"The Wildlife"
Size: 30.5cm x 40.6cm
Medium: Illustration
Date: December 1, 2017
Exhibition text:
My positive illustration represent the joy and delighted life animals should have. I was inspired by Henri Matisse's piece, "Dance". The Wildlife is a piece that show true happiness within nature.
Size: 30.5cm x 40.6cm
Medium: Illustration
Date: December 1, 2017
Exhibition text:
My positive illustration represent the joy and delighted life animals should have. I was inspired by Henri Matisse's piece, "Dance". The Wildlife is a piece that show true happiness within nature.
Artist Inspiration
To begin with, there's Dance l (1909) by Henri Matisse, which tends to express the joy and light pleasure that was part of the earlier Fauve masterpiece. Matisse had drew the figures loosely, with almost no interior definition. The figures within the piece are said to be almost like bean bag dolls because of their unrestricted and formless movements. Although it may seem like an easy art piece to paint, Matisse works really hard to make his art pieces seem effortless. This art piece was mainly just a sketch before actually doing the final piece of Dance. (Khan Academy, N.D). If one takes a look at the piece, there's a blue and green color field. People tend to believe the green part of the piece is a hill top. In the other hand, people tend to argue about the blue part the most, people either think it's the sky or water.
Dance l was just a sketch of what Matisse had in mind before doing the real thing. Later on in 1910, Matisse had created the final Dance . This piece compared to the first piece, the final version tends have a different emotional character. Some people had described his art piece as forbidding, tribal, demonic, etc. The color switch Matisse made from the his first sketch, took his final version on a different turn, it makes his piece stand out more. Other than that, he had drawn more interior lines which gives the individuals more tension and physical power.
Out of these two, I plan on using the same kind of concept Matisse had, about the picture being meant to portray joy and delight. In this case, I didn’t want to do it with people, I wanted to do it with animals. I, myself are against circuses and don’t believe animals should be held and used for entertainment. I believe animals should be and stay in the wild life unless they’re endangered. Connecting this to my negative illustration, the animals in that piece tend to help each other so one can get a glance of the outdoor world. Therefore, my positive piece is what they would see, and where they should be, in the wild. Since Matisse did that circle structure within his piece, I wanted to do that too and find a way where the animals can grab on to each other. I also liked the idea of having a green and blue background for my piece as well, just so the circle within the middle pops out more. Other than that, I also wanted to show how a couple aren’t holding on to each other like the original, no one really notices it until someone calls it out. This piece is basically the “other side” from the negative illustration.
Dance l was just a sketch of what Matisse had in mind before doing the real thing. Later on in 1910, Matisse had created the final Dance . This piece compared to the first piece, the final version tends have a different emotional character. Some people had described his art piece as forbidding, tribal, demonic, etc. The color switch Matisse made from the his first sketch, took his final version on a different turn, it makes his piece stand out more. Other than that, he had drawn more interior lines which gives the individuals more tension and physical power.
Out of these two, I plan on using the same kind of concept Matisse had, about the picture being meant to portray joy and delight. In this case, I didn’t want to do it with people, I wanted to do it with animals. I, myself are against circuses and don’t believe animals should be held and used for entertainment. I believe animals should be and stay in the wild life unless they’re endangered. Connecting this to my negative illustration, the animals in that piece tend to help each other so one can get a glance of the outdoor world. Therefore, my positive piece is what they would see, and where they should be, in the wild. Since Matisse did that circle structure within his piece, I wanted to do that too and find a way where the animals can grab on to each other. I also liked the idea of having a green and blue background for my piece as well, just so the circle within the middle pops out more. Other than that, I also wanted to show how a couple aren’t holding on to each other like the original, no one really notices it until someone calls it out. This piece is basically the “other side” from the negative illustration.
Sketches
This was my first idea and instantly fell in love with it, because of my love for animals. I usually think to myself sometimes and hope animals are happy with their lives and are protected. I decided for my positive piece that I should portray happiness within animals when they're in nature and not held in a circus or a zoo.
