Synthetic Cubism Artwork

Our second piece of artwork was to be a piece of synthetic cubism, the form of cubism that evolved from analytic cubism. Synthetic cubism is more open to bold colours, fewer and simpler forms, and less focus on the actual natural objects, so I figured that this would fit very well with my initial plan for the analytic cubism piece. I was very satisfied with the pencil design of my analytic artwork, so I decided to also use this as the base of my synthetic artwork, as I felt that it would become very successful.

If I could have done it again, I would have spent more time with the details and accuracy. I also would have done the neck of the guitar differently, as I didn't really like how it turned out.

I tried to use various different bold, strong colours and textures with not necessarily the logical colours, so as to grab people's attention and create an interesting art-piece. To be able to do this I used acrylic colours, in addition to leaving some spaces white for variation.
Looking back, I think I really managed this, although some parts turned out a bit odd, like the guitar neck I also think I managed to create a sense of unity and "oneness" in my work by keeping the same style throughout my work, while at the same time using a lot of variations to create contrast and make the painting interesting.

I am very satisfied with how it turned out and I really enjoyed this unit once I got the hang of it. :)

Analytic Cubism Finished

My finished work

Today I finished my analytic cubism work. I am quite satisfied with it, although I do not think it had the charactersitics i was going for, as, reflecting on it now afterwards, were more suitable for synthetic cubism, which consisted of bolder and simpler forms, instead of black, browns, grey and off-whites. I therefore feel that I am happy with how it turned out. The contours of the objects were nice and smooth, contrasting well with the hard, straight lines dividing them.

What I could have improved was that I could have graded my empty spaces and used mere relief in order  to create a stronger 3D effect. I could also have made sure to smudge it less.

I really think the newspaper collages worked well and were nicely incorporated in my work, especially after I smudged them a little using the charcoal. The clippings looked like they fit well, while at the same time creating variation in my artwork. I feel the other variations and backgrounds worked well, too.

Volume, depth and shadow

My design which I traced onto a gray sheet of A3 paper using Carbon Paper

My artwork before I added charcoal

Today, during this lesson we were to give our artwork, which at the beginning of this lesson was just a fractured felt-tip line drawing (created using carbon paper) volume, depth and shadow. After studying various cubist paintings, we came to the conclusion that a cubist painting could be compared with a relief, shallow, but with loads of shadows and highlights.


I tried to do some collages with aged newspaper. It was somewhat difficult to get it the right size and shape, but I think it gave a nice effect, which will become stronger when i complete the collaging.

To add some relief, I tried to use black, beige and white charcoal, as black and white are both strong colours, and beige adds some colour. If the charcoal will work, it has to be bold and well.done, and this is something I will have to put quite a lot of effort into it. Perhaps I will also add some green elements, either with charcoal or from an image in a newspaper.
I am currently working on getting the positive parts of the artwork I analyzed encorporared into my artwork, something I find very difficult. I am not sure if I will manage the same effect, but I will try my best.
Considering the remaining workload, and the deadline set at the end of the next lesson, I brought my art home, to work with it there.

Analysis of Cubist Painting

As a DW (Developmental Workbook) Assignment we were to to an analysis of a cubist painting of our choice, relating it to the cubist artwork that we will be doing ourselves. For this analysis I chose Roy Lichtenstein's "Cubist Still Life With Playing Cards" from 1974.

The painting shows a cartoon-ish image with different objects of different sizes, not necessarily relative to eac other, and various different textures. This, together with the clear contours and lines, creates an appealing boldness in the image. The simplicity of it makes it appear less cluttered and unorganized, though the painter has managed to fully keep the cubism properties of the painting.

I chose this picture because I find it a very appealing image on various levels, and I think it highly relates to the cubist artwork that we will be doing.
The painting has few, clear contours, as in our artwork, and, like in our painting, the guitar is one of the main features. I admire the way that the painter has used various objects that are not necessarily connected, such as the bottle, playing cards and the guitar, but they all have similar styles, creating a feeling of "unity" in the painting. I also like how the painter has used various textures, but also these fit together style-wise.
Although the objects themselves are not as abstract as many other cubist paintings, the painter has used various sizes of the objects and cut the objects off with the contours and some images appearing several places, so that  it is not always so see what all the objects are, and there is plenty of room for interpretation, giving the painting the "abstract" feeling.
All of these features are either evident or applicable  in the painting that we will be doing.


Some elements that I will try to apply while doing my own paintwork is that I will try to use different textures that have the same style, so all the elements of the image will fit together, and also how the texture highly contributes to the graphics of the painting, for example with the wood of the real guitar exaggerated and used in the artwork itself. I will try to focus on creating the same boldness as in this painting, something I will not solely focus on for the sake of my picture, but also for self-development, since my artworks tend to be a little "careful" with dull tones and unclear contours.

I find that this painting will be a clear, helpful guide throughout my process.

Examples

Here are some examples of cubism paintings, so as to have an idea of the ways to interpret cubism and its properties

creating the outline

During the lesson today, we created the basis of our current assessment task. We are to create our own work of a cubism artwork. To do this we first had to

Analytic cubism

Analysing and studying forms is called analytical cubism. It's a formal, simplified still-life.

Picasso

Inspired by old Spanish sculptures and African masks, Picasso decided to break the boundaries of conventional paintings and opened the door to abstract art, through the style of cubism.
His surroundings were shocked by him painting fractured paintings resembling the look of an object that is obscured because you look at it through shattered glass.
Picasso didn't simply want to plainly paint  the motive from one side, but rather capture the essence and feel of the motive by paining it from all sides at once, creating "paintings like  a perfume".

