Almost there...

Aw man at the finals! I just finished week 8 of spring quarter. Two more to go!

I have one more test and one more quiz to study for in Art History II. I love that class and I always go home so inspired but I HATE the stress of studying for a test. Its this feeling you get, cramming the night before when you don't know if you've studied enough or not. Then you feel sick to your stomach as the professor passes out the test... the moment of truth. When I get the test, I am so afraid I will forget everything that I end up with hand cramps trying to get the information down so quickly.

In Drawing and Design for Illustrators, my final is to design a book jacket for a creepy novel. I chose Beloved, by Toni Morisson. I read this book in highschool and loved it.... i beloved it. lol
This one should actually not be too bad because we were assigned it on Monday of week 8 and have until monday of week 10. Much less stressful than the last assignment for this class (the Dancer project below).

In Drawing III, I have to finish my abstraction project that I was given an extra week on. I really like the project but the problem is, I am working on it at the same time that I am working on my final project for this class which I am more excited about.

For the abstraction project, we used a large paper ... I think 50 inches by 18 inches and transferred at least 20 figure drawing from class on the paper overlapping each other. We also chose a color palette and stained the paper with one of those colors (I stained w/ blue-green) and we were not allowed to use that color again on the drawing. So what I want blue-green, I have to let show through. The spaces left by the overlapping figures are then to be filled with distinct mark making similar to the mark making used by artists like Van Gogh, Boccioni, Picasso, Cadmus, Chuck Close, etc... So the drawing starts from observation (of the nude models) and is then abstracted sometimes to such an extent that it will appear non-representational. I am leaving some figures visible though but only like 3 out of 20.

The final for this class, I am most excited about. It is a symbollic portrait of someone we know. I was going to do a portrait of Zac, my boyfriend at first but decided against it for several reasons. One, it would almost be too easy. Two, I thought this would be a better opportunity to learn something about someone else close to me... and flatter them.
I chose Ashley, my little sister as my subject....victim! :-)
I always would start to paint her portrait but always got distracted. I don't carry out half of my painting ideas. She is a big fan of my art and I wanted to make something especially for her.
And with this assignment, EVERYTHING symbolizes her personality.
The assignment- A 36" square paper covered with what my professor called a "kazillion" drawings of things that represent my little sister. I included at least 200 drawing of things like Ashley's favorite photos, 3 of her stuffed animals, her prom crossage, her fave animal- penguins, bookmarks, journals, her converses, tracks off her Wall-E poster in her room, her glasses, lollipops, the number 14, dreamcatchers, gothic style crosses, apples, and cut in half apples with the star showing, one of her headbands, her eyes, coke tabs, ... I think thats everything.
So the entire basis of the drawing is made up of 200 drawings of her belongings, off of which we are to make the rest of the decisions for the project.
The next step was to choose a compositional format that fits her personality. My choices are a circular composition, a square/rectangular composition, a trinagular comp, a swirling comp, a , a banded comp, a S curve comp,asymmetrical X composition, or a radial composition.
I thought about which of these describe her in my mind.
The circular reflects her love of polka-spot patterns but didn't seem to describe her personality. The square/ rectangle comp doesn't work for her because it suggests a personality that is eaither very boring or very stable. She's not that boring and because she is a young teenage girl, she's not that stable.
The triangular works because it is the compositional format traditonally used in religious painting, representative of the holy trinity- 3 points on a triangle and she is very religious. The problem here is that a triangle on its base again suggests stability and a triangle balancing on its point suggests extreme instability like in Edvard Munch's Scream painting. Neither of these describe Ashley.
The swirling radial composition implies chaos to me. Not Ashley.
The Banded Composition, I just don't like in general.
The S-curve I would be more likely to use for a curvy adult woman. It also suggests easy-going attitudes which isn't exactly Ashley.
The Asymmetrical X was almost my choice because it could look like a rising cross, again she is very proud of her Christianity.
However, I chose the Radial Composition. Reason being:
I am incorporating pressed flowers into the drawing because they symbolize her beauty, fragility, and the whole "blossoming into a young woman" thing. Using the radial format allows me to make the entire composition into a flower shape, who's petals become rays extending from the focal point.
The next step in the assignment was to choose an element to emphasize. Out of Line, texture, color, value and shape, I chose Value. I still have time to change my mind on this one, but I chose value because the radial flower shape can start bright and fade out to darks on the edge of the drawing. This will symbolize her teenage moodiness were she can go from "beaming" happiness to a little dark and depressed.
Also, I am trying to include her face (not a requirement for the assignment) and using value should allow the face to be visible without disrupting the "kazillion" line drawings underneath. Remember, I have to make all my design decisions based on these drawings, so I am trying to FIND her face withing these already present lines.
Then we chose a color palette that is representative of the subject. I chose a Tetrad of Baby Blue and Sunkist Soda Orange- the blue and orange symbolize Auburn- our hometown. Also the Baby blue represents her innocence and purity while the bright orange represents the energy of red and the happiness of yellow and this orange is also the color of her bedroom. The remaining colors of the tetrad are red-violet symbollizing her dorky obsession with the vampire books- Twilight and yellow green in the more 1970's green because this color is present in her eyes and this color looks best on her.

This summer is coming up fast but unfortunately I can't taste it yet because of these projects AND thinking about packing and moving out on time AND I just registered for 3 college classes online at Southern union- a community college at home that start MONDAY. So I'm starting new classes while finishing these. It will be worth it though. I am paying less than $300 for each of the Southern Union Classes whose credits will transfer back to SCAD but would cost me $3,000 each at SCAD! Awesome. I know.

I will be working again this summer. I am so glad Terri lets me keep my job over breaks. I need to be making some money since I am spending SO much.

I am also applying to other schools this summer. SCAD is great but the administration here is nothing but money-sucking whores. The president- Paula Wallace is one of the highest paid college presidents in the nation and I've heard she only wears prada shoes. Pshhhh... If that tells you anything.

I have a lot of ideas for my portfolio and projects for this summer and I am working, taking classes, I want to re-continue the Illustration Friday projects, and starting appliactions for a few schools. Lets Hope I don't get too lazy.