Process Portfolio

Esther Nguyen

Artist Inspiration To practice mark making, Rembrandt’s prints were my source of inspiration. I originally found his prints interesting because of the realism within them but looking into more details, I started appreciating his intricate careful mark making skills. He in facts utilizes different techniques in different prints, on ‘’Rembrandt with Moustache and Small Beard,’’ cross hatching is the most prevalent technique whereas on ‘’Rembrandt with a Broad Nose,’’ hatching is. On my future works, I aim to convey shadow as effectively

Rembrandt with a Broad Nose Rembrandt

1630 75x59mm

Rembrandt with Moustache and Small

Beard Rembrandt

1631 51x43

and delicately as him using a variety of hatching techniques.

Drawings in pen and pencil Drawings in pencils are my favorite ones to make. When I draw using a pencil, I always make sure that I use different pencils on each sketch to add different value to the work. I also find that, as mentioned on the previous slide, I tend to use a mixture of hatching, cross hatching and contour lines. I find that the mix of the three mark making techniques gives the hand more of a 3D shape and emphasizes the little details such as the very subtle lines that we have on our hands. I could say that working with pencil is something that I am more than comfortable with although I could still improve on adding way more shadows to make my sketches a whole lot darker. When I first started using pen to

draw my hands, I felt quite uncomfortable as it was a medium that I would not be able to erase. However after a few sketches to warm up my wrist, I am confident that I know how to use pen to sketch and mark make properly.

Pen is my second favorite medium to use because I’ve learnt that it is the most precise in mark making. Which is why I mostly used hatching and contour lines. All the lines can be seen using pen which I find great and allows me to draw more detail.

Drawing with stick and ink Drawing with a wooden stick and Indian ink is the last drawing medium that we practiced in class. I find that it is the hardest one to draw with because it is quite challenging to manipulate and it is easy for the drawer to lose control of the ink on the paper as it is a liquid. With ink, it was harder to use a variety of mark Making techniques , Therefore, I tried a Different approach to Shading: coloring in. With ink, I need to Improve on controlling The thickness of my lines Using the thin end of The wooden stick.

Nonetheless, with ink I learnt new ways of creating shadow with a medium that I am not comfortable with: coloring in, and using the value of the ink (as it dries out very quickly.) I plan to incorporate this in my paintings with acrylic and water colors.

Monoprinting- removing ink from the plate (my works)

This is what my prints turned out to be like. I first tried using white A4 paper but I later worked into that print. I found that the colored paper worked extremely well and created a very nice series when

put next to one another. I think these prints are very successful. I really managed to contrast the dark and the light parts of my prints which I find very interested. On

the prints to the left, I attempted to leave my hair as a dark part of the print by removing ink on the

outside of the hair instead of inside. That way, I can play with the use of negative and positive space.

Prints worked into In class, we looked at the difference between ‘’working into’’ and ‘’working onto’’. We came to a conclusion that working onto differed from working into in the way that it served to enhance parts of the work that artists want the audience to see rather just coloring in. I found that concept simple to understand, but difficult to apply on my work. This first piece is one that I don’t consider as successful. It is based off of a drawing on the paper print. The mood that I wrote down on my statement of intent was ‘’mess’’ and ‘’chaos’’. I therefore aimed to incorporate as many mediums as I considered acceptable in the messiest way possible. I first used water colors to create the colorful background, which wasn’t such a great idea because my ink would get wet again. I also used colored marker pens to enhance the shadows on my face using dot work. I used highlighters on my hair, and finally I tried to print again using the color blue but only on my hair, which didn’t turn out excellent. I believe that it will be necessary for me to actually plan and experiment with mediums next time rather than go with my guts. I will also use much different mediums.

This is my last experiment. It also comes from the removing ink from the plate series. When I first finished it, I thought that the color combination of yellow paper and blue paint was a bit odd and too bright. The features of my face were also difficult to distinguish. Therefore I wanted to work into my print to make my face stand out. The main word in my statement of intent was ‘’neat’’. To achieve this, I used a black marker and traced all the thin lines that I made using the back of my paint brush on the ink. This way, I was able to emphasize the delicate lines on my hair and my face. I also used white paint to color in the pupils of my eyes and the top bars of my glasses. I find this print very successful. I like the way that it looks with the black marker and white paint, my statement of intent is met. This is the picture that I based my prints on.

