Project 4:
Dry Point Collage
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Title: A Hero's Journey
Size: 43 cm x 33 cm (Each Panel: 16.5 cm x 21.5 cm) Medium: Dry point and watercolor on watercolor paper Completion: November 2018 A Hero's Journey portrays the passage of a day through the use of color to exaggerate the time of day. This narrative follows the life of a teenage boy, who spends his whole story wasting the day away on his phone. This shows the opportunity for a "hero's journey" which is the progression of a broad narrative mixed with the way people in modern day society use their time. The format of this piece was inspired by Alphonse Mucha's quadriptych artwork representing the four seasons. |
Critical Investigation Research:
In this Dry point / Watercolor Collage, I wanted to show the affects that smartphone addictions have on people's lives. These include:
Oblivion: In the current era, smartphones are becoming more and more involved in people's lives; people can't be seen without their smartphone lying somewhere nearby or in their hand. People are becoming less and less involved with their life, their environment and the people who surround them due to the usage of their smartphones. People use smartphones when they are bored, sad, stressed, which are all natural human emotions people face that are now avoided and dismissed by the smartphone. Creativity: People's most creative thoughts come when they are bored. When you stop to think and analyze your life and your surroundings, new ideas emerge and having times in your life when you have nothing going on and nothing to fill the silence is a time when you can be alone with your thoughts and reflect on your life. Smartphones take away our time to think and process. This subject relates to my theme of security from anxiety because people look to their smartphones and use them as an escape from life. |
Prioritizing: Smartphones are replacing items and objects like calculators, cameras, the GPS, and flashlights but also replacing the people in our life. We are starting to look at our phones more than have to look at other people and socialize and we are starting to ask Google more questions rather than asking anyone in our life them: teachers, parents, grandparents, family members, friends, neighbors, etc. Being social on the internet compared to being social in real life is very different and people today are starting to replace moments and conversations that could've happened in real life with texts and messages on the internet.
Health:
Health:
- Smartphones are taking their toll on our social life and our physical health: abusing a smartphone leads to neck and back problems by straining your spine from bending over for long periods of time and also inflamed tendons in the wrist, thumb and elbow from texting and holding the phone.
- It disturbs a feature in our nervous system called Dopamines, a neurotransmitter that seeks attention from our lives and sends it to our Opiod system which reacts to this stimulus and triggers responses that makes a person feel pleasure. Every time someone uses their phone or gets a notification, dopamine is delivered to the Opiod system and depending on whether or not it satisfies your want, it'll either bring pleasure or a desire that'll want you to find more.
Brody, Jane E. "How smartphone addiction is affecting our physical and mental health." Seattle Times, The Seattle Times, 27 Jan 2017, https://www.seattletimes.com/life/wellness/how-smartphone-addiction-is-affecting-our-physical-and-mental-health/
Fitzpatrick, Sophie. "What to Know About Phone Addiction and Brain Development." Edgy Labs, Edgy Labs LLC., 13 Feb, 2018. https://edgylabs.com/smartphone-addiction-and-brain-development
Martos, Maria. "HOW YOUR SMART PHONE IS HURTING YOUR BODY." SageWood Wellness Center, Sagewood Wellness Center. 6 April, 2016, http://www.sagewoodwellness.com/how-your-smart-phone-is-hurting-your-body/
Fitzpatrick, Sophie. "What to Know About Phone Addiction and Brain Development." Edgy Labs, Edgy Labs LLC., 13 Feb, 2018. https://edgylabs.com/smartphone-addiction-and-brain-development
Martos, Maria. "HOW YOUR SMART PHONE IS HURTING YOUR BODY." SageWood Wellness Center, Sagewood Wellness Center. 6 April, 2016, http://www.sagewoodwellness.com/how-your-smart-phone-is-hurting-your-body/
Inspiration:
Mucha: I was inspired by the transition of day into night and the transition of winter into spring, summer into fall; The daily and yearly cycle of the world. I was also inspired to create multiple panels of the same setting which is relatively similar to Mucha's works depicting the four seasons of Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall as four women separated by panels. I planned to use a similar style as Mucha's Art Nouveau: black lined outlines of objects and people with soft, pale colors.
Warhol: The repetition in my artwork was inspired by Warhol's work of Marilyn Monroe and Campbell's soup cans although the repetition in my artwork might have a different metaphor than Warhol's work. The reason there are multiple prints was to show the transition of the day passing by as the man sits on his smartphone all day.
Warhol: The repetition in my artwork was inspired by Warhol's work of Marilyn Monroe and Campbell's soup cans although the repetition in my artwork might have a different metaphor than Warhol's work. The reason there are multiple prints was to show the transition of the day passing by as the man sits on his smartphone all day.
Mucha, Alphonse. "The Four Seasons." Animation Treasures, WordPress, https://one1more2time3.wordpress.com/2013/06/30/muchas-4-seasons/
Warhol, Andy. "Marilyn." WideWalls. Modern and Contemporary Art Resource, 2018. https://www.widewalls.ch/10-faces-by-andy-warhol-february-2015/
Warhol, Andy. "Marilyn." WideWalls. Modern and Contemporary Art Resource, 2018. https://www.widewalls.ch/10-faces-by-andy-warhol-february-2015/
Planning:
When planning this project, I had two different versions of the piece in mind:
1) The first planning sketch was vertical; It included one window in the room and the boy who is the "protagonist" of the "hero's journey" who is sitting criss-cross with his shoulders and back hunched over his smartphone underneath the window. This sketch did not have a lot of detail besides the curtains and the boy which put emphasis on the boy but did not show a lot of what he was missing.
