My Very First Blog: Self portait

1. Why did you select the inspiration pieces?

When I first read about this project I had an idea that I wanted to create this self-portrait in charcoal and these three inspiration pieces are what I had in mind when I thought about creating my own. I wanted them to look like the two monochromatic portraits do. The one in color I I liked because of the shading.

2. Why did you select the media to create your self-portrait?

I selected charcoal to use because I like how it looks when it is a finished piece. I really like how it looks when it is used to create portraits. I really don’t like using it because I feel it makes a mess but I wanted to try it again.

3. What challenges did you face in creating your self-portrait and how did you overcome them?

When using charcoal I always feel like it gets everywhere and the paper ends up getting smudged. I really tried to be careful and wanted to not smudge it. I worked slowly and used very careful lines when I was working on my portrait. I had a hard time with the area around my mouth I tried to shade it and it worked a little. It’s hard to tell because of the way the picture took. It is lightly shaded, it was the part I kept re-doing.

4. How does this piece represent you?

It represents me because it really showed how I look and how I feel when I created my self-portrait. I really tried to do my best and show a realistic portrait of myself.

5. What elements and principles of art did you apply in this work?

I used monocratic color scheme I only used a charcoal pencil, so this was only black color and white paper. I used line in my face and the features. Also, I have shape in my portrait, because of my face and it the shape it takes up within the painting. Texture is shown in my hair and the area around my mouth. Balance is shown within my face if a line is drawn down the center of my face it is almost the same on both sides.

6. Did you enjoy working on this project?

I liked working on this project. I like working on hands on projects rather than writing papers. I like to be able to use the things that I have learned and apply them to a final piece. I think that it is interesting to see how I have used art materials during the course of this class.

7. What do you think of your final artwork?

I thought my final portrait was good. I really tried to work hard and create a good portrait of myself. I think it shows what I look like for the most part.