My relief paper sculpture After looking at two paper sculpting artists, we were asked to create in three lessons, three dimensional paper art based on the piece we previously chose to analyze. I therefore re-created Winston Torr’s portrait shown below using paper. The idea came to me by looking at Peter Callesen and Emma Van Leest art work as inspirations. I wanted to play with the use of shade and darker tones like Callesen did but also include intricate and sophisticated cuts like Van Leest, which I think I managed well in my paper cut. I used four different colored paper to emphasize the use of numerous colors on Torr’s painting but also demonstrate

depth in the cut, shadows and most importantly, a similarity with Callesen’s work.

Furthermore, I decided to rip each piece of paper off rather than cut to imitate the rough brushstrokes used by Torr but at the same time display detail and attention, like Van Leest’s work, which turnt out to be quite difficult. Overall I believe that I managed to emulate Winston Torr’s work quite successfully as well as Peter Callensen’s, unlike Emma Van Leest, which was harder to imitate considering the context and aim of my work.

This image is a photography of a scene in Macbeth by Shakespeare, directed by Darko Tresnkaj in Hartford, Connecticut. The photo consists of 8 actors gathering around the center of the stage in a semi circle. They consist of 4 men and 4 women, all wearing night medieval styled clothes. Six of which seem to be wearing night gowns. In his directing, Tresnjak used the elements of art: space- because of the way the actors are positioned on the stage, quite centered and gathered around the main two figures which shows that the attention of the viewer should be focused around central stage. Color- because the background Is pitch black, on purpose to bring the attention again, to the actors as well as to the color of their clothing to enhance the medieval-ness.

Finally tone and value- which is the use of lightness and darkness. The light on

The stage is very dim, but bright enough so the audience and photographer can only see the actors, their bodies and facial expressions while leaving the background mysterious. The mood of this image is dark, mysterious, sad, tragic, concerned and medieval which are attained with the help of the elements of art Tresnjak used.

In my work, I cam planning to do something very different from Tresnjak’s work but aim to imitate the feelings that his work evokes as well as the elements of art: space, color, value and tone as well as texture. This analysis will teach me how to be original as an artist while still be inspired by professionals in a different field.

‘’Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t’’

This page looks at planning my final piece. It includes:

supporting documents,

experimentation with different mediums as

well as a detailed drawing of the final

piece.

PLANNING MY FINAL PIECE

Next few slides look at a different project.

Artis

t com

paris

on

PLANNING PAGE

Read across the double page

SHEPARD FAIREY

CREATING THE ‘HOPE’ POSTER This screen covers the adobe illustrator process of creating the ‘Hope’ poster

Statement of intent: Through the ‘Hope’ poster during Obama’s campaign, Fairey aimed to make Americans hope by associating Obama with the idea and using the colours of America to place emphasis on the patriotic feeling of the work. On MY work, I wish to communicate a feeling that Naomi (model) identifies herself with by using the word ‘’Flourish’’ which can be associated with growth. I aim to communicate this idea by using related colour schemes and emphasizing the idea in any possible way.

These above are the photos I will base my sculpture on. They will serve as a guide for facial structure, dimensions and proportions although the sculpture will not exactly look like this model.

To the right is my small sized final piece sketch. Instead of actually creating my sculpture out of clay, I decided after advice from my teacher that modroc would be a better solution. Also, modroc is a material that sticks to canvas whereas clay is one that does not specifically. The writing all over the canvas represents standards and rules set by society and especially media. I meant to leave all of the writing transparent on the subject’s face to emphasize that although these standards affect us, we should aim to strive as individuals and looks past those to create identities of our own. The writing reads: ‘’you cannot be overweight, you cannot show too much of your body or cover too much of it.’’ In my actual final piece, I will use acrylics to paint on the modroc and create the tones and definitions in the sculpture and I will use marker for the typography to strive for neatness and precision.

FINAL PIECE PLANNING

The first step to creating my final piece was drawing the outline of the face on the canvas using a pencil. Then, I cut out some stripes of modroc, got my bucket of water ready and started pasting down the modroc on the canvas. Using modroc was simple: all I had to do was dip the strip for a few seconds in the bucket of water, run my fingers across it to soak it and mold it on the canvas for it to take the desired shape.

