Reconstructed Drawings

 

Final Drawing #1. Inspired by wings painted on a sky deck in Los Angeles. Slight Canted View with light shading.
Final Drawing #2. Birds Eye View & Canted Technique with darker shading than original.

Project Statement

In this assignment, I was to create drawings that evoke emotion. With the freedom to choose any space or object, the task was to create two drawings of opposing feelings while keeping in mind manipulation and observation methods. I drew a mural of painted wings that I encountered in Los Angeles, California. They were painted by a girl named Collette Miller, and she painted a series of them around the city. This sparked inspiration in me, because I felt so many emotions when I looked at this particular painting. I felt free, like I could chase all my dreams and aspirations. I felt like I could conquer anything. That is the emotion I portrayed in my first drawing, and paired it with a canted view. For my opposite emotion, I wanted to communicate a “trapped” feeling. I knew I should make the shading darker in this drawing, and have the city be overwhelming the wings. My idea was to communicate the feeling of dreams being crushed, that suffocating feeling that arises in our chests. I did this through the use of shading and a birds eye view. Value and texture come together to achieve my goal: make the viewer feel like I did when I looked at this mural, then do the exact opposite.


Process

View detailed project process at Reconstructed Drawings: Process


Reflection

This project came as a bit of a struggle to me. While I had no problem choosing my subject matter, I found it hard to communicate my emotions thoroughly. I felt such strong emotion when I looked at this painting, so I put a lot of pressure on myself to try and communicate that emotion to the viewer as well. I soon learned not to put so much pressure on myself and just draw. This was also my first time drawing digitally, all of my background in drawing was done analog style. While I think I made the wings look successful, I really struggled with the background of both of these drawings. I think I could have added more detail to show more emotion in the piece, and I learned that the background is just as important as the foreground in regards to communicating what I want. But, that is what art and design is all about, making mistakes and learning from them. In the original painting, there were lots of bright colors, so I had to try and mimic that with black and white, which came as a challenge. I think I shaded rather successfully, especially in the wings. My perspectives could have also been drawn better, to really make the viewer seem like they are there looking at the piece. Overall, taking more more time on even the smallest of details really would have made this project stand out and look more realistic to the viewer. I am looking forward to furthering my skills in drawing for the future.

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