Thursday, October 31, 2013

Color vs. Black and White

It all comes down to your opinion. Do you like color or black and white? To me, they were completely different experiences. Each had their own highlights and downfalls. With the black and white drawings, you really had to make the picture pop with just shades of grey. You had to make sure that you shaded in just the right spots to make the bicycle its own thing on the paper. To me, it was hard to make the bike come to life on the paper and make sure it didn't just look like it was sitting on the page. Although the bike drawing was easier than the candy jar, I personally enjoyed the colored picture more.

With the colored pencils, you didn't just have to put all your efforts into shading and value. You could play around with certain colors, mix them, match them, and make an entirely your own. Instead of blacks and greys I learned that you could use shades of blue instead.  It was fun to make things really pop off the page with colors rather than shadowing and different pressures with the pencils. Even though I liked the colored pencils more, it was really fun working on both drawings. In the end, I'm not actually sure if you can compare the two since they are two different things completely to me. One thing that was the same for both was that everyone in the class had something different on their paper for each one. It was extremely cool to see how everyone interpreted the bicycle and the candy jar in their own way. I can't wait to see what the next project is!

Candy!


It was a nice change to finally work with color. After working with the shades of grey with the bike, it was a relief to have a change of scenery. But that didn't make it any easier. While I thought the bike drawing was hard, I had no idea that this colored pencil drawing would be even harder. It's really hard knowing that once you but that pencil on your chosen paper, it's going to leave a pretty permanent mark. No more erasing! Although it was more challenging, I ended up enjoying working with it more. I'm not sure if it was the colored pencils alone or maybe just the atmosphere of having candy around you. I found it amazing to look at the glass jar, and not just see glass. I saw color, light, reflection, but at the same time you could still see through it. One of the most hardest things for me would have to be the highlighting. It was challenging trying to highlight but not have it dominate the candy inside the jar. It took a lot of back and forth coloring to make it just the way I wanted it. Another thing I liked about the colored pencils in general was the texture. It was as if you were caking the page with icing in a way, instead of just plain pencil. Overall, I was happy with my drawing and I can say that I love colored pencils!




The Motion of a Bike Drawing

Some look at a bike and they see... well... a bike! But with the process of drawing a bike, you really have to look at it in a way you have not looked at it before. It was a really cool process just to study the bike and look at it. Noticing how the light reflects and how the shadows creep along the metal. In the beginning, I can truly say that I was intimidated. How was I supposed to draw a bike and make it look real. How was I, a 10th grader, supposed to make that bicycle come to life on the paper? As the days went on I really learned how the placement of an object on the page really depicts on how the finished project looks. I realized that you really don't need to see the whole bike to know that it's a bike. With the value of a drawing, I learned that it takes patience. And by patience, I mean PATIENCE! It took a lot of redoing and going back to the same part of a page to get it right. After all the hard work, a bike drawing was made. Honestly, I was extremely surprised by the outcome. It actually looked like a bike! It made me feel good to have that feeling of accomplishment, when at the beginning, I was so nervous and not confident in myself. It's 'wow-factoring' to see the improvement from the beginning to the end.