes, nose, and mouth for a few times even after the outline had been drawn. Therefore the partial surface of the paper almost tore, and deep pencil traces can be seen from the back of the paper. In the end I still could not make sure that it is the highest attainable accuracy, but there is still space for improvement. Despite this is really time-consuming, I believe that it is always good to keep trying. What I can further improve is firstly find a balance for the pursuit of perfectionism, and secondly to refrain from drawing dark and heavy outlines. For the next time I would like to try remove the grid technique or using bigger grids to challenge myself even more.

Art 1- Screen Print Project- A+

With our first unit of drawing now complete, we are now moving on to our second unit: printmaking. Our first project in printmaking was screen printmaking, a technique that requires knife-cutting skills, knowing how to use printmaking ink and a brayer, and finally actual screen printing skills. For this project, we created two prints, the first a positive of our image silhouette, and the second a negative image of our silhouette.

Part I: Printing Background

The materials used for creating the print background were as follows: apron, printing ink, palette knives, small ink cups brayer, rectangular plastic inking surface, rubber and plastic ink removing tools, brushes, print roller, rectangular paper border, permanent marker, and printing paper.

Screen printing involves spreading ink across a screen onto a desired flat surface, however before we began this process, we were to create a background on our choice of flat surface: printing paper. In printmaking, the concepts of negative and positive space are very important since there is no "outlining" of shapes and silhouettes until the embellishment stage. That is why for our printmaking background, we focused on creating negative spaces by taking away ink in desired places.

After wearing an apron, the first step was to decide what colors of ink to use. Using plastic palette knives, we scooped preferred colors of ink into small ink cups and then transferred them onto the rectangular plastic inking surface. We then used the brayer to roll the ink all over the plastic until the entire surface was covered in ink. If you wanted, you could use more than one color and create different gradients of color. The trick here was to use just enough ink to cover the plastic, but not too much that the ink stood up in a clumped texture. Then, we could use different ink removing tools like the rubber-tipped tool and the flat plastic zig-zag edged tool to create negative spaced designs into the ink. Mr. Laurence encouraged us to be abstract, so I used the rubber-tipped tool and just ran it along the inked surface to create a random-looking shape.

When we were finished inking and creating negative space with different tools (you could also use a dry brush to make smear designs), we headed on over to the print roller with a piece of printing paper and a rectangular paper border. At one end of the roller, you place your plastic inking surface facing upwards, and then place the paper border around to create a frame. Finally, you set your printing paper on top of all of that. This is followed by putting the heavyweight cloth on top of your print and rolling it through the print roller. The reason why it was so important to not have any ink "standing up" was because the print roller would just flatten it across your paper. When your print is going through the roller, the ink is slowly being pressed across your printing paper. Once on the other side, you can then lift the heavy cloth away and peel back your printing paper with the newly printed ink on it.

Once our first printed background was completed, we could then proceed to a second or even third print. I wanted to have all of my three backgrounds (I created an extra just in case) a different color, so my first one was mostly orange, my second one was purple with shades of pink and red, and my last one was a gradient of hot pink to light pink. After rolling all three through the roller, we placed them on the drying rack so that they would by dry by the next class.

In creating the print background, one of my biggest challenges were mixing the ink on the plastic with a brayer and allowing my negative designs who up on the print. Using a brayer instead of a paintbrush to blend colors proved very difficult for me since I wasn't used to it. At first, I really wanted to create a nice blend of colors that were blended but still remained a little distinct. However, I found that the brayer usually just blended all the colors together into one. It was really hard to create a background that I visualized since the brayer seemed to have a mind of its own. After looking around at how other students in my class were dealing with this issue, I discovered that if you didn't roll too many times, you could allow your colors to mildly blend without overpowering each other.

The second issue I faced was getting my negative spaced designs to show up on the printing paper after it went through the roller. My first two prints turned out well, but the designs on my last print didn't even show up at all. I had used the plastic tool to create wave designs all across the plastic surface, but once it went through the roller, they were only visible in one patch on the bottom right corner. Although I never got to solve this problem, I realized that the designs I made were too thin, and that next time, I should make them thicker. Despite this, the final backgrounds of all three prints turned out pretty well because the color combinations I chose really looked pleasing to the eye.

Part II: Screen Printing

The materials used for screen printing were as follows: apron, plastic printing film, black permanent marker, cutting knife, cutting board, Baymax reference photos, paper envelope, fine mesh screen, rectangular paper border, printing ink, small ink cups, palette knives, inking squeegee, and background prints (the ones made in part one).

