Art 3 Final Reflection

Art 3 was one of the most transformative periods of my artistic journey. This class has allowed me to really dive into mediums and techniques I was unable to access or even consider before, and it has challenged me in every way possible. In art 3, I learned how to construct a human figure in 2D: I previously struggled intensely with proportions, and while I still find them difficult, my drawings of figures look a lot more natural now. I also learned how to make poses look better: my art skill inventory figure is extremely disproportionate and standing in an extremely visually uninteresting pose, while my figure drawing practices are much more dynamic and make sense visually. In my self-portrait project I learned how to make effective hatch shading as well as how to utilize soft and hard strokes of conte to create different visual effects. In my sculpture project, I learned how to whittle sticks into forms and also how to create a cohesive 3D image with different mediums together through trial and error. I knew nothing about oil painting prior to this class, so everything in the oil painting unit was new to me, especially the process of indirect painting. While I was familiar with acrylic paints prior to this class, I did not previously know that there were certain techniques to creating an effective abstract painting, but I was able to learn about them and utilize some in my project.

I believe my greatest growth in this class has simply been in my skill at adapting to different methods and mediums. Most of my art prior to this class was in the form of small pencil cartoons on assignments and similar digital art in only one program. Art 3’s diverse projects forced me to branch out, and over the course of this class I have found it easier to accept new challenges and do things completely unrelated to my old usual methods of art. I believe I have grown significantly in all methods used in the major projects (drawing, realistic humans, sculpture, oil painting, still lives, acrylic painting, and abstract expressionism), and I would feel comfortable using any of these methods to make projects in the future. I would not have said that in the beginning of Art 3 in August.

I feel like I need to improve on proportions, “cleanliness”, and coherence in my work. Multiple people have said the proportions were off in my artist copy self-portrait, making the depiction of me look like a “grotesque” version of myself, and looking at it now I made my facial features larger and more exaggerated than they are. I exaggerate proportions in every single realistic piece I attempt: this is not intentional, it is a mistake I naturally make when I am trying to make the most accurate representation of something I see. I would like to correct this in future projects so I achieve my desired effect of realism. I also struggled with “cleanliness” as I call it in my oil painting: it had white spots around the outlines and generally unfinished-looking shading, making it look unfinished overall. Again, this effect is not intentional and I want my finished projects to look clean, intentional, and done. Finally, I want to improve on coherence: I feel as if my abstract expressionism project had too many clashing elements while others’ were consistent paintings. I generally want to make my art more clean and finished, as well as the pieces making sense with my mental vision of them.

Since this class has taught me more about art than probably anything else, I am very excited to apply my new skills in Art 4. I plan to incorporate almost everything I’ve learned next year to create a diverse portfolio. I want to make at least one drawing, painting, and sculpture each, inspired by my four projects this year. I also want to incorporate elements of abstraction as well as realism and depict figures as well as still lives. Almost all of my ideas are inspired by works I have made and techniques I have learned this year, and I am very excited to build on my knowledge. Next year, I also want to apply some of my skills to subjects I have not dealt with in my main four projects this year: I have already done that in one of my Fantastic Four projects by applying some of the hatching and value-contrast skills I learned in my artist copy project to my realistic bat drawing. Overall, I don’t think there is anything I learned in this class that I don’t want to somehow expand on or incorporate into my future art next year.