Fade: School Assignment

It's been a little while since I've made a new blog post, and that's for various reasons. 1) I've been sick. 2) Senior paper. 3) College app preparation. 4) Maybe I'm a little lazy. I'll stop tossing excuses at you, however, and go ahead and just make a new post (as if that wasn't already obvious.) This piece is the third in my concentration for school, and it's titled Fade.

Remember when I mentioned confusing compositions? This is the epitome of them.

This piece is supposed to showcase the prison of fear. I chose to avoid using any colors at all to resurrect that old, grayscale, horror movie feeling, while also emphasizing the use of black because most of the things we associate with fear or are afraid of are black. We're afraid of the dark, of oblivious, of the things the go bump in the night. The ooze that the girl is sinking into is her fear, and it's swallowing her whole much like so many people's doubts and concerns do. As disappears into her own fear, she reaches up to the sky, and more specifically, the moon. It's the last touch of light in her world before she disappears, and she's asking it to save her from the darkness that is swarming around her.

This is a HUGE Picture, so here are some close ups of the details;

Dagger Flicky

Look at that hideous dagger. Look at it. *shudders*

This is my friend's original character. Flicky.

Soccer Kick Annie

This is Annie, my previously mentioned original character. She's in soccer. She likes to kick things.

I don't know how to draw her properly kicking things.

Bottle It Up

This is another drawing of my original character, Kaya, though this one is much older than the other. This drawing is supposed to express Kaya's unwavering desire to protect herself from being hurt by others due to past experiences, which directly contributes to her standoffish attitude and requirement for isolation. 

Wilt: School Assignment

This is a piece I drew for my concentration in art class. For those of you who are curious, the concept that I chose to explore is "Everyday Prisons." This is my effort of looking at the most mundane and common things in our lives and perceiving them as some might; a trap, a cage. A prison. 

This is the second piece in my concentration, following one that attempted to display the prison of mind. In this one, I chose to pursue the concept of commitment and how some people feel as if they're being strangled by it. I tried to represent the idea of devotion by taking the two things that are most often regarded as "for life," marriage and death, and combined them. 

The bride and the blossomed roses behind her are meant to symbolize love, but as the picture transitions you see her dress and the flowers slowly beginning to change. They start to transform into something different; something darker. Her wedding dress turns into a funeral gown as she faces the death of her independence, and the roses wilt alongside her individuality. As the blossoms begin to fall apart, your eyes move to the close up--which is meant to be the bride and how she actually feels about marriage. It's a collar, and she's being led down the aisle to be imprisoned by a commitment she isn't ready to devote herself to. 

There are some things that I realize might be confusing; for example, why isn't the close up of the bride wearing a dress? I wanted to emphasize the collar. Why are the two women in your drawing? There aren't, I just decided that confusing compositions are my favorite thing. Wait until you see my latest concentration piece.... *teardrop*

tl;dr: it's supposed to represent the fear of commitment and how some people feel trapped by it. Woo!

A Sketch

Here, have one. This is one of my oc's. Neil. 

Smoke

Here's another one of my original characters, Kaya, enjoying a morning smoke after a rough night. 

I drew this quite some time ago. It was relatively soon after I got my new laptop, and I drew it so that it could be my desktop background. This was also my excuse to flesh out her tattoo and more properly draw its texture. 

If Annie ever had a tattoo, it would probably look like this. 

Some Progress

I received my digital tablet in the early summer of 2013 as an early birthday gift from my grandmother. I spent several months pretending I knew how to draw and creating monstrosities like this: 

It's okay. I understand if you shielded your eyes. I don't blame you. I do have to say, however, that it's still a step up from the sixth grade, where every piece of art I drew included alien-faced white girls with exposed tummies. I've evolved though!

...to not-so-alien-faced white girls with exposed tummies...

That's not the point of this post though. One of my really close friends berates themselves because their art doesn't appear to have improved very much over the last few years, or even changed at all. I disagree with her entirely, but sometimes it's difficult to notice the way our art differs over the course of time. It could be because we're blinded by self-doubt and discord, or it could be that said progress is leisure; it takes its time. It happens so slowly that we don't even see it.

So, take a look back, and see where you were years ago, and give yourself a pat on the back.

I'm gonna go eat a bagel.

Teardrop Nel

This drawing...this drawing was a disaster. Once again, I took the time to draw a portrait of my friends original character--her name's Nel--but this time I faced several bouts of frustration, anger, dislike, and irritation. It's a running joke between my friend and I that, whenever I draw Nel, I always have a difficult time. This time was no different. That being said I was still surprised when it turned out to be 

the 

most

infuriating

drawing I've started since the beginning of the school year. 

It took just over 10 hours to complete, and I cannot tell you how many of those hours I spent trying to perfectly draw that leather jacket. (I'll give you a hint: it was too many.) 

Originally, this piece was much more green, but because my friend, and this character's creator, said it reminded her too much of another one of her creations we decided it best to change it. And thus, this lavender/periwinkle/pink disaster game to be. 

It's not so bad, I suppose. I just liked the green a lot better.