Friday, May 16, 2014

Experimental Drawing (Dixon)


Drawing with Office Supplies
For this draw I used only highlighters and Scotch Tape. I thought about how I’ve seen other people use tape to give themselves really clean edges on their own pieces. So, I wondered what it would look like to do it with highlighters and just make geometric blobs of missing color.
I first used a pink highlighter because it’s light in color. Once I had made a gestural border around each piece of tape, I removed the tape, and placed new pieces in new positions. Then went on the orange highlighter. I liked how in some places there was only pink or orange, but in others there were parts where they overlapped, but with odd shapes and meeting points because of the tape. Lastly, I repeated the renewal of tape, then used a blue highlighter. It was especially amazing to see the overlapping because there would be purple where the blue met pink and a green of sorts where it met orange. It was also cool that at the same time, I could still see where each piece of tape had been.
I’ve only really ever used highlighters for notes, so to use them for an actual piece of art was exciting. I also tend to prefer dealing with monochromatic palettes, so this was cool.

I’d really like to make more intricate patterns, as well as use a larger variety of colors and combinations to see how the interact. How do cool or warm only colors compare to contrasting colors? What would each of those look like?? How different would it look if I used a different kind of tape?? 
Cut an Unusual Shape
When I thought about what I could do with this drawing, I remembered how as a kid I would fold up pieces of papers and cut shapes out of it to make snowflakes. So, for this I just cut out small, simple shapes, then tried to draw what they reminded me of. One of them made me think of seeing someone with glasses peeking out under an umbrella while it’s raining. Two of them reminded me of birds. The others ended up as waves, a recurved bow and arrow, a mustache, a clown, a villain’s mask, and the center was what I drew first which made me think of the shapes that are commonly seen in stylized fire.
This was important to me because I like to doodle, but I hardly ever doodle interesting things because I just never know what to draw. I almost always end up drawing characters or eyes. I liked that with this, I was able to just go with an image that each shape brought to my mind. Also, I used pen because I can’t erase which means that if something doesn’t turn out quite right, I can’t change it, merely continue on with it.
I think I’d like to try a lot of other shape and sizes, as well as other mediums because I found myself wondering what pastels would look like.
   Make the Ugliest Drawing Possible
I thought about what kinds of drawings I find really unpleasant to so much as glance at. I’m not a big fan of abstract art, but particularly the kind where it’s just a line or two. So, I drew a squiggly line and accompanying dash. I didn’t want to do just a dot or line because I didn’t want to deal with someone saying out wonderful and simple it was.
I more or less hate this piece just because I had to make something that I greatly dislike. I need detail, shading, and preferably at least one figure in my art. This was almost like nails on a chalkboard for my fingers.
I don’t think I really have any way I could improve on it because I honestly want to never see it again. It just makes me cringe with how much I want to use the shapes created by the line to make a full-blown art piece with figures and identifiable things. I may not do much art about ideas and emotions, but I like traditional figures and portraits, as well as just making a pretty drawing for the sake of it being aesthetically pleasing to me.

Capture the Spirit of a Color
            When I thought about this drawing, I had initially thought about red because of a short story/passage I had read where someone was describing red and what it’s like to be red. But, then I thought of blue and the image of the ocean came to mind, but not waves. Instead, I thought about the depth of the water and how it gets darker and darker the farther down you go. So I tried to show that the darkest part of the image in the bottom, and things get lighter the closer to the surface you get. The little bits at the top are like waves, sea spray, and the water in clouds. The sea is also water, but very dense.
            Blue is one of my favorite colors and I really like the ocean. I find them both to be very soothing. So I wanted to convey my sense of weightlessness, as well as curiosity, in this drawing.
            I’d really like to try doing this piece with a different medium, say pastels or paint. I used pen because for years I’ve been trying to understand how to do decent shading with ink. I still find that it’s just beyond my grasp, so I wanted to give it another try. Now that I think about it, I’m curious as to what sort of emotions I would get from the same image, but in different colors. I guess this would be where cool and warm colors would make a huge difference.

Draw the Sound of a Jet Engine
            When I thought about what a jet might sound like, I felt overwhelmed by sound and air whooshing past me. So, I tried to convey they through shading with harsh lines to show the harshness of the sound. The lines spreading outward represent the wind. I tried to make it feel like the viewer is standing in the center of the sound with everything swirling past and around them. The red is to add an intensity to what’s going on.
            I think it’s really interesting to try to draw something that doesn’t have the same kind of visual representation as something like an apple. Yes, you can see flames coming out the engine, as well as things being blown over by the wind, but you can’t see sound. And no, sound waves don’t count in this case. At least, not for me.
            I’d really like to try this with other sounds because I feel like a jet engine is a little too unfamiliar. I wonder what a cat’s meow or the tinkle of glass would look like. I think it’d be fun to do some of these types of drawings in class.


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