2) The second sketch was horizontal. It included the whole bedroom; windows, bed, posters, backpack, pillows and clothes. This sketch had asymmetrical balance whereas the first sketch had symmetrical balance. This sketch also had more positive space utilized in it while the first sketch had more negative space. There was more to look at in the second sketch, showing the parts of his life he is taking for granted and ignoring.
1) The first planning sketch was vertical; It included one window in the room and the boy who is the "protagonist" of the "hero's journey" who is sitting criss-cross with his shoulders and back hunched over his smartphone underneath the window. This sketch did not have a lot of detail besides the curtains and the boy which put emphasis on the boy but did not show a lot of what he was missing.
2) The second sketch was horizontal. It included the whole bedroom; windows, bed, posters, backpack, pillows and clothes. This sketch had asymmetrical balance whereas the first sketch had symmetrical balance. This sketch also had more positive space utilized in it while the first sketch had more negative space. There was more to look at in the second sketch, showing the parts of his life he is taking for granted and ignoring.
Color and Value: I planned to not use value when I etched my drawing onto the plexiglass because I planned to paint, with watercolors the different times of day which would include different shadows and values. If I would've added value to the plexiglass, the values would be the same for every print although they are supposed to represent the different times of day since the source of light, the sun, would be positioned in different places and casting different kinds of shadows. I practiced, using colored pencils, coloring the sky during the different kinds of day: sunrise, dusk, night, etc.
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I started brainstorming ideas of how I was going to set up my Dry Point. I wanted the boy in my piece to move positions as the day went on. This would symbolize his restlessness and emphasis how that would be the only movement he would make in his story; the only "scene change". I thought of ways I could have the boy moving:
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Process:
After creating the planning sketches and practicing painting with[chose the horizontal planning sketch since it showed more of]\the space surrounding the person symbolizing the parts of his lif'e that he's missing out on by wasting hours on his phone. It also \shows how he hasn't moved from that one area in his room except ]'to roll over or sit up.
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- After completing the plexiglass etching, I cut out sheets of watercolor paper (26.5 cm x 20.25 cm) from one giant sheet of paper using a paper cutter. I cut 8 sheets to use.
- When all sheets were cut, I then filled a plastic container with water and put 3 sheets in to soak at a time, making sure to press down on them to evenly soak the whole surface. It's necessary for the paper to be wet since it opens the fibers in the paper and allows the ink to enter and print more detailed.
After that, I put gloves on and grabbed a pallet knife, Akua Printmaking Ink, and my plexiglass etching plate.
- First, I took ink from the Akua container on my pallet knife and drizzled it around the plate using little ink at first. I spread those drizzles around making sure they got in the carvings and over the entire surface. I added more if there was not enough ink. (For my first print, I added too much ink which was very hard to wipe off in my next step of the process).
- Next, I took a paper napkin and folded it in half and rubbed the plexiglass in a downward motion to get the ink off. (Later on, I started to use the ink to create value by not rubbing as hard or rubbing in a circular motion to experiment with how the prints came out although I didn't plan to use ink as value).
- I tried not to rub too hard so the ink wouldn't be pale or missed a few lines and I also made sure to get rid of any ink on the other side of the plexiglass.
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(I made a mistake with my first print by putting the paper down first and the plexiglass on top. Ink got on the bottom layer of the blankets. After that, I made sure to have multiple layers of newsprint above and below the print. But, after awhile my prints started to come out creased from all of the newsprint layers getting wet and smashed below it, so I took out a few layers of the newsprint paper).
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- I painted each print to represent a time of day. I used colors that don't exactly portray an accurate or realistic representation of the hour but it's supposed to give the viewer the idea of the time.
- I used the colors: Ultramarine, Vermillion, White and Cadmium Yellow to make all of the background colors.
- I started with the "Dusk" print, which I made a low opacity of Ultramarine. (It was very hard to distribute the color around the print evenly so it ended up looking very splotchy and sloppy. I attempted to fix this by adding more water to my paintbrush to blend across easier). (Before I painted Dusk Ultramarine, I made a color that combined all colors, Ultramarine, Cadmium Yellow, Vermillion and White, but I discarded it since the color did not fit the pattern of the soft, primary and secondary colors. The color created from these colors did not express any time of day rather expressed something more like the beginning of a storm).
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- I did the same technique with the rest of he objects, painting the first layer of the object farthest away from the light source and on the black outlines and then going over that with another layer.
- I especially used that technique when I painted the curtains. I observed with curtains that the more folds there are, the darker and more opaque the color becomes. Where I etched lines in the curtains, I painted the most layers of white to make them look realistic.
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Reflection:
After analyzing my final product, I wish I would have took more time into carefully painting each object and experimented more with how the paint would react to the kinds of strokes I was making prior to doing so on the prints.
I also realized I should've went over some of the black lines with the inking pen since the prints look very faded and it was hard to tell what each object was. Compared to Mucha's Art Nouveau art style, which I inspired my style off, I would need to make the outlines darker and also add more detail into the piece. I plan on going back into this piece and refining the lining and the coloring, making it look more clear. |
ACT Questions:
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
The way I presented my artwork, 2 prints across and 3 prints downward is the result of the format of my inspiration's format.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author regarding my inspiration is an article describing their impact on portraits.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Warhol was important to the way we perceived art.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
Portraits and commercial art for products and making a style that impacted society and became very popular, with both Mucha and Warhol.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred that during the era Warhol became popular, a lot of artistic breakthroughs and revolutions were also occurring.
The way I presented my artwork, 2 prints across and 3 prints downward is the result of the format of my inspiration's format.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author regarding my inspiration is an article describing their impact on portraits.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Warhol was important to the way we perceived art.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
Portraits and commercial art for products and making a style that impacted society and became very popular, with both Mucha and Warhol.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred that during the era Warhol became popular, a lot of artistic breakthroughs and revolutions were also occurring.