Oil Pastel: My SAS

50% Peer Critique

My group felt that my shading and coloring on the top was good, but kind of airbrushed and too flowy, b/c it didn’t match the part below it. They really liked the idea of pops of orange on the green. When I asked them about the zipper, they gave me some really good advice to put down a base layer of black and then silver on top and carve out the silver parts of the zipper with a tool for more precision.

---

100% Peer Critique

My peer critique partner really liked the detail in my different shades of green and the texture I attempted in the bottom part of my bag. She felt that both of these were really eye-catching and made the bag look quite realistic. She also really liked my connection (which you can read more about below in my self reflection). Some critique she had was that my blacks made the drawing look very flat, which I agree with. She also noted that I ended up not doing my zippers properly, and while it doesn’t affect how the drawing looks from a distance, it would’ve improved my work if I had had time to really  some more detail into those.

---

Self Reflection

I had very mixed feelings about this unit. At first, I started off hating the oil pastels, because of how smudgy they were, and how hard it was to get a clean line. I also got really frustrated at how streaks of color would end up in places I didn’t put them (especially traumatizing were streaks of black in my near-white highlight areas). However, by the end of this unit I kinda like the pastels. I figured out how to use the smudgy-ness to my advantage and also that working from the top of the piece to the bottom really helped prevent any transfer. I also really ended up liking how easily the colors scraped up and how quickly and easily they  glide over large areas.  It was also a really forgiving material when I was attempting texture, because I could easily blend over any mistakes I made. Clean edges are still a problem, but overall, I’m actually considering this as the medium I’d like to use in my final.

I tried to keep this piece really monochrome as possible to force myself to focus on details instead of distracting myself with multiple colors (of course, there were tiny pops of orange but that was mostly to tie into my cultural connection). I think it kinda worked out. I don’t think I would’ve payed so much attention to the specific highlights and lowlights if I had tons of different colorful areas to occupy myself with. I attempted some texture in certain areas of the bag, which I think was something cool that added a little dimensionality to the piece. Overall, I think the main ways I could improve would be adding some notes of other dark colors into the black areas to make them less flat and adding more detail into the zippers.

Lastly, my connection to the theme of my SAS. I’ve had this backpack since halfway through 7th grade, and it’s been through a lot with me. It’s kinda been my security blanket. I love it because of how I can stuff a ton of things in it and have whatever I need whenever I need it. The reason I chose to add the highlighter was not only to represent the things my bag contains. I remember one time I needed a highlighter in class. I don’t remember exactly why — I think a mildly irritated sub might’ve wanted us to highlight something or that I really needed it to distinguish between two shapes on a math test. I searched my pencil case and none were there, which was shocking because I always have too much stuff in my pencil case. I desperately needed this highlighter, and I turned to my bag. I was sure I would have something or other in there, and I was not disappointed. I finally found one peeking out my zipper like a ray of fluorescent sunshine. That was one of many times my backpack saved my butt, and I am forever grateful to have it. I also chose to add the little orange pops of color you see here not only to provide interest but also to represent how my backpack, in a way, is a really stand out part of my experience at SAS. In a way, my backpack is also kind of like my experience here at SAS, because here is the place I’ve made some of my closest friends. When I finally found my friend group here, they made and continue to make me feel safe, secure, and ready for anything, just like my backpack does everyday.