"No such thing as scary animals"
Video Promotion Link
If the images alone didn't catch you attention, please watch this!
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XIKXdNKhhtcRipB8NmV6LHEDzAN8wC4Xd6jX-pqNrK4/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XIKXdNKhhtcRipB8NmV6LHEDzAN8wC4Xd6jX-pqNrK4/edit?usp=sharing
May Artist Statement
All Vam students had to make an independent project. Mind was a series of five acrylic paintings titled “No Such Thing As Scary Animals.” It was meant to show that animals which are normally scared of can be friendly. The independent project has been quite the xroiecne. I have never in my life done such a big art project, especially outside of my own freetime. This project has brought of a lot change to my art and to me as a person. The first thing I’d like to talk about in this wide list of changes is what it's done to my artworks style, or rather what I've had to do to make the project. My art style is meant to look scary. It's very jagged and pointy; it's very shaped based. It uses a lot of straight lines and very vibrant colors, however this project changed some things. I wanted to make the art look realistic. I had to change a lot of things to show proper depth but tried to keep some of my own, not so realistic art style as well. I did by making very jagged shading without too much blending and dry brushing as well as keeping the bright colors. This proved to be quite challenging for me due to having a lack of other artistic styles to give me ideas and inspiration. It was especially hard because my normal art style takes a lot of inspiration from different media that was completely different from what I was aiming for with this project. It was mostly a process of trying to combine a very non realistic art style with that of real images, only keeping things such as choppy shading or bright colors instead of my usual making of a bunch of different media to create a single art style.
Along with changing how I go at taking inspiration, I also had to tackle my art methods differently. Lots of my methods I used for this project are just the very simple ones that come with the medium of acrylic paint. I did a lot of dry brushing, added very little water and layered a ton of paints. All of these being the usual for acrylics. The most I did out of the norm was skip the underpainting step on a few of my paintings and just start applying colors directly to my sketch. All in all I think it turned out well, as the paintings have good depth to them. Still, using paints completely changed what my normal method is, especially because I normally go for digital art. I didn't just learn new methods, though. I learned quite a lot more, but the thing that really sticks out to me is how truly time consuming art is. I’ve learned a lot about how paint works, about how long it really takes to dry, mix and blend. I've learned the importance of layers and how they interact with other colors or even the thickness of paint. However I've also learned a lot about my own artwork and skills. I've learned that I need to practice depth and shading, especially with traditional mediums like paint,but I've also learned that I should have been giving myself more credit as I can adapt to mediums easier then I thought.
All of these trials and days full of fast paced or unexpected learning experiences have paid off. I like a lot about my project, but my favourite piece is the painting of the Aye-Ayes. I feel like it came out the nicest color wise, shading wise and overall looked the most realistic. I really like how the fur actually looks soft and properly displays lighting. I also really like how I blended the colors so that they transitioned smoothly like that of actual fur patterns. I also think I really got the whole dead eyed stare that gives the animal its name relatively accurate to my reference photo which is perfect as that's meant to be the centerpiece of the painting. I've talked about how I've learned a lot about learning and really enjoying my project but that doesn't mean I wouldn't change anything or that it's perfect. If I were to change anything about this project it would be the medium. I have a few reasons as to why I would choose to do this, but it mainly comes down to the final product and stress that came with acrylics. Painting is very hard, I needed a constant supply of fresh paint, a ton of colors so that I could mix the right one up, lots of supplies that were not easy to transport and worst of all, good lighting. If I instead chose to do something like digital I imagine I would've got it done with way less stress, time crunching and would have likely had a better outcome. But, just because I want to change some things doesn't at all mean nothing good came from this project. A lLot of things that I did surprised me, and did so in a good way.
One of the things that really jumped out and surprised me was that even though all of the pain acrylic caused me, I learned how to use it. I was working with something I knew little about, but I still managed to make something that I am actually quite proud of. I had to learn a lot, I had to work within tight time restraints because of lighting reasons, try to understand how paint really worked, learn how to paint a whole bunch of new textures but still, I managed all of that. I'm just surprised with how the quality came out, and now I know that Ii should try to experiment with art more. I think it's good that I did push myself with this medium, and I’m glad it managed to surprise me as now I know that it's something I can consider doing again.
This whole thing was a really big experience, it was good, it was bad, and it got ugly. But still, I know so much more now about art but also about my own artwork. In general, I'd like to share some things I've learned through my own work, mostly that of fluidity. I've learned that sticking to a single style whether it be realistic, a cute artstyle, or paintings with hidden meanings hasn't worked out for me at all. Going from painting angry dogs to portraits to realistic animals with strange colors has kept me motivated to continue working. I’d .like to say that my art is meant to just be the explorations of a high school student. All my works are just what I think are cool or are things that I would like to learn how to put my own spin on. I want to share that art does not need meaning, and that it can simply be made to bring joy to its creator.