To create the sculpture, I used layers. I simply started layering large pieces of modroc until I saw that the sculpture was gaining volume and looked like an oval. From then, I started smoothing out the edges and surface of what was going to be the forehead by adding more pieces. I then moved into the nose and did the same (as the two sections are the highest on the face). When that was done I moved onto the eyes, eyebrows, cheeks, lips and chin. I tried to smoothen out the surfaces as much as I could but whenever the modroc dried, the only thing I could do to avoid bumps was add more modroc. When the face was completed, I went into the editing stage and grabbed a knife to cut out some over sculpted areas and create levels in the face where there are normally creases. (under the eyes, on the side of the nose bridge and below the lip.)

once the sculpture was finished and actually looked like a face, I painted the entire canvas in white to create the background and avoid any pencil traces. I then started painting the face, mixing my colors to match the model’s skin and to create tones to add shadows. Once the face was done, I used pencil to create the words all over the canvas and filled those using marker. It then went over them one last time to refine my edges.

Evaluation This is my final piece. Overall, I am surprised with

how it turned out because I was quite afraid of using modroc instead of clay as it was a material I

had never tried before. I found that when over the modroc, the little bumps and imperfections of the

surface faded off under the paint and almost looked natural. I am happy with the way that the face

turned out because of all the shadows I added to create creases and levels. However, I think that the

model’s eyes are a bit too far from one another which is not too notice-able but bothers me.

For the writing in the background, I believe that I could have done much better on the typography. The text kind of ruins the whole piece as it looks

very childish, messy and not the way that I wanted it to look. This is an aspect that I have to improve

on: I must work on my typography. This is a piece that will go on my process portfolio

as an experiment. For my exhibition, I will start this piece over by repainting everything and covering

the text with white acrylics. I will then experiment with digital media and maybe project the text

instead of having it painted so that the face can remain intact and neat to look at. Furthermore, I

want to try to experiment with adding some red, as it is quite an attention grabbing color.

Curation Practice Here are two photos of my pieces put together on a white wall in two different ways. Due to practical problems, I was not able to take a third photo in which I wanted 3 of my canvases to be hung up on top of all my other work, because the canvases were too heavy to be held by pins. Because of this, I recreated these organizations of my art work digitally, to avoid such problems and to evaluate how each piece looks next to another and how that would potentially impact the audience. (next slide) Before putting my work together, I knew that I wanted my pieces to be assembled closely together, with little space in between each to give the impression that my exhibition is like a ‘’family photo wall’’. However, I realized that this would be harder than planned because all of my work is of different

sizes and uses similar color schemes with the exception of two pieces. This is a lot to take into account when putting work together in an aesthetically pleasing way.

1

2

3

These are the 3 arrangements that I came up with and that seemed the most appropriate to me taking into consideration my aim of making my exhibition appear like a ‘’family photo wall’’ or ‘’portrait wall’’. I like arrangements 1 and 2 because I feel like they seem more concentrated in one area, and showcase the diversity of my work as they are all juxtaposed to one another, which is what I want. However, I feel like there is a lack of structure in both arrangements. This is because my works are not of the same size, same mediums and same colors and both arrangements seem to be put together in a way that almost seems random. Looking at my work displayed as such, the viewer experience might be slightly disrupted and it might be difficult for the viewer to enjoy my

pieces, as a body of work. Furthermore, since all my pieces are displayed very

close to one another, it may be difficult for the viewers to appreciate each piece individually and be able to absorb all of its features without being bothered by the ones adjacent to it. Therefore, I believe that the third display works best for my body of work. There, I added an extra piece that I recently created and duplicated it, as I am planning to create another similar to it. Arrangement three gives my pieces space to be appreciated and observed on their own but also combines all of them successfully in a display that is not only structured but also respects my aim of creating a ‘’family photo wall’’ or ‘’portrait wall’’ atmosphere. On this display, my pieces will be able to be appreciated more coherently in their body of work and viewers will be able to create aesthetic links between some of them, because of the way they are positioned in the triangular display.