Fundamentals of Studio Art 1 Jose

I developed skills through exploring different ways of adding depth and creativity to my art work. I learned how to make my artwork look more lifelike and better composed. We looked at examples to get us more familiar with artistic behaviors, which allowed me to do that. The class carried out an exquisite corpse game where we could see each other's styles of artwork. Moreover we did an upside-down drawing where we copied the lines of a drawing as it was revealed to us. Both of these activities forced us to problem solve and take risks, artistic behaviors that would be key going forward. The blind contour drawing and hand drawing using a transparent picture plane developed our skills using contour lines.

Next we shifted to developing our skills creating values in our drawing. We undertook assignments involving value studies and worksheets, and made value hands. The purpose of this was to learn to make things look 3D on a 2D plane, a skill that isn’t easy to master yet essential to making original artwork come to life. The value studies we did and value hands 1 and 2 really helped us fine tune our developing skills as well. Lastly, the cross contour hand developed our skills in 3D drawing as well. All in all, we sharpen our skills as artists and take note of our improvements.

October Update

I improved my skills in art by practicing ways of adding life like depth and color to my artwork to really make it more lively. I created original art using ranges of values, as well as through adding various art styles to my cross contour pumpkin with Zentanges. One of the most significant projects I took on in October was the self-portrait, which really brought something 3D and tangible to my 2D canvas was the self portrait we did with the grid. This allowed me to primarily take risks and problem solve my way to creating an image of myself onto a paper. In the end it came out better than I expected.

November Update

I developed skills in creating original art through working with clay and creating pottery myself, as well as implementing different tactics to shape and alter my pottery to turn it into something I could be happy with. I took risks and observed their effects on the clay art work, and using the kiln I was able to learn about the different stages of pottery and how they changed how I should treat my pottery. For example once my pottery was in its final phase of it would no longer be changeable and so I know that I needed to get rid of any sharp edged before then so that my pottery wouldn’t be potentially dangerous.

I also solved problems and developed my skills in using colored pencils and learned about different ways to blend them and different ways to create styles of art that would make my works more lifelike. Also, I implemented these methods in a WOW piece where I made a picture of an apple that was shaded properly with colored pencils. In the past all I would ever do is just sharply shade whatever section using a back and forth motion, but this time around I learned that small circles of color were the way to go. Lastly, we made hand turkeys and in doing so I was able to be creative and chose to use zentangles since I thought those would come out best.

December/January Reflection

Over the past two months I’ve built onto certain artistic behavior and can say that I’ve noticed a progression in my skills as I apply them in my art work. Through the use of soft pastels, for example, I was able to develop my skills in a new form of art creation which I hadn’t used much in my life beforehand. I observed how the method of art worked and was able to get a better grasp of how I could potentially use these skills to create original art in the future one day.

Acrylic painting, specifically the skill builder and the disco ball, have allowed me to solve problems and take risks in my art work. Through the use of brushes, acrylic paintpain, and a carefully thought out plan, I was able to create a disco ball on a smaller template at first, but then used this smaller template to reflect and create a larger version with two sides painted with acrylic paint.

January/February Reflection

Over the past two months I’ve been developing various skills in art that I’ve put to use to create original artwork. We began using pens and ink during our calligraphy unit. I learned how to properly handle a dip pen, and how to utilize different brush strokes to create lettering and different drawings. Specifically, I got used to adding ink to my dip pens and learned how much was too much and how to be aware of this. While the dip pens were tricky at first to get used to, I was eventually able to get a good enough hang of it to be able to create a pen and ink WOW piece.

During the perspective unit, I solved problems through figuring out how to create a one-point perspective piece that mirrored real life. I observed how using certain techniques created a 3D image on a 2D paper, and observed how angling a few lines could add depth to an image. I collaborated with a classmate to get creative inspiration when I created my perspective WOW piece. We helped each other in this respect, and bounced off one another for ideas.

Final Reflection and Retrospective

My favorite unit that I was most successful at was the calligraphy unit, where I feel problem solved, took chances, collaborated, and developed art-making skills the most. I also just enjoyed the style of art work that we made during this unit, and it was fun learning how to use the ink pens.

The piece of artwork I am most proud of is my clay mug, since that’s the one I had the most doubts in. Luckily it ended up working out and it didn’t fall apart like I thought it might. I was able to finish it and bring it home, and it gave me hope for my artistic abilities.

The course was well-organized and planned out nicely, it was considerably self-paced considering we had to get a certain amount of work done. I like how Mrs. Haggarty tried her best to make it a non-rushed environment.