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These sketches aren’t great I was really just trying to get a feel for the paint pens and play with different color combinations for my GE assignment.

I had a lot of fun doing the pattern project and I was really inspired by tattoos so these sketches are inspired by red ink tattoos.

After listening to Caitlin McGurk talk about comics and cartoons I had a different appreciation for graphic art than I did before. This documentary only deepened my appreciation for this art form. I am an avid reader but I almost never read graphic novels simply because I didn’t think the stories would be very interesting. However, now I understand that the art paired with the story is what makes it so important. I think having that visual component in addition to the writing is very effective. Art is all about messages and telling a story. Comics and graphic art are a way to tell that story in a more linear way but it still holds the same creative integrity that any other art form does. I truly don’t understand why this form of art isn’t as widely appreciated as others. My favorite artists from this documentary are Francisco Goya, who I actually studied in a class in high school, and Charles Shultz who is one of the most famous creators in this art form. This documentary has made me really excited to start on my cartoon project because I want to create a story of my own and make it interesting and creative like so many of the ones shown in this documentary. I think the most interesting part about comics or graphic art in general is that there is very little dialogue in the comic boxes but the artist is still able to tell a really convincing story because of the art that goes along with it. 

I found this documentary to be really interesting. I think it is really interesting to think about how as children it is instinctive to want to draw. When you are young there is no limit to your drawings and they are often abstract and imaginative. As you get older a lot of that deconstructed work and free thinking turns into a desire to make things exact. I always struggle with my art because I want everything to look perfect but in reality art does not need to be anatomically correct, it just has to be meaningful. My three favorite artists from this documentary were James Gilroy, George Gross, and Sarah Simblet. I really liked how all of them focused more on capturing the emotion in their art rather than making it look so precise. I love how fluid and interesting all their pieces are, it really allows a lot of room for interpretation from the viewer which is important because then the art can connect with so many people. I think all of their art is and imaginative but still is structured enough to be meaningful. I think Sarah Simblet explained it best when she said that her more structured drawings were of something and her more abstract ones were drawings of an emotion. That is my favorite part about art because you are able to put something onto paper and capture emotion that you may not always be able to put into words. Overall, I really enjoyed watching this documentary. 

For this project my initial thought was pattern in nature, which is why I chose snakes because they have very intricate patterns on their skin. However, I am scared of snakes and I don’t love looking at real pictures of them, so I was inspired by tattoos of snakes. Tattoos capture the pattern and intricacy of snakes I was looking for but I didn’t have to reference any real pictures of snakes. I wanted to keep the drawing as if it were a tattoo sketch so the drawing is pretty minimal.