AP Drawing: Created and Found Surfaces

Created Surface 

My reference: 

Process shots: 

Problem Solving: 

To be honest, I don't really like created surfaces. It's kinda like you only have one shot at getting it right on them. I mean, I guess found surfaces are similar but for me I feel like created surfaces are more high-stakes. Anyway, I had this drippy one that I made with coffee in mind (hence the little coffee mug stain). I also knew that I wanted to do prisma color markers, because I really love them but hadn't done them in a year. I also knew that I wanted to do the little squishy rubber body part things (is there any way to say that without sounding like a serial killer? I swear I've done nothing). I chose to put the hand in a position where it was touching the haywire drip in the middle there. Now admittedly, I did put it over a little too far to the left, because I wanted the drip between the middle and ring fingers, but I had already drawn the whole thing and was a little pressed for time to begin so I just rolled with it. I don't know if this is the right section to put this in but I do want to mention that I made a mistake. On a part of the mouth, I drew out my highlight areas incorrectly and the ink ended up bleeding into them, leaving me highlightless in that area. I was at first convinced that this had ruined the piece and that I'd have to add it back with acrylic. I made a step towards solving a problem with my perception of art in general, that you should try as hard as possible to get it to be what you originally wanted in your head. Instead, I kinda went with the flow and it wasn't that bad (more on this later in my found surface).

Creativity: 

Because I had this coffee-y created surface, I wanted to kind of do the senses that I associate with coffee: touch (holding a warm/hot mug), hence the hand, smell (the nose), and taste (the mouth). I was originally going to base my color scheme around this one pink marker that I had found just because I felt like doing pink, but then when I got home I realised that my darker colors and my highlight went more with this orange color that I picked up on accident. It kinda all went together because it was a very pumpkin-y orange and it was a coffee created surface so it had that connection with a PSL — get it? Very seasonally appropriate. 

Found Surface

Note: I know this photo isn't great. The box is curved and so it's hard to photograph. I'll put it under a textbook or something, flatten it out, and get a better photograph later. 

My reference: 

Process Shots: 

Problem Solving:

So I knew I wanted to do a pizza box or some sort of junk food wrapper thing for this piece. I originally brought in a Domino's pizza box, but the issue with that was it had this stupid sticker on it that I couldn't get off without some dumb residue. So I had to go on a mission to get more boxes. I ended up getting 3 different kinds (along with a lot of weird looks on the train because I was carrying the boxes vertically). Anyways, in class, most people liked this red Pezzo one so I went with that. I decided to put the person sleeping underneath the little gazebo(?) thing as per Miss Harvey's recommendation because we both felt that would be the best composition in this situation. So I graphite transferred it on there and started painting. All was well until one night, when I was working on it with a little lack of sleep. I got a blob of white paint on the side of the drawing and what do I decide to do? Spritz that sucker with some water and rub it with a paper towel, because that's what I did with watercolour for my last piece!! Of course that eroded the beautiful red cardboard. (At this point, I also managed to kick over my paint water, and so I left everything there, took a shower, cried for a little bit, and then came back with a level head to try to solve the issue). When I emailed Miss Harvey about it, she said I could put another thing there because it would actually help my composition. I held steadfast to that idea until I realised that it would probably take too long, and that I should just go with the flow (that same thematic idea from the created surface) and just extend the shirt, even though it wasn't in my original plan. I do think the composition is better with the extended shirt, so I guess it worked out in the end.

Creativity:

I wanted to do someone asleep on a pizza box because I thought it would kinda be like commentary on the relationship between poor sleeping habits and poor eating habits and poor work habits. You don't sleep well, you're more likely to go for the junk food because your brain is like MMM YAY FATS AND CARBS!!! And if that's the kind of fuel that you're putting into your body, then it's going to be difficult to get work done, which means you'll stay up longer to try and get stuff done, which means you sleep less, and the cycle continues. The Pezzo box  out of the three also fits the best with this in my opinion because it has that little carnival gazebo(?) thing, and so there's this contrast of ideas between this carnival-esque box and someone sleeping over books, yknow? One is supposed to be all fun and peppy while the other one has this vibe of exhaustion and stress.

Ok cool thanks for reading!!