Senior Project Photo Display

On January 25th, I had an event to display the photos I took for my senior project. For my senior project, I learned digital photography and the basics of photo editing using Photoshop. I also researched how companies' use of Photoshop on models in advertisements effects people's self esteem. For my product, I created a mock clothing ad for Armani Exchange. I used two different models and had them do the same 8 poses. I only changed the lighting levels and converted my first model's photos to sepia or black and white, but in my second model's photos, I did these things as well as reshaping his features, and airbrushing his skin- things that many advertisers do to their models in ads. Accompanying my photos was a survey asking my audience which set of photos they preferred and why, so I could gain insight on the effect that Photoshopped models has on people. 

Self Portrait

This is a monochromatic self portrait done in acrylic. I used purple paint and tinted and shaded it with black and white to get different values. This portrait was a challenge for me because the reference picture I used did not have very distinctive highlights or shadows in it, so it was hard for me to get the painting to look three-dimensional.

Derek Hess Sketchbooks

These sketchbooks were done in preparation for my Derek Hess project. All of these sketchbook assignments were done in a combination of ink and watercolor. Each sketchbook was done on a 9 by 6 inch piece of watercolor paper. The linework done in ink was challenging for me, especially since a lot of his drawings are gestural. For these sketchbooks, I drew the pictures with pencil, drew in the line work with microns, erased my pencil markings with a kneaded eraser, and then painted the drawings with watercolors.

Watercolor Project #2

This was my second watercolor project, done in the style of Alex Pardee. I took two of his paintings and combined them into one. Fitting the two paintings together into something cohesive was somewhat of a challenge for me, but it was also fun. I started by sketching the outline, then painting the background. For the objects in the painting, I first did a wash of the object's color, added in darker values to shade it, and added highlights at the end. I did all of the inking at the end with microns.

Watercolor Sketchbook Set #2

This was my second sketchbook set practicing Alex Pardee's style. For these, i used a combination of inking and watercolor. I had never combined these two mediums before, so it was fun to experiment with this style. For both paintings, I sketched the drawing in pencil, then painted it, and added some detailing with micron pens and white watercolor.

Inking Sketchbook Set #2

This sketchbook set was to practice Alex Pardee's style. These were particularly challenging for me, because inking isn't one of my strong points and the line work in these drawings were very intricate. I sketched out all of the drawings first, then did outlines and finished with the more detailed line work. After this sketchbook set I feel a lot more confident in my inking abilities.

Sea Change

This was my first acrylic project this year, and is an original painting done in the style of Camilla D'errico. Above is my concept sketch, and below is the finished product. I used predominantly pinks and reds, and included machinery and animals like she often does in her paintings. This painting features a girl with caterpillars in a jar on her head, which travel through her and leave her mouth as butterflies. The concept behind this painting is in spite of the fact that we may have repellent things inside of us, we also possess the potential to let those things out as something more beautiful. Though I was overall pretty satisfied with the outcome of this painting, I could've added more shading to her face to create more depth and more highlights to her hair, as well as more shading to the wings of the butterflies.