Art Two Final Portfolio

1.  For my most successful project, i have chosen my cactus drawing.  The topic was scientific so i chose to make a cactus because plants are sciency.  To make this project i started out by drawing some thumbnails to plan out the composition.  I definitely think that i made choices that were beneficial to the project such as the size.  The drawing is fairly large which makes it look cooler in person.  I also used a variety of pencils to make the shading better.  It was also a good idea to make the ends fade as they reach the top. Overall i think that the cactus was a pretty successful drawing.

2. For my least successful project i chose the mixed media.  I did this because even though i liked the way it looked, the project fell apart easily.  Real guitar strings require a lot of tension to keep them straight and the tacks on cardboard just didn't hold up.  I think that i could have made the project better by making a more interesting background.  I also would have liked to use a wooden board instead of cardboard so that it would stay together.  Overall i think the reason that this project wasnt very good is because i didn't have enough time to work.  We were pretty rushed at the end of the year and you can see that in the piece.  I do like the designs on the guitar body though. 

 
3.  The two projects that i thought showed the most growth were my up close piece and my lollipop drawing.  For the up close and personal project i believe that i grew a lot since i learned how to use and blend oil pastels.  The shadows were really fun to make and i thought the whole project was a good learning experience.  I got better at making surfaces appear round as well.  The Lollipop was a good project because i got better at copying from a real object.  I had the dum dum in front of me and i just practiced drawing what i saw.  It was also the first thing that i have actually taken time on while using colored pencils.  These are the two drawings that i believe show the most growth.

4. The mini lessons that i thought were the most beneficial were the soda can and the candy drawings.  The can was with oil pastels.  That lesson really taught me how to blend the pastels and make shapes that look 3d.  Shadows were another thing that i learned how to do.  The candy was made with chalk pastels.  Even though the final project didn't turn out that well, i learned a lot.  This was the first time that i had ever used chalk so i didn't know what to expect.  I still fell like i could use a lot more practice with chalk.  I dont think i got enough instruction on it which is why i like oil better.

5.  My favorite medium to work with was the oil pastels.  I really like how they look after the piece is done but i also think that they are fun to use.  The bright colors are probably my favorite thing about them.  I also really like how you can blend and layer the colors.  The only bad part about them is that you have to be a little careful not to smudge the paper with them.  The other reason why i like oil pastels is because i think that the project i made with them looked good.  The pastel project was one of my more successful pieces thanks to the medium that i used.