Rabbit Down the Hole: Self Portrait

BEING DROPPED OFF AT COLLEGE I knew after 2D Foundations class critique yesterday that I really need to put some more work into my piece. I wanted to be done so bad with this piece that I kind of shrugged it away. I knew the boxes needed more work because they looked more like brown spots in the water, and that the water had no depth because of the way it hit the sky. I was having a lot of trouble drawing the bottle in a foreshortening style from the beginning, but yet I failed to go get visual reference for it. So, because of my laziness, I paid for it in class. When Anthony Fontana asked the class which ones stood out, mine defiantly didn't get mentioned. It was like a blow to my heart. I was so stunned that I barely said anything during critique, which I knew I should have. Every time I wanted to say something, I just stayed quiet. My mind kept playing back to mid-term reviews when Anthony told me that I need to participate more in critiques. I knew that I needed to do something to make it innovative, gripping, and memorable.

Everything that I knew needed work on was mentioned in the critique. The boxes need more lighter values to define the edges so they have that cardboard look. The hard edges will also place some tension against the soft, wavy water. The bottle needs to be round on the top like the bottom of the bottle so it looks as if its pointing away from you. To create depth in the water, I need to put some darker values on the water that is suppose to be farthest away. I also need to have the sky get darker as it meets the sky so that it looks more open than flat. I thought it was a cool idea when Anthony showed me how to put line of color in the water to create some movement. But he was right when he said I put so much in there, that I ended up with the same monotone water as I had before. I need to add strategically placed values into the water to create some variety.

This project has not only taught me to take everything that I learned and pull into a piece of work, but it has also opened my eyes to not just shrugging off projects. Just because I put a lot of hours into a piece, does not mean it is going to pay off. It is how efficiently you use those hours that depends on if those all nighters paid off or not.