This was the second idea I had, I thought about doing a non smoking campaign, and for my positive illustration I wanted to show what a healthy heart looks like if one didn't smoke, and I planned one using warm colors to indicate that positive vibe. I didn't end up using this sketch because I was excited about my first sketch. I also didn't have an inspiration for this, it kind of just came out of the blue. Which is also another reason I didn't go through with it. For my third sketch, my inspiration was Roy Lichtenstein's, Girl in the Mirror. The point of this sketch was to show how animals should feel like, instead of feeling upset about being captive. Instead of a girl, I used a monkey because monkeys tend to be similar to people and are also more experimented on, which goes back to my love for animals. I didn't go with this sketch because I wanted to challenge myself with drawing different animals in different positions as in my first sketch. |
Process
DRAWING PHASE
To begin with, I had started with the elephant just because it tends to be the biggest one out of all the animals I plan on using. It's better to portray the elephant in the background than in the front, otherwise if it was in the front, it would cover whatever animal I'd put in the back. I also tried drawing the elephant as if it was walking so it looks like it was moving. It relates back to Dance because that art piece may seem dull but it really does feel like there's movement going on within every individual that's in the piece. I also wanted to make the elephant not as detailed just to follow what Matisse did within his piece, how the people do have some type of figure but aren't very detailed. For example, if one looks at his piece, one could tell there's only one individual who has nipples, and a detailed stomach and legs.
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After I had finish with the elephant, I had added a tiger and a lion, to continue the circle structure Dance has. If one looks at the art piece, the individuals tend to look like as if they were jumping gracefully in the air, which makes sense because Dance is meant to portray joy. Anyways, I wanted to incorporate that structure within my piece, so I made the tiger as if it was jumping in the air. I also didn't put as much detail on the tiger because I wanted to do that at the end when I have my plate filled in. After that, I had made a lion, and within Dance, the individual in that place is turned to be able to stretch out their arms to the right and left, which tends to be easier than trying to draw an animal to be put in that position. After all, I tried drawing the lion as if it was slowly turning, to continue that circle structure. I also plan on changing the lion's face because it tends to be more fearful than joyful. I also noticed that within Matisse's artwork, the individuals are grabbing on to each other, so I had draw the animals as if they were grabbing each other's tails.
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COLORING PHASE
Next, I had added the bear and the monkey. If one takes a look at Matisse's piece, not everyone usually notices it, but there's a pair of individuals who are not holding onto each other, which tends to break the circle. For that reason, I had made the bear as if it was jumping while the lion was barley going to land, which prevents the lion to hold on to a tail. Therefore, it makes my piece similar to Matisse's. Then I had added the monkey. The monkey was put there because I wanted to add a small animal to portray the fact that no matter how big or small an animal is, it should be free. It should be in it's natural habitat. Anyways, after the circle was done, I had colored in the background with a blue colored prisma pencil. Matisse had used oil on his piece, which tends to give off a different effect than my piece.
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After that was done, I had colored in the bottom part with green. My piece tends to be very similar to Dance, the way it was put and structured. If one looked at my piece, some would know what inspired me to do it. After that, it was time to color in the animals. I had started with the tiger. I tried using the colors tigers have in real life to make it realistic. I had tried blending in the colors so it looks well done. Then I went on to the lion, which was kind of difficult. I say that because lions usually have a chromatic presence going on, so I tried using similar color pencils for the fur around it's head and the rest of it's body. Then came the bear. I started with outlining some fur so they pop out when one looks at it. After that, I colored the bear in with a lighter brown. Fourthly, the elephant, I had colored it gray and I tried making it somewhat three dimensional so it looks like it's figure is standing out. Then came the monkey, which I had made darker than the rest. I wanted to give the monkey a different look, a darker look, to attract the eye because usually when there's a huge object by a small object, the huge object usually gets more attention.
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CREATIVE IDEA / EXPERIMENTATION
Before watercolor |
After I had finished with my illustration, I was curious on how it would look if I added water color to it. At first, I wanted to use just water colors at first but I wanted to practice me blending skills with colored pencils so I went with that plan instead. Out of curiously, I had painted the sky with a blue water color to make it look darker, because in Matisse's piece, he had a nice dark rich blue sky. Overall, I did like how the sky turned out for my final product.