All Vam students had to make an independent project. Mind was a series of five acrylic paintings titled “No Such Thing As Scary Animals.” It was meant to show that animals which are normally scared of can be friendly. The independent project has been quite the xroiecne. I have never in my life done such a big art project, especially outside of my own freetime. This project has brought of a lot change to my art and to me as a person. The first thing I’d like to talk about in this wide list of changes is what it's done to my artworks style, or rather what I've had to do to make the project. My art style is meant to look scary. It's very jagged and pointy; it's very shaped based. It uses a lot of straight lines and very vibrant colors, however this project changed some things. I wanted to make the art look realistic. I had to change a lot of things to show proper depth but tried to keep some of my own, not so realistic art style as well. I did by making very jagged shading without too much blending and dry brushing as well as keeping the bright colors. This proved to be quite challenging for me due to having a lack of other artistic styles to give me ideas and inspiration. It was especially hard because my normal art style takes a lot of inspiration from different media that was completely different from what I was aiming for with this project. It was mostly a process of trying to combine a very non realistic art style with that of real images, only keeping things such as choppy shading or bright colors instead of my usual making of a bunch of different media to create a single art style.
Along with changing how I go at taking inspiration, I also had to tackle my art methods differently. Lots of my methods I used for this project are just the very simple ones that come with the medium of acrylic paint. I did a lot of dry brushing, added very little water and layered a ton of paints. All of these being the usual for acrylics. The most I did out of the norm was skip the underpainting step on a few of my paintings and just start applying colors directly to my sketch. All in all I think it turned out well, as the paintings have good depth to them. Still, using paints completely changed what my normal method is, especially because I normally go for digital art. I didn't just learn new methods, though. I learned quite a lot more, but the thing that really sticks out to me is how truly time consuming art is. I’ve learned a lot about how paint works, about how long it really takes to dry, mix and blend. I've learned the importance of layers and how they interact with other colors or even the thickness of paint. However I've also learned a lot about my own artwork and skills. I've learned that I need to practice depth and shading, especially with traditional mediums like paint,but I've also learned that I should have been giving myself more credit as I can adapt to mediums easier then I thought.
All of these trials and days full of fast paced or unexpected learning experiences have paid off. I like a lot about my project, but my favourite piece is the painting of the Aye-Ayes. I feel like it came out the nicest color wise, shading wise and overall looked the most realistic. I really like how the fur actually looks soft and properly displays lighting. I also really like how I blended the colors so that they transitioned smoothly like that of actual fur patterns. I also think I really got the whole dead eyed stare that gives the animal its name relatively accurate to my reference photo which is perfect as that's meant to be the centerpiece of the painting. I've talked about how I've learned a lot about learning and really enjoying my project but that doesn't mean I wouldn't change anything or that it's perfect. If I were to change anything about this project it would be the medium. I have a few reasons as to why I would choose to do this, but it mainly comes down to the final product and stress that came with acrylics. Painting is very hard, I needed a constant supply of fresh paint, a ton of colors so that I could mix the right one up, lots of supplies that were not easy to transport and worst of all, good lighting. If I instead chose to do something like digital I imagine I would've got it done with way less stress, time crunching and would have likely had a better outcome. But, just because I want to change some things doesn't at all mean nothing good came from this project. A lLot of things that I did surprised me, and did so in a good way.
One of the things that really jumped out and surprised me was that even though all of the pain acrylic caused me, I learned how to use it. I was working with something I knew little about, but I still managed to make something that I am actually quite proud of. I had to learn a lot, I had to work within tight time restraints because of lighting reasons, try to understand how paint really worked, learn how to paint a whole bunch of new textures but still, I managed all of that. I'm just surprised with how the quality came out, and now I know that Ii should try to experiment with art more. I think it's good that I did push myself with this medium, and I’m glad it managed to surprise me as now I know that it's something I can consider doing again.
This whole thing was a really big experience, it was good, it was bad, and it got ugly. But still, I know so much more now about art but also about my own artwork. In general, I'd like to share some things I've learned through my own work, mostly that of fluidity. I've learned that sticking to a single style whether it be realistic, a cute artstyle, or paintings with hidden meanings hasn't worked out for me at all. Going from painting angry dogs to portraits to realistic animals with strange colors has kept me motivated to continue working. I’d .like to say that my art is meant to just be the explorations of a high school student. All my works are just what I think are cool or are things that I would like to learn how to put my own spin on. I want to share that art does not need meaning, and that it can simply be made to bring joy to its creator.