Final Project

For this final, I drew most of my pictures with charcoal and pencil because it is a drawing final. But more so because I found the inspiration to draw again while I was working on this project. I felt that this year, my love for drawing has slowly withered away; I felt like giving up on drawing and just paint for the next few years. But, the challenge in drawing myself, animals and objects and mostly how they turned out helped inspire me to keep on drawing and improve on my skills. I realized that there is so much for me to learn about drawing.



When I was drawing this self-portrait, I thought that this was the best drawing of myself that I have ever done. But now, I feel like it is scaring me a lot. Nevertheless, I feel that from this portrait and on, I will get closer to my goal of drawing people really well.













Since I had three studio class these past two semesters, I couldn't wear any "nice" clothes. I found myself always wearing a girl's t-shirt and a jacket. My clothes are mostly all blue because that's my favorite color. But also because I found that with similar color clothes, I don't have to spend time figuring out which clothes match and which I can wear in the morning. I'll just pick one from my drawers at random and my outfit is set.










I didn't know where to put my hands since I had them to the right of my body when I hung my pictures up. My hands are very important to me especially since I do all my artworks with them. I have always felt bad since my hands are so big despite my short height. But I realized that I can hold onto many pencils, paintbrushes and other things more than some other people my height. So, I guess in a way, I am thankful of my big hands.




I drew my legs because I realized that since around sophomore year of highschool, I started to wear jeans. I used to never wear jeans when I was growing up because they felt uncomfortable to me. But now, they are the only kind of pants I wear. Everything else seems weird.













This is a drawing of my feet. This is part of my body, so I decided to draw it. I don't have much to say about my feet, but that there there and I am glad I have feet to be able to walk, jump, run, etc.










I think I am best represented as a tree. Quiet on the outside, but childish on the inside. I guess at first appearances, I am just a shy and quiet girl, but I love to talk about things that occurred throughout the day and I'm very jumpy and spirited with people I am close with.















This scary contour line of myself represents the idea of people having a first impression when they meet or see anyone they have never met before. I think a picture of myself shows what people may think of me on the outside, but the impressions may be different than who I really am.














In this artwork, I decided to draw most of the hobbies that I have right now. First, I have yarn at the left hand corner to signify all the crochet and knitting that I love to do (I love to make things and learn new patterns) Next, I have a stuffed animal owl to show that I collect many stuffed animals. (So much that I have no where to put most of them). Then, I have my own collection of books, which I am going to create my own personal library when I grow older. The coin on the books shows the collection of coins, especially pennies that I have. Finally, in the back, I drew a monochromatic chart just to show the different values in the drawing.


This collage is important to me because it is who I am culturally. Although I am Taiwanese, I was born and grew up here in New Jersey. So, I decided to collage my face and hair with Chinese newspaper, and my shirt and the background with English newspaper. Although this piece is the only one that is not in charcoal, I think the small pieces of paper represent each second of my life, which have been piled up to 19 years in NJ. (I sometimes daydream about what my life would be like if I was born in Taiwan--I know that it would definitely be different)









I drew an image of a cat because I think that if reincarnation really does occur, than I was probably a cat in my previous life or some time in the past. This is because I love cats since I was a kindergartner, I love it when people pat me on the head and play with my hair, and...I shed hair (not a lot, but a few).

15 SLEF PORTRAITZ

FLICKER

Final Self Portraits

For this portrait, I focused on an aspect of myself that is not easily accepted by many people. As a Christian, it can be tough to be in a community where religion is looked down on and is considered as a practice to get by in life. It is more than what people make it out to be. I chose the Iris because in the flower language it means "Faith". The hands hold onto the flower of faith and keep on striving. I think I should practice different angles of hand drawings more, but I think the way I drew it gives it a different look.

This portrait was based off a picture from my cellphone. There are plenty of funny frames that I can take photos with. I thought this would stray away from the standard frontal portrait and show another side to myself. I did not expect it to be considered humorous, but I'm glad I got good feedback from my classmates. I thought the nose was a little scary since it was so large. Unfortunately, my camera doesn't pick up on the tones and shading I did on my face. 

I wanted to show different aspects of myself, so I decided to show my cultural background. I have a mixed asian background of Chinese and Indian. I was born the year of the Horse as many are categorized who were born in 1990. I also wanted to try different mediums that I have started to use this year. I chose ink to give the effect of a Chinese ink painting. I had to reference images to see the different styles.

In this portrait, I decided to show my struggles with the space I've been put in as well as my surroundings. A lot of times, I feel like I'm trapped within a 'box'. I chose show the figure in its basic shapes as if it were breaking down as it tries to free itself from the space. I put more attention to the composition of the figure than its full appearance because I am really interested in the body's composition and how it forms its movements. I thought this style kind of relates how traditional 2D animation started out.  

