Ambitious Girl Size: 91.44cm x 91.44cm Medium: Acrylic on canvas December 11, 2015
Exhibition
My overall inspiration was Roy Lichtenstein's Drowning Girl. The meaning behind my piece is that I am independent and I don't need help from others. Painting was a bit frustrating but I love the end result and that is all that counts.
Better image coming soon!
Inspiration Pop Art Roy Lichtenstein
Lichtenstein, Roy. Drowning Girl. 1963. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Art Story. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
I was automatically drawn to pop art for the inspiration of my self portrait due to the bold lines, saturated color, and simple silhouettes. I did not look to just any pop artist however, I looked to my favorite which was Roy Lichtenstein. I loved the idea of having my face be the center on the canvas because it is a self portrait. I also was intrigued by the whole message and symbolism of this piece, it was an obvious one. I knew that I wanted my piece to involve the same thing, it was love at first sight.
Meaning
Going into my piece I tried to come up with three words that described me:
Ambitious
Intelligent
Caring
The meaning behind what I want to portray in this piece is that I am independent even if I am only a teenager. Even from when I was younger, I never liked to ask for help or depend on the people around me. I rather figure things out on my own and figure out the ways that I can help myself rather than taking a handout. Getting older now, my want to be independent only increases, only I can get my education and learn for myself, only I can decide who I want to be in the long run. People around me aren't really looking out for me in my eyes, so I have to look out for myself, to benefit myself in the long run. This piece says that I don't the help of other nor do I need their favors.
Planning Sketches
I sat Roy Lichtenstein's piece directly next to me, looked at it for reference and simply began to draw the waves as they appeared while putting my own twist on them. I started off by drawing what I knew would be the top right corner of the large painting, which included bold and curved lines. My next step was to sketch the lower half of the piece which contained more detail but was more interesting. I knew that I wanted the waves to wrap around my face the same way that Roy Lichtenstein's piece wrapped around the girls face, I knew I'd have to tweak it later but continued to sketch.
I started off by first printing two images of myself and cutting it out so that I could cut it and manipulate it the way that I desired. I used the first image as the focus but I cut my hair off in that picture so I took another one with my hair included and printed that one out as well. In order to make the picture more full, I cut the hair off from the second photo and glued it to the second photo, getting the desired image of myself.
Photoshop
I my sketches into the computer and inserted them into the computer, after that I used the "Quick Select" tool in order to grab a lot of the image at once. I did this for all sketches as well as the photo of myself. I copy and pasted them in an 8in x 8in square in order to match the size/shape of my canvas. After this, I copy and pasted the bits and pieces from the sketches as well as added text to mimic my inspiration.
Using the Projector
I printed the final manipulated (through Photoshop) piece onto transparency paper and then set up a projector across from my canvas that I had previously painted with Gesso as well as white paint on top of that in order to prime the canvas and prepare it for my actual painting. I then took a pencil and sketched the lines that appeared on the canvas. I did this to get a basic layout for where I wanted to place lines and basically create an outline to follow when I began officially painting my piece.
Painting
To begin, I painted my canvas that I made using gesso in order to harden the surface that I wanted to paint on as well as to prime the surface of my canvas. I then wanted to create a base for painting on top of, I used white due to the fact that I wanted a base that wouldn't distort any of the skin tones that I had to use. After painting it white is when I used the projector to trace the image that I wanted to paint. I did not draw all lines on the canvas at first, i wanted to get most of the bold lines drawn first. I first painted my hair which was blue, i painted this first because I knew that it was one of the main things that catches the eye.
I then went in with black and painted in all of the black that I knew was in the piece. I continued to focus on the waves/background because I wanted to do the face last.
After using black and shading in all of the large black spots, I made the light blue color using blue and white. The blue that I made is darker than the one in Roy Lichtenstein's piece but I like it better because it's darker. I painted all of the large pieces using the light blue to try and get a lot done in one sitting, I did.
Next I made my skin tone using brown, white, red, and yellow. I used a lot of white brown and yellow but the small amount of red goes a long way, I only needed a small amount. After making my skin tone, I started by painting the neck of my piece. I then outlined most of my face leaving my facial features to be outlined in black.
I then outlines my face and the waves with black in order to separate sections of my face as well as sections of the waves. Then continued to shade in the areas with blue, white, and skin tone.
After doing all of that, I added small black details and I was finished.
These are the paint swatches that I used. The first one is the light blue which is what most of on my piece for the water. The pinkish tone is what I used for the lips. The nude tone is what I used for the color of my skin, and the dark blue is what I used for my hair.
Light blue
White
Blue
Pink
Skin tone
Red
Skin tone
Brown
White
Red
Yelow
Blue
I used four brushes mainly; a thick brush for the large areas, a medium one for smaller areas, a small one for tight areas, and a tiny skinny one for details.
I had two bottles of blue paint, one bottle of red, one bottle of brown, one bottle of yellow, one bottle of black, and lastly two bottles of white paint.
Reflection
I loved this piece for many reasons including the meaning as well as the overall inspiration. Painting at first was easy for me because I was only painting the large portions. I loved doing the large parts of blue and black (especially the black though just because I love the color black), because it involved straight lines and it was easy for me. Once I got to the smaller lines, it became harder for me and it frustrated me. I did enjoy the act of painting because it was a chance for me to be creative. I could've added more details and made the hair more detailed but it was a matter of time that I no longer had. Overall it was my favorite piece that I got to do in the first semester and I wouldn't have changed a thing.