If one looks to the left, one could tell that without the water color, the blue background tends to be lighter. Whereas if one looks on the right, one could tell that the blue got more darker and richer, making the animals within my piece pop more. |
After watercolor |
Critique When it comes to contrasting and comparing my piece with my inspiration, there’s a couple of similarities and differences. For example, in Dance, one could easily tell that’s there’s some kind of movement. The individuals actually look like they’re pulling in each other to make a continuous circle. In my art piece, i believe I portrayed movement within the animals really well, I was satisfied with it. It really looks like the animals are jumping around with joy. In contrast, the fact that Matisse had used oil for his art work gives off a whole different effect than mine. My piece tends to have different shadings of blue in the sky because of the way I had colored it, there was areas where the blue was lighter or the blue was darker. Since oil is almost like paint, it’s easy to mix and it’s easy to be able to have the same color for something whereas one needs to be careful when it comes to coloring because there could be areas that are lighter than the others.
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Evaluation Overall, the concept idea between my inspiration and my piece were pretty alike. I say Matisse and I did really portray joy and delight one way or another. I believe I put much more time into this piece than my negative illustration. I say that because I’ve been thinking about this idea for a while now and I’m really happy that I had the chance to bring to real life. I also tried making my piece look easy to draw when actually it was pretty hard. When one looks at Dance , one thinks it’s pretty simple to draw and paint when it’s not actually. In this case, with my piece, it was really hard to capture an animals body structure and make it look like it was actually moving, it was hard finding realistic colors for the animals. My piece may seem simple and easy but in reality it took me some time and effort.
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Reflection
After all, I really enjoyed doing this positive illustration and hoping people change their minds about animals being in circuses, they really do deserve to do their own thing in the wild. I had created something I am proud of. I do believe I did better on my positive illustration than my negative one. I say that because this is the first time I’ve ever had to draw something on a illustration board and my negative illustration was my first attempt, but along the way I had learned how to position an animals body, and how to blend my colors so the animal looks three dimensional. It took a lot of time to get how I wanted things to be like. There was form and line presented in my art piece. Form was presented in my animals, by blending my colors to make them stand out and line was presented as well within them too, when it came to little detail like their faces or fur and such. Also, like i’ve said before, there was movement shown within my illustration, which means that there was also principles of design that was contributed in my artwork. After all, I did tend to develop better drawing skills and now that whenever I do this type of medium again, to take the time to make objects look right as they should be.
ACT Questions
1. Clearly explain how you were able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and it's effect upon your artwork.
I can identify the cause-effect relationships between my inspiration and my piece because my piece tends to be very similar to Dance and I really loved the meaning behind it, so I also used it as my concept within my piece, I wanted to express joy.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
As I've mentioned before, Matisse wanted to display a delighted and joyful meaning behind his art piece, which explains why the individuals tend to be jumpy. My piece was all about the joy within animals in nature, so they're pretty similar approaches.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while researched your inspiration?
I discovered that no matter how much one tries to protect an animal as if it were a human, people are still going to mistreat animals overall, whether it's for research or experimentation, there will always be an animal that's held against it's will.
4. What was the central idea or theme around inspirational research?
My central idea was to show that animals have emotions too, to show that they know what feels right and what doesn't, I wanted to show that animals would do anything to be in wild where the belong.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
An inference that I made while doing my research is always put yourself in other peoples shoes.
I can identify the cause-effect relationships between my inspiration and my piece because my piece tends to be very similar to Dance and I really loved the meaning behind it, so I also used it as my concept within my piece, I wanted to express joy.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
As I've mentioned before, Matisse wanted to display a delighted and joyful meaning behind his art piece, which explains why the individuals tend to be jumpy. My piece was all about the joy within animals in nature, so they're pretty similar approaches.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while researched your inspiration?
I discovered that no matter how much one tries to protect an animal as if it were a human, people are still going to mistreat animals overall, whether it's for research or experimentation, there will always be an animal that's held against it's will.
4. What was the central idea or theme around inspirational research?
My central idea was to show that animals have emotions too, to show that they know what feels right and what doesn't, I wanted to show that animals would do anything to be in wild where the belong.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
An inference that I made while doing my research is always put yourself in other peoples shoes.