This one shows my interest in cartoons and anime. I thought that it would be good to strengthen my skills in perspective and foreshortening within the space. Since there were so many objects and colors, it would have been distracting to fill the background. I would have liked to color this with smoother materials, but I am not skilled with prisma markers or paint, so I had to rely on color pencils.  

I was beginning to run out of ideas for 15 different self-portraits until this idea popped into my head. I thought about how I would look like if I were a skeleton. In this case, I guess I was a living skeleton dressed up and drinking tea. I decided to use charcoal because I thought I can show the defining features of a skull best with this material. Although, some of the features got lost in the dark areas and the paper was becoming smudged, so I had to highlight with white charcoal, which I think made it stand out more. This picture does kind of scare me, especially since I drew it, but I like it a lot as well as it shows a different aspect in my drawings. I think I should have added a candle stick and darken the background more, but I didn't have enough time.

This one is my view through my hair in a curled up position. 

I was quite scared as a child and would hide in my room in a ball. I would stare at the door in case someone was coming and I put a throw pillow between my torso and legs. It seems like another dark drawing. I thought it would be perfect in charcoal as it shows the dark and hazy tones in a stronger intensity than a pencil would.

This last one I did in acrylic paint. I wanted to show that although the world is made up of all walks of life, such as shoe prints, they can be identical. The only thing that distinguishes a person is their footprint. Mine feels very small in comparison to the other shoe prints. It felt really strange to paint my foot as well, but I think this worked out the best. I chose the primary colors to keep it simple on this single sheet and so the black would also stick out the most. But I think if I expanded on this idea, the meaning would also expand and change as well.

hopscotch hell

8 years ago- split lip and stitches
2 years old- stitches in left hand
1 year ago- cut finger with an iceskate
3 years ago- dog bite on left wrist
6 weeks ago- sprained left ankle
5 years ago- broken left wrist

As I was playing hopscotch I began to think about all of the injuries that I have experienced throughout my life.  I connected the numbered boxes with injuries according to how old I was or how long ago it happened.  I think that scars act as reminders to us just as much as photographs or home videos.  Each scar tells a story and is something that will stay with a person for the rest of their lives.

Hopscotch 8 & Breath

While standing by the hopscotch, I was in a conversation about movies. Arnold Schwarzenegger in particular.







The 6th Day







Commando







Conan the Barbarion







Junior







Mr Freeze







Terminator







True Lies







Turboman!






Breath

Hopscotch Tracks

When we were first asked to created an 8 pieced project based on our hopscotch experience I had trouble coming up with a theme. I thought about the numerical properties of the board and how I might be able to incorporate that in my project. I thought about points in time, ages, dates, important events, number of items in collections, and other things along those lines. That is when I thought about the tracks on a CD. Music has always been a huge influence in my life so I liked the ideas. I decided on the CD entitled Juturna by Circa Survive. Their music is very unique and creates many visual images with the lyrics. I decided to select a couple lyrics from each song and illustrate it. I tried to connect the pieces by using the same mediums in each piece. They all contain black permanent markers, a magazine clipping, blow pens, black pen, prisma markers, and one is done also with pencil. All of the magazine clippings are from the APMagazine (a well known alternative band magazine) in order to keep up the music theme of the set.


1. Holding Someone's Hair Back

"She's got the photos, but no recollection
He's got the motive, but no transportation"


2. Act Appalled

"Patience, both we and our words are over produced by influence
I'm only asking if you remember"


3. Wish Resign

"What brought you back to this place
I knew you'd never learn"


4. The Glorious Nosebleed

"Walk into the light
Giving into something you don't understand
This sort of thing gets you out of mind right before"


5. In Fear and Faith

"This heart is already frozen
I can't remember the fall
And if I last through the winter
I swear to you know, I wont call"


6. The Great Golden Baby

"Make your move
Obvious humor
Desperate and respiratory plight
Always Un-
Dress to impress
I'll be the last one to find out why"


7. Stop the Fucking Car

"Don't stop talking to me
I haven't been listening"


8. We're all Thieves

"I smile as it burns
Your face is light and cocaine white
One messages beating through
I've been erased
I've been erased from the picture"


All lyrics copyright to Circa Survive.

Hopscoth Potsy

Four is the number of times i've eaten at KFC.
Three is the number of cavities i've filled.

Two is the number of paying cards i found on the street.
Five is the number of twos i have on one foot.

One week ago I saw a bum on the street.
Eight is the number of years i've lived in my house.

Six is the age I stopped believing in monsters.
Four is the number of oranges in this hat.