Finished Cubist Drawing

My Cubist Guitar

Last Thursday I finished my Cubist drawing. I am very happy with the colouring and the shading but it is hard to tell that the drawing is a guitar. Perhaps I could also have put on some more newspaper pieces to add more definition. Overall I enjoyed the unit and, even though it was short and a little rushed, I still feel like I learned some key factors of Cubist drawings. For example, dividing the paper into different sections helps to split up the drawing and makes it easier to offset lines.

New Unit: Cubism

We have now started a new unit on Cubism. Our task is to draw a still life image in a Cubist fashion. I started by drawing several lines on to a piece of A3 paper. After I had done that I drew the still life in front of me - a guitar with several small objects surrounding it - and in each section of the page I drew the still life from a different angle or shifting the outline out of place. I did two drawings and then chose the best one to copy on to a piece of coloured paper. Next lesson I will draw the outline before shading with chalk.

Printing

This week I traced the outline of my tessellation on to an A3 piece of paper so I know where to place the print. Once I had done that I started to print my tessellations. I was unsure of the pattern I wanted them in and which colours to use. I got half way through and I decided that I did not like the colour combination or the quality of my printing so I have decided that I will re-trace and print after the Easter brake. It should be easier now that I have had some practice.

Cutting Out My Tessellation

I finished cutting out my tessellation in this weeks lesson. I am a bit behind on my work because I was absent for last weeks lesson but I am sure that I will be able to catch up. It was a little difficult cutting my tessellation out because the linoleum that I was using was quite hard but i managed to do it in the end by scoring the linoleum and then cutting it out with scissors.

Examples of Tessellations

Escher is an artist who is best known for his tessellation pieces. Here are some examples of his work:

Sky and Water

Pegasus

Beginning my Tessellation

In this weeks lesson I started to make my own tessellation for my assignment. I have made the paper template and i am just about to start cutting it out of the linoleum so that I can ink it up and make the tessellation prints on the paper. My tessellation is a wave sort of pattern but I have not decided which colours to use for the final product yet.

New Unit: Tessellations

We have started a new unit studying tessellations. During this weeks lesson we viewed a slide show with some examples of tessellations. We then had a go at making our own but mine did not turn out very good because the paper i was working with was not perfectly square so they did not line up. I will try and get a picture of it next week.

Completing the animation

Today we finished our animation. All we had to do was add the sound. This took some time as we kept forgetting what to say or the timing was wrong. We did it in the end although the overall animation could have been improved if we had taken more care when taking pictures, had more knowledge on windows movie maker and the sound was better. But as beginners i think we did a good job. I think if I had time I would try to make more animations because it was very fun. I enjoyed being in a team with AJ as we always work well together. I learned a lot during the unit such as: How to use windows movie maker better, I gained more knowledge on animations and how they are made. My goal in future is not to make animations for a living but I will probably have another try to make a better animation.

Making the Animation

We did not get as much done as we would have liked during this weeks lesson. We had begun to put the animation together using windows movie maker but we did not really know how to use it so we spent most of the lesson trying to learn. It took some time but we managed to get the pictures in order and hopefully next lesson we will be able to add on the finishing touches.

Taking the Pictures

Yesterday AJ and I managed to complete taking all of the pictures for the animation. When we viewed the pictures in order it looked really effective and once the editing is done we will have a good animation. We did have to be careful when taking the pictures because it was very easy to move the paper background or knock the camera out of place. We also had to be careful not to move the animation characters or objects too much as this would result in the animation reaching a low quality standard. Next week we wish to upload the pictures on to AJ's computer and begin editing the animation.

Backgrounds

We managed to complete the rest of the props and backgrounds in this weeks lesson. Everything is made out of paper and card and we will be able to use the props in multiple scenes. Towards the end of the lesson we began to practice taking pictures with the camera and finding the right light and positions. Next lesson we will begin taking the proper pictures for the animation.

Making Props

This weeks art lesson was spent making most of the props for the animation. I am pleased with how much we managed to get done. We finished the astronauts and some of the background props such as, planets, stars, rocks and trees (for the new planet scene). We are aiming to be finished with the rest of the props by next lesson so we can start filming.

