Printmaking!



Printmaking!

 





This is a print made from a linoleum stamp. The linoleum is carved into using special carving tools. The part that is carved away will be blank white space in the print, and the part that is not will catch the ink. In creating a print, the most important part to focus on is the composition of your picture. While there are multicolor prints, the type of print shown here essentially has only two colors: the background, and whatever color ink you use. Even if you want a print that fades from one color to another (like mine pictured above), you would still have the same composition. It is vital that the ink and the background create a composition that is pleasing to the eye if the print is to be successful.

The next step is to begin printing. Ink is rolled onto the stamp using a brayer, which is like a rubber paint roller. The stamp is used to transfer the ink to a sheet of paper, and, voila!, the print is finished!

This is a fun and fairly easy project. Sometimes my prints came out a little blurry, but I love my composition and was able to get quite a few successful prints. I learned how to make a print go from one color to another. You have to put one color of ink on one end of the brayer, another color on the other, and then blend them together in the middle. I really like this effect, and am very happy with my work!

Frog Tounge

Frog Tongue

This is another image created in photoshop. This image is really gross, but making it taught me a lot about photoshop. To make it, a picture of a frog was manipulated to match the tongue of another photo. I learned how to use photoshop to color things to match each other, make things look 3-D and rounded, and put two photos together to make one. Photoshop can also be used to darken or lighten parts of a photo. I now know all the basics of the program, and can make many different pictures.

Angry Pancakes

Angry Pancakes

This picture was created in photoshop. Before doing this project, I had no idea how to manipulate an image like this. Photoshop makes it easy and enjoyable to create unique pictures. This project was really fun, and I learned a lot about photoshop that I didn't know before. The image was created easily by stretching and clipping existing photos and putting them together to make a new one.

Photo Stencil

 

For this project, we used a photo and put it into photoshop. I had never used photoshop before, and that was one of the things I learned during this project. In photoshop, I converted my photo onto a three color scale, and chose the colors yellow, orange, and pink. We took a picture of the altered photo and projected it so that we could trace each color onto poster board. Then, using an exacto knife, we cut out what we traced to create three stencils. We taped each stencil onto painted cardboard. First, I spray painted orange, then yellow, then pink. When you spray paint, you have to be careful because there are many errors you can make. If you paint on top of a color before it dries (so both colors are wet), it turns out looking something like this: 

 

One mistake I made was pulling up the stencil too early after I spray painted... It smears the paint!

However, you don't want to pull it up too late either, as this will cause the dried paint to stick to the stencil and peel off. Another common error was cutting too much out of the stencil and missing features of the photo.

 

I think my project was successful because it turned out looking quite nice and matched the photo. I like the way I contrasted the spray paint colors with the blue background. I was able to cover up my mistakes because they were only on the first layer, and the final product looked very neat.

 

Layers Pro

 

 

This picture was done on an ipad using a program called Layers Pro. I am aware that it is unfinished, however, we had only a limited period of time to work on it in our Media Center. This project was actually quite tricky to do. Layers Pro is a really neat app to work with; it lets you have different layers for the background and features, you can mix and smear colors, and choose all different types of virtual tools to work with. However, I had a tough time successfully mixing the colors; they almost always came out too light or too dark. In contrast, using real oil pastels, which sounds much harder, was actually easier, and mine turned out beautifully. I didn't have the problem with over-blending the pastels, and everything felt more controlled and manageable. However, technology is important to art. Many amazing things have been created lately that could not be done without the ability of modern technology to manipulate colors, lines, and overall image. Layers Pro makes this picture blended and created simply and beautifully, and a picture is produced that has a sharpness that cannot be produced through other art materials or media.



 

Contour Shoe Drawing

 

This shoe was done with a technique called contour line drawing. In doing this technique, the artist is supposed to draw all the lines and creases in the object, without picking up their pen. This is much more than just a simple outline! Although this may sound tricky and tedious, the contour technique is a valuable skill that can help to enhance an artist's abilities. In drawing a contour, an artist learns to look at the lines, folds and depressions of an object, helping to see the true shape. This can prepare an artist to succeed at shading, because shading should fit the shape of the object drawn. Shading value is, in my opinion, the most important element of art, because it adds dimension and is the first step in bringing a work of art to life. Contour drawing can help you get to this step, and if done well, can produce just as satisfying a product as a fully - shaded piece.

Drawing a cartoon's skeleton probably isn't the first thing on most peoples' minds when they think of an art class -- they might think, "oh, cool, a bunch of high school kids painting pretty pictures!" The thing about drawing a skeleton is that it make you think; you have to really look at the bones and, as Ms. Rossi explains it, draw what you see instead of what you think you see. Drawing a cartoon skeleton is taking it one step further -- not only do you have to imagine what the skeleton should look like, you have to exaggerate the bones to fit that image. I chose Tod from The Fox and The Hound. (Tod is the fox, and I used a baby picture of him.) I was hoping I'd have to exaggerate a lot for this, but unlike some of the characters that had enormous heads or elephant feet, Tod is pretty proportional. I mostly had to exaggerate the shape of his bones, like his head and paws. The most exaggerated feature proportionally are his huge eyes (so cute!). The hardest part by far was figuring out how to draw his hips when his legs were all folded up like that. I figured it out, but I still think the angle at which I drew his legs could be improved. Overall, I really like how he turned out and I'm very happy with the final drawing! :)