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Some character design! I’ve been playing around with shading and lighting, so I wanted to see what I could do with just a headshot. The colors were especially fun to play with, and I think practicing lighting is a lot easier when you have bright colors that easily show the differences in value!

Shading practice! I really like how this turned out, and messing around with the different types of shading in order to get different textures across was really fun. I didn’t have a specific reason for picking a rooster, I just thought it’d be fun!

This was more of a test at a “movie shot” kind of approach? I also really liked the idea of assigning each character a suite from a deck of cards, so I tried to match up their personalities to a specific card. No real reason behind it, just thought it’d be pretty funky.

Just a little sketch work that I did to get used to drawing more dynamic figures in a scene.

I am absolutely in love with how this turned out.

Did I love the process? No, absolutely not. Sharpie is an unforgiving medium and I did mentally kick myself a couple of times when I got too confident and made simple mistakes. However, I think that this turned out way better than I could’ve imagine, especially the transition from the waiting room, to the walkway, to the actual laundry room, all seen through windows. It was a real pain in the ass to do, but in the end I think it really paid off.

Above are my practice sketches, I really tried to get used to drawing a washing machine that looked like a washing machine, although a couple of times I feel like it came out looking more like an oddly high toilet than a washing machine.

On my final one, I decided to go with multiple machines. The hardest part wasn’t the drawing, but rather, trying to keep myself from adding too much detail. In the end, I think I did a good job keeping it simple, however in hindsight I think that it would’ve been good to add some detail to the floor, although I don’t know what that would be.

Behold, the newest piece of work I’m proudest of.

I use these two to depict myself, since they’re basically the two moods I have every day. It feels so good to have a proper drawing from them though, especially since I love their dynamic when I treat them as characters and not as my personal vent outlets.

For the shading work, I really wanted to expand on the in-class drawing that I did, since I got most of the contour down but didn’t really get to focus on the darkest darks and sharp contrasts like I wanted to, so the to-go boxes are definitely what I’m proudest of. The room was a little bit of linear perspective practice for me, it really came in handy for my homework drawing (more on that later.) The thumbnail sketches I did were just quick ways for me to get the layout of my final piece, but I also went ahead to try my hand and some of the funkier shadows in the laundry room and see how those turned out.

Remember how I talked about linear perspective? I used some of those techniques to get the background right, especially since the top-down perspective was already such a pain to do. This week for my hour(s) of work, I decided to make my character from last week the imposter.

Who are the subjects in Elle’s photos? How do they choose their subjects?

-The subjects in Elle’s photos are the people that they have a close personal bond to, and that’s also why they are chosen, because their closeness provides a familiarity and vulnerability that can’t be found as easily elsewhere.

What does Elle point out as important in a portrait? How does this deviate from typical ideas around what a portrait is? 

-They point out how the geography is important, which deviates from the traditional idea that a portrait is meant to focus on the subject and the subject alone. Elle works the geography of their photos to maximize the raw emotion, since the pictures are taken in an environment the subject is most comfortable with, and subsequently more vulnerable and authentic in.

How does Elle connect their identity as a queer artist with the way they make work? 

-Elle’s photographs are much like their identity as a queer artist in that they’re not definitive and are fluid and constantly shifting. The photos that they take are staged, but the emotion in them is real and that in itself has merit.

How does Cuevas expand the definition of drawing in her work?

-Cuevas’ work is more physical in its markmaking, and involves manipulating the earth, rather than a sheet of paper, to make her artwork and make a statement as well.

In what ways does she shift typical ideas around political activism and social change?

-Cuevas doesn’t just focus the need for change on one group of individuals, she understands that change is a universal and collaborative effort, and thus requires every individual to work towards solving problems, since every individual has had a hand in creating them.

How does her work open up ideas for you about your own civic engagement? Do you find yourself agreeing with her or wanting to challenge her ideas? 

-I agree with Cuevas, I think that change is something that starts on an individual level and exudes outward to the rest of society, and when everyone is working towards change, things start to move.

Artist Spotlight: Jordan Casteel

I chose Casteel because of her portraits’ focus on challenging the traditional thoughts about gender and race, especially when it comes to masculinity in the Black community. Her portraits are intense, and force the viewer to see the subject outside of the traditional norms, in a way causing the viewer to contemplate their own preconceived notions about masculinity and race.

How have your ideas changed around what drawing is/can be? If so, explain. 

-A little bit, I think messing around with the charcoal and just creating lines that eventually turn into something and considering it art was definitely a weird transition, especially because in the past I never really liked abstract art, because it felt like there was no life behind it, just a desire to make splotches on paper. Now I am very aware that markmaking is an actual thing, but before I messed around with charcoal and really just got into seeing where the lines and values took me, I just thought stuff like that was lazy.

What has been the most challenging part of the class? 

-Motivation. I have a lot of ideas on what I want to do but often times I just feel so drained that it’s sometimes a challenge to want to get up and draw.

What aspect/assignment/part of the class has been the most relevant to you/your life? 

-The still-life project was the most relevant, mostly because it was a highlight of my time in isolation housing and was honestly kind of relaxing. It was a way for me to express how meaningless time had become there because just like the picture, at some point everything just started to blur together and unless you really tried to look, it was just a jumbled mess of lines and objects.

What aspect/assignment/part of the class has been the least relevant to you/your life? 

-I don’t think there’s been an irrelevant part of the class? To keep myself passionate and motivated I try to relate everything I do back to something in my daily life, so I don’t feel like I’m going out of my way, but I also don’t feel like I’m being underwhelmed.

Where do you want to most improve in your drawings going forward (can be in terms of technique, concentration, understanding of art, anything)? 

-Perspective and proportion, as much as I hate doing them it’s definitely the biggest thing I need to work on.

For homework, I drew a little bit of what I think my Among Us character would look like! (Drawing people is still hard)