Art 3 Reflection

I've been doing art for as long as I can remember. Even in elementary school, I held a passion for drawing. However, I think my art has had the most significant growth this year, specifically in my understanding of a composition. I vaguely understood the rule of thirds, but I think in this class, I've gotten a better idea of what a good composition is, and a better sense for identifying one. I haven't grown the most there, though, because I still struggle with it a bit

I've learned more about my art style and what mediums I prefer for my work as well. I've really enjoyed sculpture over the past 3 years, and the self-portrait sculpture helped me realize that. I feel like I have more control when my hands are the material, in a sense. For example, instead of using the paint brushes on the Abstract Expressionism project, I preferred to lay down the paint and move it with my fingers.

I'd still like to improve when it comes to value and shading, as I still struggle with that. My art style isn't very realistic, so I've stuck with cell shading for most of my art, so I really struggled portraying the gradients in different levels of light, especially on my "Head" artwork and my Self-Portrait at the beginning of the year, both of which used charcoal.

I also like to improve my usage of paints. I think paint is such a cool medium, and I really had fun with it during my still Life and my abstract painting. I think, with time, I could've made something I really liked, but I'm not the best at color selecting and building value, so I really want to get better with it.

I plan on using what I've learned to make more art I actually enjoy doing. I think I've spent a lot of time making art that I thought other people would like, because I didn't know what I liked to do, so now that I know the methods and styles I prefer, I can utilize that.

I've also learned more about how to use color in my art. A lot of my work prior to this year was in black and white, simply because I struggled with using color technically and symbolically. But I've learned more about how to use it, so I'd like to use more color in my summer projects like I did for my Fantastic Four assignments. Additionally, my summer project, I'd like to do more 3-D work because that's what I enjoy most. I have to anyway, because I forced my parents to spend $100+ on paper, colored pencils, and felting needles, so it will be fun to see what I come up with in the vein of my Heart and 3-D work.