Experimental Portrait Project Evaluation

For this project I produced a self-portrait because I felt more comfortable drawing/painting myself because if I would have drawn a peer, they may not have liked how I portrayed them, especially since the portraits are meant to be experimental. 

The artists that I looked at for the critical studies were Andy Warhol, Maggi Hamling and Chuck Close. Andy Warhol’s work appeals to me because of the bright and simplistic colours, and the bright colours against a black background creating a vivid contrast. Maggi Hamling’s work appeals to me because of the brush technique she uses to create her portraits, and the thick paint used; I also like how in the study I did, the paint slightly covers the face—it looks as if the portrait is hidden. Chuck Close’s work appeals to me because I love how he uses creative pattern to build up his portraits, and the size of his work.

I applied scraffito to a part of one of my portraits, and I also used graphite and coloured pencil for a number of portraits.

I believe my mood boards turned out quite good because I planned them and took my time on them. Another reason they turned out well is because I tested the colours/media I was going to use on a scrap piece of paper first before applying them.

I believe my final piece is quite effective, but could be better. I incorporated coloured pencil on newspaper, which turned out quite well; the newspaper made it quite hard to see the pencil. I also used graphite on white acrylic, which I believe went well. My final piece could be better because I didn’t spend enough time on it.

I feel I have improved my experimental drawing skills because this project taught me some new techniques and I’m slowly becoming more confident with it.

The time management with this project was hit and miss because some days I felt focused and I feel that I got some good work done on those days, but other days I wasn’t focused and I was tired, unwell or distracted. Also, I sometimes didn’t feel very motivated to work.

 

I feel that the mood boards had the correct amount of time spent on them, however they could have had more thought put into them. But within the time frame, I believe they are the best I could produce. Although, I feel that the final piece is not the best I could produce within the time frame, as I didn’t spend enough time on it.

I really enjoyed this project because I enjoy drawing portraits, I enjoy and feel more comfortable drawing them over the studies in the observational project. I used to draw portraits before I started college, but not still lives and other focuses similar to the observational project. It was fun to do portraits in different formats and discovering how to experiment with them.