Up Close and Personal Project

Tomatoes

I encountered many obstacles in the Up Close and Personal Project that pushed me outside of my comfort zone. First off, I had trouble drawing the basic shape of a tomato in my thumbnails because they are irregular and unconventional. This was discouraging and I thought I was going to have to scrap the entire idea, but I kept trying. Secondly, I found it hard to work so slowly with the colored pencils. I am extremely glad I did though because my piece turned out to be just how I originally imagined it. I responded well to the challenges of this project because I didn't give up easily and I stayed positive.

This project was the first time I ever thought to step back and reflect on my piece. Seeing the piece from a different perspective was eye-opening because I was able to see the areas which needed to either be darkened or lightened. In addition to that, analyzing each tomato helped me to be more successful in the next one. Before this project, I considered how the colors of a tomato would work together. I practiced blending the red, orange, and yellow colored pencils before embarking on my final piece seen above. That exercise proved to be an advantage because there was little banding or obvious separation of the colors.

My table-mates were an amazing source of positive and constructive feedback during all stages of this project. Before starting the final piece, they helped me in the brainstorming phase and to narrow down my ideas to the two best ones. During the project, they offered encouraging sentiments that kept me motivated to work to the best of my ability. I feel that I was also a strong supporter for my peers in their pieces. On several occasions, I praised my classmates and revitalized their excitement.

Exploring New Mediums

Sprite Can: Oil Pastel 

Lollipop: Colored Pencil

Before beginning the Up Close and Personal Project, we explored several mediums: oil pastel, chalk pastel and colored pencil. The first mini project we did was the soda can using oil pastel. I am fond of working with oil pastel because the smooth lines it creates. My main struggle with oil pastels was pushing the lights and darks because I felt like all of the colors just ended up blending together. There is not great contrast because most of the blue values are  too similar. Overall, I was satisfied with my can because I think I did a commendable job at making it look realistic, but I did not love it. Going into the second project, I was hesitant about working with colored pencils. I never knew how much contrast one can create using this medium. The opportunity to use Prismacolors for the first time was very exciting because  I liked being able to blend the colors and make the whites stand out. I think my lollipop was the most successful out of the three projects because I created a shadow, highlighted the lights, and it looks like a real lollipop. The final project was a candy in a wrapper using chalk pastel. I like the way that the candy itself looks because of the smooth transitions between values of blue. Despite that, I struggled with my hand smudging the paper and it ended up looking messy. Also, I did not end up liking my choice of using light pink paper because the white of the wrapper was not able to stand out to create contrast. The candy in the wrapper was my least favorite project because I found chalk pastels difficult to work with. Although some like blending the colors with their fingers, I feel like it made my project look more messy. These projects helped to prepare me for the Up Close and Personal Project because I paid attention to small details. In addition to that, I plan on doing either bacon or sliced tomatoes, so I needed some practice with drawing foods. If I could add anything to these projects, I would draw deeper shadows. 

Candy in Wrapper: Chalk Pastel