Experimental Drawings and Final Artist Statement (Adson)

Exp 1: Cut an unusual shape 

This experimental piece was one of the fun ones I did, because I got to work with ink. Ink is very similar to watercolor, but it cannot blend as easily and is hard to remove a mistake. Basically, I applied watercolor techniques with ink and used micron pens for touch ups. When I started on this piece I started with a sketch of two people embracing and I ruined the faces when I started to outline it with pen. The second attempt, I waited till I had the whole image sketched, then I inked the shadows and added the ink washes. I held off on making the shape till the end. I used the male's tentacle hair as an outline and made half circles appear like bubbles. If the image is flipped there is no distinct shape, it just looks like a scrape of paper. 

The two characters portrayed in this piece are two of my own characters, Elric and Monet. The names are a work in progress and the two have gone through many concept changes. The story behind this was my fascination with movie monsters and damsels. Usually the monster is bad, the hero must rescue the damsel, and they live happily ever after. But what about the friendly or rational monsters? They always change into a human or vice versa the other turns into a similar creature. I wanted to make a story where the monster does gain a relationship and is seen as an equal.  Although, here I portrayed loss due to their strange relationship, I believe it's just the hopeless romantic in me that did it.

One way I could have changed this work is creating a better indication of era, because it looks timeless. Another would be developing the characters more and giving them distinct clothes that match their personality.

Time: 5+ hours

Exp 2: Office supply drawing

(I couldn't find the original files)

Exp 3: Response drawing

Exp 4: Ugliest Drawing

I had so much difficulties with the ugliest drawing experiment. The materials I used where ones that are considered to be flimsy and not suitable for drawing. Loose leaf paper is considered to be a terrible drawing medium because of the lines that run across re page and the thickness of the paper. Since loose lead paper is not great for drawing I used that and used watercolor wash to add some color. The water actually made the blue lines of the paper run with the yellow I was using and made a sickly color of green, yellow, and blue. For the figure I uses a mechanical pencil and drew the sketch of the figure with my left hand. After that I re-outlined the image with my fight hand and added scribbles to represent smoke.

For what I drew I decided t portray things that make me feel uncomfortable. Sickness and death are what make me feel nervous because my mind races towards the worst of what could happen and I have had family that were ill in hospitals. Seeing them like that an not being able to do anything was agonizing and made me feel worthless. As for the image, I felt bad for it because I made it look so helpless and it made me a little sick. This is one of the ugliest drawings I did because of what it represents.

Time: 30+ minutes

Exp 5: One hour mark making 

Drawing a repetitive line for an hour got very tedious after 30 minutes because I kept trying to change the pattern in the line , so I ended up with cross hatching in the dark areas and some long lines that broke pattern. I'm not sure how I was to handle the pattern because I did make  it go in many dire toons while keeping it at a the short mark I made in the beginning. For this piece I used market paper and micron pens. It was not very extravagant but the final product turned out well.

The character I drew was, once again, the flame girl but this time I drew her whole figure. I wanted to show how she moves on a candle and make a base for one of the final designs for her. I love how her hair and edges of her dress are the tips of a flame and I wanted to express its elegance when applied to a humanoid figure.
Overall, the only thing I would change would be to add more intense shadows on the dress and add a background. Other than that I am satisfied on how it turned out.

Hours: 1 hour

Exp 6: Cut up a map

For my final experiment I wanted to collage together different maps and screen shots of games that I grew up on and adore. I did not want to ruin any of my Nintendo Power magazines or my strategy guides, so I printed all the images I used in the collage. Next was I used a light blue card stock paper for my base and cut out all the images using an exacto blade.
I wanted this piece to represent my gaming habits as a child and overall be a strange representation of my childhood. The first game I played was with my dad on the Atari 2600, what game it was I don’t remember, but I had fun flinging myself to a game over. When I got a little older I was I was allowed to play the NES and Playstation. Playing videogames was very exciting for me and I loved them for their music, visuals, and replay ability. I did put two games that I got later on in life into the collage because how it meant to me. The first is Pokémon, I got my first Pokémon game recently and it was the first gen Fire Red Version. Finally, I put an Animal Crossing map into my collage. Animal Crossing came out for the GameCube and was one of the greatest games I had. I remember putting so much time into creating a beautiful town and collecting all the items I could. All these games shown in my collage have influenced me as a person and is one of the reasons why I draw.