For part two of this project, we didn't use the printing roller anymore. Instead, we were to do things manually with a fine mesh screen, printing ink, and a large inking squeegee. First off, however, we had to choose what silhouette to print. As an avid Big Hero 6 fan, my printing silhouette of choice was Baymax. Using reference photos of Baymax on my computer, I created a sketch using a black permanent marker onto the plastic printing film. Then, with a cutting knife and a cutting board underneath, proceeded to cut out this outline.

It was very important to keep everything that you cut out since we were going to make both a negative and positive print. We learned that, to cut more successfully, it was best to cut towards yourself with the blade at a 45º angle. This way, more of the sharp cutting surface area would touch the plastic, making it easier and smoother to cut. For me, I cut out the outline of Baymax first, and then cut out the details inside the outline later.

Since it took an entire class for me to cut out Baymax, I had to keep the smaller plastic pieces inside a paper envelope to prevent them from getting lost. Actually, I had already lost one of my smaller pieces, so to solve this, I simply outlined the piece onto the edge of my plastic film and cut another piece out. As the plastic film was larger than the printing background, I wouldn't have to worry about the additional cutout from showing up.

The next step was to put on an apron and choose either the negative or positive cutout and place it onto one of the background prints. I chose to do use the positive cutout of Baymax to print first, and I chose to use the complimenting color green on my orange background. Since my cutout was positive, my resulting print would be negative. Using palette knives to, once again, scoop the desired color into small ink cups, I then placed the fine mesh screen over my background print, Baymax cutout, and paper border frame.

Next, I placed blobs of ink across the top of the mesh screen and used the squeegee to spread the ink down and across the entire mesh screen. While doing this, Mr. Laurence reminded us that we had to keep one hand on the screen to prevent it from moving. It was also dire that we put enough pressure on the ink to spread it. If, after the first sweep down, there were still spots with no ink, all we had to do was place blobs of ink there are squeegee it around again.

After the entire screen had been squeegeed with ink, we pulled them up and peeled back any remaining pieces of plastic. Despite already covering the entire screen with ink however, there was still one patch on Baymax's right arm that wasn't covered with ink. Since I had already removed the screen and plastic however, I simply took a paintbrush and painted over that area with the same colored ink. Then, we simply put it back onto the drying rack. The print was a negative print, so this meant that the green ink I put on would fill in the space surrounding Baymax's silhouette.

This process was then repeated twice (since I had one more extra print), except this time, using the negative pieces of plastic cutout to create a positive print. This one was be harder since there were more loose pieces of plastic. All I had to do different however, was position these pieces on the background and then carefully press the mesh screen on top to keep them in place.

For my second and third prints, I chose to use white ink. The surprising thing however, was that once I lifted the mesh screen and lifted away the plastic pieces with a cutting knife, you could still see my background showing through the white ink. At first, I thought this was because I didn't put enough white ink. But after realizing everyone else who used white found the same results, I came to the conclusion that, because white was a more translucent ink color, the stronger colors behind it would show through. Although this was unexpected, I quite liked the result. Especially after it dried, you could still see the designs I made with negative space showing through the white-turned-pink ink.

The final step was to embellish our prints with designs of our choice. We could use anything we wanted, whether it be markers, paint, or colored pencils. I chose to simply outline all three Baymaxes with permanent marker, and then embellished them with lines, swirls, or stars.

Some challenges I faced during the screen printing process included getting all the exposed background spaces squeegeed with ink. The first time, it was an easy fix with that paintbrush, but the second time, it was a bit more difficult. This was because I was using white ink, and there was a caky concentration of it in one area, so when I painted over it, it created a textured patch that stood out. I asked Mr. Laurence what I could do, and he suggested that I use a sponge tool to lightly dab at the excess white paint. This worked, so when a similar problem arose in the next print (also with white paint), I used the same "fixing" technique.

Additionally, I had some very small pieces of plastic when creating the positive print. After I lifted my screen, I didn't know how to lift those pieces without smearing the ink any further. I contemplated just letting it dry like that and then taking it off later, but Mr. Laurence recommended I use a cutting knife to lift it. Since the cutting knife had a precise edge, I was able to successfully lift and dispose of those plastic pieces without smearing any ink.

Print #1: Negative print, green ink on orange, yellow, and silver background. Embellished and outlined with orange sharpie marker. 

*Note: the star on the lower left was painted in, but since that would've taken too long, I later chose to continue with sharpie marker only*

Print #2: Positive print, white ink on purple, pink, and red background. Outlined with black sharpie marker.

*Note: I chose not to embellish this one since it would have distracted the eye from the already-prominent swirl designs*

Print #3: Positive print, white ink on pink gradient background. Embellished and outlined with black sharpie.