Story Board

During this weeks lesson AJ and I began to create our story board for our animation. We have quite a few scenes but the concept is relatively simple. Two astronauts take off in a rocket and travel through space for 10 years and suddenly bump in to a planet that looks a bit like earth. When they venture on to the planet they meet an alien and flee back to earth. It is designed to be funny and entertaining. We also started to make the astronauts out of paper with moving limbs and heads. Our aim next lesson is to begin on the background scenes and the alien figure.

New Unit: Animation

In this weeks lesson we began a new unit on animation. Our assignment is to create and animation about a significant event in 2011. I am working with AJ and the first thing we did was to draw up a list of all the important events in 2011 and decided which one would be best for an animation. In the end we decided to make an animation about the new planet that was discovered. we are going to make paper characters and a still background.

Finishing My Painting

We had the whole day to work on our art projects. All I needed to do to finish my artwork was to put some more paint splatters and writing on my canvas. Once i had completed this I assembled my clock and placed it in the top right hand corner of my canvas, I had originally wanted to put the clock in the bottom left hand corner but I had put some writing there and I thought it would look better in a free space. Once I saw the clock on the canvas I realised that it was hard to see the hands as they were black, to solve this problem I painted the hands orange, yellow and purple.

I am pleased with the way my painting turned out but I think it would have looked better if the writing was written in a different way and in a different colour as white is too bright for the canvas and makes it look amateurish. Overall I enjoyed the unit and I am happy with my  end result.

My painting in progress

This is my painting in progress

Starting my painting

In this weeks lesson I began to paint. I started by painting the whole canvas black, this was so that the other colours were really bold and stood out, Jackson Pollock used a similar technique in his painting (see below). I got quite far with my painting this week and I managed to paint some of the 'Tick Tock' text on to the canvas. Next lesson I will complete the painting by adding another layer of coloured splatters and text before placing my working clock in to the bottom left corner of the canvas.

My inspiration for my painting

Jackson Pollock

In this weeks art lesson I was sketching out ideas for my painting. I was inspired by a Jackson Pollock painting. I liked the fast moving, modern feeling of the painting and i have chosen to do something similar but with a moving clock in the bottom left corner od the canvas ans bigh letters that spell out 'Tick Tock', my painting will feel like time is going very fast and it is uncontrollable. I thought of doing a painting with a robotic and Zombie like woman with clocks for eyes and all around her but I did not choose to do it because it was a bit confusing to see how fast or slow the time was going because it was a bit of both.

The Starry Night-By Vincent Van Gogh

This Painting by Vincent Van Gogh expresses time very well. The composition is flowing, the swirls of the paint in the sky and the curving brush strokes on the trees and the hills make the painting feel as if time is going very slowly. The night time setting gives the painting a peaceful feeling, almost as if time does not matter. The subject matter of the painting is the tree with the silent village in the distance and the swirling night sky above. All these elements give the painting a still and quiet feeling.

The Starry Night- by Vincent Van Gogh

This Painting by Vincent Van Gogh expresses time very well. The composition is flowing, the swirls of the paint in the sky and the curving brush strokes on the trees and the hills make the painting feel as if time is going very slowly. The night time setting gives the painting a peaceful feeling, almost as if time does not matter. The subject matter of the painting is the tree with the silent village in the distance and the swirling night sky above. All these elements give the painting a still and quiet feeling.

Vincent Van Gogh painted The Starry Night on canvas using oil paints and when he used vibrant, strong brush strokes and has not added a lot of fine details. When Vincent painted The Starry Night he did not think that it was his best piece of work and he was not happy with the out come. I think he wanted the painting to give the notion of time being very slow and almost non existent. He had a peaceful feel of time when he painted this masterpiece and he could have been inspired by his Dutch culture, if he had been inspired by a modern culture , such as the British culture, he may have painted a painting that felt more fast pace and hectic. It is not fully known how long it took Vincent Van Gogh to paint The Starry Night but due to the attention to colour and brush strokes I think it would have taken quite a long time. The painting has not changed much over time due to it being well taken care of and well preserved. The Starry Night is still viewed as one of the most famous paintings of all time, after the Mona Lisa, and it is a highly valued piece of artwork.

New Unit: Time

During our first lesson on this unit we looked at paintings that showed time very well. We discussed weather the paintings looked as if time was going quickly or slowly. Our project during this unit is to come up with our own painting or sculpture that displays time. Our end product must include a clock too.