 

One thing I would have done differently would be add some customized sprites of myself wandering the pixilated collage. Either that or, add a map/image from Sonic the hedgehog and the Legend of Zelda to the collage because those are the two franchises that I love and played the most when I was young.

Exp 7: Own Experiment

This experiment was more of a test of my ability to make a 3D object and if I can make it closely resemble its source material. I wanted to make the Pyro’s weapons from Team Fortress 2, but I wanted to start simple. So instead, I made the Medic’s Ubersaw and the Itsy Bitsy Spyer cosmetic. For my Ubersaw, I used cardboard, tape, craft glue, hot glue, newspaper, glue, paper clay, card stock, toilet paper rolls, clear plastic bottle, and a coffee straw. For my “Itsy Bitsy Spyer” I use felt, thread, buttons, fabric glue, and pillow stuffing.

 

The process of making the Ubersaw is very lengthy and more complex than it should be. First, I measured and scaled an image I printed to match my hand size. The medic’s hands, as well as all the men in Team Fortress 2, have very large hands and my hand would probably be half the size of their hand. After creating a template, I used cardboard as a base for the whole prop. There are four parts to it, the blade, the small handle portion, and two handles with the shaft attached to hold in the blade. Next, I just glued and taped together the handles with the short handle in the middle of the elongated one. I applied papier-mâché to the handle and blade, but did no attach the blade yet. After the papier-mâché dried, I put paper clay over both models and sanded them after they dried. Then I attached the blade into the slot of the handle using craft glue and hot glue. Again, I added paper clay to gaps and imperfections to the prop and sanded. The needle is made of toilet paper rolls wrapped around a plastic bottle, which will be filled with shampoo, flour, and red food dye later. The needle is made of a coffee straw, toilet paper roll, and card stock. Finally, the screws are made out of paper clay and will be added on later as well as an airbrushed coat of paint and a red led light in the needle.The spy doll was simple to make once I created a pattern for the parts. I used blanket-stitching and left my stitches visible on the outside. I used fabric glue to glue down the cartoonish stitches that go along the arms and legs.

 

This prop has taken up allot of my time and effort to make it as closely resemble the videogame item. Not only that but I got to hang out with my brother when making this, because he is also trying to make the Sniper’s Rifle from TF2 and a commando weapon from Starwars Republic Commando. I also like to collect things form my favorite videogames, shows, etc. and this would be nice to have as a decoration or for cosplaying/Halloween.

 

One way I could have done the Ubersaw different would be making it into a cast, or use plywood or wood as the base of the prop. As simple and cheap as it was to make out of cardboard, I fear that it will not last as long as I hope it would. The Spy doll was a prototype to see if I can sew and how the final product would look. I love how he turned, but I see that different colored felt would look better for his suit, and I need to sew the head on to the body first the stuff  him at the waist.

Final: Artist Statement

The way I see myself as an artist is a perfectionist. I adore detail drawings, painting, graphic art, etc.  I am very precise about lines and smooth transitions in tones and color. While detail is important to me, I tend to over work the image and myself trying to get the image as perfect as I can. Thus, I do not usually work in large scales or with geometric shapes. I prefer natural shapes and lines and tend to draw humans and plants more than geometric objects. I am trying to break away from working in small scale and add backdrops to my images, rather than just leave the person or object in space. One thing I love to do as an artist is tell a story through my art. I am not that great at writing out my ideas, so I draw out the story.

For my final project, I wanted to practice my ability to tell a story through my drawings and paintings as well develop some characters I created over the years. However, I am also working with a narrative behind each of my pieces. The narrative or theme I have been working with is how monsters are not all evil or malicious, that there is an innocence and curiosity to them. I have been working on this idea for about a year and have been revisiting old designs to shape them into strong characters.

How I achieved this concept was by finding personalities for each of my characters and drawing out how their stories would play out. I have done many redesigns of each character and I wanted to show how far each character has come. In each piece, I tried to portray the relationship of the monster and human, or show how that creature spends his/her time. I used materials I was familiar with like oil paints and ink washes to create theses pieces. The oil paintings are complete but the series I was doing in ink is not finished, but I have all the sketches together to show what I’ve been able to complete.

(Up close image, Camera is low resolution and blurry)