(This is a hypothetical overview of our year in AP Art)
Senior year was definitely a fantastic year! Just remembering everything gives me goosebumps, especially thinking about all the amazing things we did in school. The best part of it all, was that I received a 5 on my AP art portfolio! It certainly was a difficult task, let me say it now, and as much fun as it was it was such a draining process. You know how artists are, after all! Everything has to be perfect! The year started off simply enough. We started off with some simply activities, outlining techniques with the carving tools as well as simple shading techniques. I enjoyed the carving quite a lot, and made it a point to try different things with the ink I was using. After that the year moved into more of a self directed style, and though we were still learning new techniques, our projects became more expressive and self-evident. While still using the skills we were learning, I also wanted to connect my other pastime with my projects, that being my writing and character design. Our first project, that may have been quite simplistic for its instructions, I took it to another level and did something different, practicing with 2D lines to create a 3D looking space with a crystalline pattern. In the end it turned out quite well, and I included the reflection of an eye in the center of it, which was a reference to the backstory of one of my characters. By the time the next project rolled around, I was engrossed in my senior project, which was a character creation club. Being that a lot of my attention was focused on my characters at this point, I worked hard to include a lot of my characters into the projects I was working on. My characters are a big part of my character, and I feel like including them in my projects this year definitely helped me express a lot of my ideas. However, my focus still had to be on 2D design, and I turned to a more digital project, something I had practicing with lately on my own time. Testing with shading, color, and line weight, I created the bust of one of my characters, a piece which I am actually quite proud of. Here is the finished product below: I was very happy with the final result, and though it took a long time, it was exactly what I had pictured in my mind while creating the piece. The shading also was difficult, the skintones being a bit odd, and the hair was especially a hassle, because too large of a brush size wouldn’t capture the strands of hair while too small of a brush would lead to a strange striping pattern. However, I liked how it came out a very great deal. For our next project, I wanted to focus more on painting, and with that in mind chose a subject that I could picture easily in my mind. Inspired slightly by song lyrics, it was a tragic scene from one of my characters backstories (including my characters, again, got me more interested in the projects). This project, however, turned out to be very difficult. The end product was not exactly what I had in mind, and after all the hard work I put into it I was disappointed to see that it had no turned out the way I wanted. BUT, this has a happy ending. Towards the end of the project, I decided to go a different route, and adding a bit of watercolor to the acrylics I had already used, I achieved quite a nice effect on the background and sky. After the additions, I was very happy with the product, and was quite excited to show it off at our next critique. The year was winding down to a close and, while excited to end the year, I wanted to go out with a bang. My senior project, being the character creation club, had seen great success with its few attendants, and in my excitement I decided that I would draw a portrait of all the characters my club had worked on. It was A LOT of work. Bodies are always very difficult for me, and because of that I was constantly erasing and changing every little spot on the portrait. My friends were encouraging, however, and Tsvety especially helped me pinpoint some things that could be added in to add to the atmosphere: little jokes that had been made in the club, things that the members seeing the portrait would enjoy. While it was hard, however, I did get a lot of practice through the experience, and it was definitely a lot of fun seeing all my work from the year come together. I was excited to end the year on such a high note. In short, the 5 I received on my portfolio was well deserved, and I was so happy to see that all my hard work had paid off in the end. It was definitely worthwhile, knowing that I had tried very hard to focus on the 2D design issues listed in the AP guidelines. I focused especially on unity, knowing that a lot of my pieces had to stand alone as themselves without seeming too crowded. I also paid close attention to variety, and tried a lot of different methods of drawing and coloring with my various projects. Every project was an experiment with different materials, and even on some, like the painting, I took an important risk and it worked out great! This year I felt like I really expressed my voice, especially when using my characters, and was incredibly excited to see the end product of all my work. I think this year was amazing.
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May 2016
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