Caterpillar: in Progress

Project 2: Up close and Personal

Artists Develop Art Making Skills

Did you learn new techniques or processes as part of the work for this project?

For this project, I learned how to work with new mediums. I already new how to use colored pencils, but I learned new techniques for the oil pastels and the chalk pastels. For the chalk, I learned pretty quickly that you have to stay neat and organized, otherwise your paper will get messy and smeared.
Did you gain skill with familiar materials?

I was familiar with oil pastels before doing this project, but I picked up more techniques in the exercises that we did before starting. For example, I learned that with oil pastels, you have to shade lightly so that you can add layers as you go along. I also learned that you have to start with the medium color and then start layering with the surrounding colors. 

Artists Take Risks

Did you try something that you weren’t sure about as part of this project?

I knew exactly what I was doing for the actual caterpillar, but when I finished, I still wasn't sure what to do for the background and the table. So I decided to try a sunset, and I was nervous that it wasnt going to turn out well, but halfway through I new that it was a good idea. I then decided that the table had to be something that goes outside to go with the outside theme. So I decided to do a picnic table, which was challenging because wood is detailed, but I think the backgrounds turned out good.
Did you pick a material or technique that was new or different over something that was familiar?

I had never worked with chalk pastels, so for this project I definetly took a risk. I could have easily picked colored pencils, something I am familiar with and have been using for awhile, but I decided to use the chalk pastels so that I could learn how to use them and broaden my experience. 

Artists Collaborate

Did you ask another student for feedback during your work process?

After I finished the caterpillar, I was unsure of what to do for the background. At first I was just going to do a gray table and blue background, but then some of my peers threw around some ideas, and I decided that a sunset in the background would look nice.
Did someone help you understand important information or inspire you?

I sit next to some very good artists, and I think that helps me alot, because they inspire me with their creativity and help me with ideas when I am not sure what to draw or what colors to use. They are very helpful and inspiring in the fact that they are very talented. 

Caterpillar sketch

Caterpillar thumbnails

Can of soda: oil pastels

I thought this assignment was the hardest because it is very important to shade with the shape, and shade lightly, and I wish I would have realized to shade lightly a little sooner, because I started to dark and it made it very hard to blend together the colors. 

Candy: chalk pastels

I liked the chalk pastels the best, because it is erasable, which is helpful to me because I make mistakes easily, and it blended the colors together nicely. 

Lollipop colored pencil

I used colored pencil to draw a lollipop. I thought the colored pencil was the second hardest to use because it was so hard to blend the colors. It was difficult to find the different values in the lollipop wrapper, but I enjoyed this. 

Project 1:Scientific

1.       What where some of your design solutions to the theme Scientific?

Some of my designs were butterflies, and an eye. I chose these because when I think of scientific, I think of body parts and different types of animals. I really liked the butterfly idea because I drew them flying off into the distance. 

2.      How beneficial were the mini lessons in the success of your project. If they were not beneficial please explain as well.

The mini lessons were very helpful especially since It was the first project of the semester, and I hadn't drawn anything major before then. I would have liked more time to practice because when I started the project I didnt feel ready. However, once I started drawing I got the hang of it. 

3.      How did you show contrast in your work?

I showed contrast in my work by showing the black and white values of the butterflies wings. The outer parts were darker than the inside. Throughout the center, I showed the different values as well. The part that contrasted the most was the butterflies against the light sky. I made sure to keep all parts of the sky lighter than the darkest parts of the butterflies to make the butterflies stand out. 

4.      What medium did you decide to use? Why did you choose this medium over the others?

I chose the pencil, because throughout all the mini lessons I felt most confident in the medium. I think that when it comes to shading and showing values of things, the pencil is best for me to use. The charcoal and pen were hard for me to control, and it was hard to show technique with them. 

5.      What techniques did you use to create this work?

I used the technique of shading throughout this project. By shading, I showed the different values of the butterflies as the sun hits them. I also used shading to showcase how the sky gets darker as it gets farther from the sky. 

6.      We encourage risk taking in art. Risk taking can be as simple as trying a new technique or learning about a new medium to as complex as trying something totally new.  Did you take any risks with this project?

I think I took a risk when I decided to make the butterflies fly into the sun, because I had to make the sizes of the butterflies get smaller as they get farther away from eyesight. I also had to draw them from different angles, which was challenging at times. 

7.      Discuss your overall experience with this project.

I really enjoyed this project, I think it was a perfect start to the semester. I am glad I chose pencil, it was the best medium to showcase the values of the butterflies, but still keep everything neat and orderly. My biggest challenge was drawing the wings of the butterflies symmetrical, but I think in the end I did well. Another challenge was surprisingly the small butterflies, because at first I could not get the shape right. In the end, I am proud of this project and I think I showed good value and contrast with the butterflies against the sky. It was a good first project in Art 2.