Cubism

This week we started a new unit about cubism. During the introductory lesson we learned about Picasso, his work and analytical criticism. We also, as preparation for our assessment which will be to create a cubism artwork, created two of our own fractured sketches of a still-life, an activity we could use as inspiration when creating our artwork.
I find cubism difficult and somewhat confusing, as it is to me a little to unorganised and illogical. However, I think it is a very interesting artform and I look forward to learning more about it, and getting used to its concepts.

New unit overview

Unit 2: Cubism Oct. 20.- Nov. 24. 2011

Grade 9

Unit Question: "How is painting like a perfume?"

AOI: Human Ingenuity: Impact of innovation and creation on society;

Taking Action to think creatively.

You will be assessed through all four criteria:

A.Knowledge and Understanding: (DW blog assignment) discuss a cubist painting, and how it relates to your painting, using some specialized language, terms, and concepts.

B. Application: Develop skills and apply techniques of cubism in your own works.

C. Reflection and Evaluation:(DW blog entries) Evaluate your work; consider feedback.

D. Personal Engagement: Demonstrate curiosity, self-motivation and willingness to take informed risks. Support and encourage peers.

Objectives: 1. Gain an understanding of the cubist style of Picasso.

2. Develop drawing skills and composition skills (contours, shading)
3. Create a multi-media studio still life (analytic cubism)
4. Create a multi-media cubist artwork using objects important to you
   (synthetic cubism.)

Evaluation

I think the hair turned out well.

 The shape of her face could have been less round, and the eyes could have been more "fierce".  I liked her mouth, but it could again have been more angry. I think the haziness turned out well and left a mysterious effect despite the softness of it, but a more dramatic approach to the drawing might have turned out better. What the soft, hazy version manages to do that would have been a lot more difficult to manage with a darker drawing was the enhanced features of her eyes and hair, what I think is the most essential part of the drawing. I think the haziness around the right shoulder also helped to get the eyes and hair more forward.
I think that most of her features are accurate compared to the original image, especially her hair, which turned out how I wanted it to do, but all in all the image could have been less delicate and more bold.

I think I worked well during this unit, and the drawing looks a lot like the real-life Bellatrix Lestrange.

:)

Done!

During the last couple of days I have worked quite a lot with my drawing. I've worked quite a lot on the face and shoulder. For the face, I had to erase the highlighted areas of her face (the forehead, nose, cheekbones, chin) which, as opposed to being the whitest part of the drawing, had been smudged a light grey. I then had to work on evening out the face.
I then proceeded to working on her lips. Although they had seemed realistic when I had drawn them, I now thought they looked rushed and a little clumsy. Although she seems to be smiling more in my drawing than in the original image, I now think they look a lot more realistic.
After the mouth, I went on to the eyes. I had drawn their outlines very dark, since they were close to black in the original image, but the way I had done it had left a cartoonish result, and I therefore worrked on softening them. I also worked with the irises, and with the shading beneath her eyebrows.
Then I went on to the shadowing below her cheekbones. I found this challenging, since I found it difficult to get them the right strength, placement, and even enough, but, after quite a few tries and erasing, I managed to get it right.
I then made a background of a hazy light grey that is darker at the left side, fitting with the direction of the light in my drawing that leaves the left side darker than the right. I managed to get it somewhat even and hazy, while still having some variation and darker places, leaving a somewhat mysterious and rough effect. I left a little light area around her, giving her a somewhat glowing look.
After this I worked on her shoulder. Previously, with the drawing of the contours of her face and such, I had had a very careful approach, leaving only light lines, so I was easily able to erase them if I made a mistake. Unfortunately, I did not do this on her shoulder, and when I realised that it should have been done differently, it was too late, and the best I could do was to make it lighter and somewhat faded, making it fade into the background, so that the mistake is less evident.
When I thought I was done, I used a tip that I had previously gotten during some earlier drawing, and held my image in front of a mirror to spot mistakes. I then realised that her mouth was skew and her eyes were uneven, so I did my best to correct this.


Now I am finished, and all in all I am quite satisfied with my result. :)

Soon Done :)

The Due date will be coming up soon, and the hair is in fact nearly done! I've worked on some shadows and contours, but I am trying not to overdo it, as this might be difficult to erase. I'm trying to make some parts of her  hair darker and thereby more realistic, but my main focus for now is getting the hair done, and I also have some work to do on her upper body. Then I'll be drawing some more freehand contours and adjustements :)

Progress

I have now worked quite a bit on the drawing, and it's turning out pretty good, although it is quite frustrating at times and requires a lot of patience, especially since she has so much hair which takes ages to do! Quite a few times now actually have I wished she could just have been bald or something. -_-
It is, however, fun to see how it develops. What I need to do now is finish her wonderful hair, do some shading and perhaps do something on the background.
I also need to trust myself a bit more and draw some darker lines, as my drawing is desperate of some contrast. We'll see how it goes.

1st entry

Our first assignment this year was to make an icon-inspired drawing of a portrait of a more or less famous figure, using a grid on the picture and a faint, removable grid on our drawing as assistance.

I chose Bellatrix Lestrange from the Harry Potter films, as I find her a very interesting character who would be fun to draw. She has a strong personality, and a distinguished look, something that I think will turn out well.

This is the photo that I'll be using for my drawing