MS ART Y3 Carpet Design Reflection

April 21, 2017

• Outline the Process & Artistic Response

 

First of all, I started my design by different sizes of circles in proportion. One set of circle was ordered from the small to big while the other set goes the opposite way. By doing so, I tried to create a rhythm. After that, I drew lines across three pieces of paper and in order to divide up the circle and the rest of the space. Between the two sets of circle, I drew lines that cross each other to create blocks. On half of these blocks, I used hatching with different amount of lines to create different values. On the other half, I used the same technique, but I used cross-hatching instead of cross hatching. Within my first sets of circles, I drew curvy, vine-like lines (organic shapes). I tried to create a movement with these curvy lines. After decorating my first set of circles, I tried to draw arches for the background. I filled in these arches with triangular shapes. I colored in these triangular shapes with different values, but the pattern isn’t consistent. Instead, the pattern changed as it pass the mid-point. After finishing the first set of circles, I decided to fill up the corner with a pattern that was inspired by penrose triangles. Within the triangles, I colored them with different values by using the blending technique. Compared to the other sections of the artwork, these triangles have a darker color, which creates emphasis and could catch the viewer’s eyes. However, I tried to maintain unity within this section by balancing the value of colors. Moving on, I started to draw more organic patterns on the third quarter. I drew random patterns of plants, including ferns and vines. I wanted to show variety in my work with the geometric shapes on the first two quarters and the organic shapes on the third quarter. I colored the plants with different values to make them look more three-dimensional. For the vines, I colored them with different kinds of stroke, trying to create different kinds of texture and to make each of them look unique. After drawing the “plants”, I went back to the second set of circles. I colored the circles in with different values. Some are dark in the inside and gets brighter, and the other ones go the other way. However, these circles followed a pattern. After a dark one comes a brighter one. This was done in order to maintain balance while creating contrast. There are spaces between the circles, which I used different sizes of smaller circles to fill them up in order to create a rhythm with the same shapes. On the other side of the circle, I used dots to fill up the small spaces between the circles. The density decreases as the dots went outwards since I wanted to create a movement and make the dots look like stars. Next, I drew the background of for the plants with blocks made by curvy lines. The blocks gather at the corner in the center to create a movement of spreading out. I darkened the intersections of the line on the blocks in order to make it look more three-dimensional and to give it a movement. For the last quarter, I decided to draw a silhouette of a female side face and extended the horizontal lines of the blocks to serve as the hair of the female. Within the face, I drew several sets of zentangles and random patterns. I emphasized the eyes and the eyebrows of the face as well as the outline of the face. I drew another layer of the silhouette to serve as the shadow of the face. Beside the second set of circle, I drew the arm of the female and shaded it by using hatching in order to make the arm more three-dimensional. I drew several roses for the female to hold in order to fill up the empty spaces and to make the piece more varied and unique. Last but not least, I drew random plants beside the shadow of the silhouette to fill up all the empty spaces. Overall, I used different shapes and patterns to try to maintain harmony while keeping the drawing varied.

 

 

• Evaluation of Elements and Principles of Art

 

I think the elements that were used the most are shapes and lines. I think I could improve on drawing lines that aren’t straight. On the third quarter, I drew blocks with curvy lines, but I think that I did a horrible job since the lines are kind of hairy since my hand wasn’t steady enough to draw clean, simple lines. With different organic and geometric shapes and lines, I think I did a fine job maintaining harmony while showing variety as a whole. Even though the only color that was used is blue, I used different values to try to make my piece look three-dimensional. For this design artwork, my intention wasn’t to show overall unity, I wanted to let people discover the balance within different types of shapes. Geometric shapes are more mechanic and neat while organic shapes are more randomized and casual, which is the reason why I hope my viewers can find the balance between their lives. For example, the first and second quarters are mostly covered by geometric shapes while the third and fourth are mostly covered with organic shapes. I like how some students make their piece harmonic and united as a whole. For example, a person started from the center and spreaded out the patterns. Towards the edges, she drew a border with circles and colored the circles with different values. By doing so, she gave her piece a movement and rhythm. Even though my piece is already pretty varied and differentiated in my opinion, I like how others show and devoted a lot of creativity in their piece. He used cartoon-like shapes and patterns, which gives his piece a very playful vibe. Specifically, I like how he drew different clocks, because it makes me feel like he is trying to convey the concept of time. There was another piece that I really appreciated. She used same organic shapes as her background, but within these shapes (blocks), she included a lot of different kinds of shapes and patterns, both geometric and organic. Her strokes are soft, but the impact of her piece is strong and confident, gives people a comfortable feeling. Even though variety was shown in her piece, it doesn’t make people feel messy at all. Some classmates also used two completely different types of shapes to create visual interest with dramatic contrast. She drew two types of organic shapes. Even though I’m not sure if that’s why she wanted to convey, I think she drew extremely curvy lines to represent waves, and flare-like shapes to represent fire. As a whole, the class showed their creativity in their carpet designs. With different kinds of shapes and elements, I tried my best to show variety while maintaining harmony.