Research
For our first project, its to draw a self-portrait that represents our personality or what we like in general. I was stuck at first as I’m not too sure what kind of self-portrait should I go for. The more realism kinda? More abstract and conceptual kind? Or something that is more stylized. I was also of the composition and can’t really decide to go for something that only shows my face in the center of the canvas like how typical self-portrait look or should I go for something that depicts a scene.
Anyway, for the first week, we are tasked to list down some words that describe us or the things that we like best. Draw them individually and then proceed with doing some thumbnail sketches. So I started from there and here are some of my word list and individual item sketches!
[Word List & Individual Thumbnail Sketch]
Favorite…
Pet: Cat
Hobbies/interest: Travelling, Singing
Movies: Interstellar
Fruits: Watermelon, Strawberry
About myself…
Practical
Organized
Sentimental
Balanced
[Self-Portrait Idea Reference Images]
Before, starting out on my thumbnail sketches, I have looked at some conceptual self-portrait references for some inspiration. My initial intention was to do something similar to the following sort of abstract conceptual self-portrait. As I felt that it would be interesting to explore this sort of self-portrait.
Process
[Thumbnail Sketch]
After which, I start sketching my thumbnails and incorporate all my favorite things together with my self-portrait!
[Digital Sketch]
1)
For this sketch, I had a more nature theme with me wearing a watermelon dress and hair full of strawberries! Hand holding on to a glass globe with a cat lying on the outside and a mic floating on the inside showing how much I really love singing. On the left, I had a more curved and organic plant to symbolize the sentimental part of me. While on the right, I had a more angular plant to show the practical and organized part of me. However, the feedback of this piece is that it is too static and composition wise it is not as interesting as it is right at the center.
2)
For this sketch, I added the globe at the bottom to represent how much I love to travel and a background full of stars to represent the movie Interstellar. Within my head, there are watermelons, strawberries, and gears which shows my favorite fruits and that I had a practical personality respectively. I wanted to create a very fantasy and dream-like feel for my self-portrait to give the sense of escaping from reality and traveling to different places.
3)
This sketch is a similar concept to the one above just that from a different perspective and composition. After some consultation and feedback session, this is much preferred than the other two as it is less static as compared to the other two and it has a more dynamic composition in terms of the flow of actions together with foreground, midground, and background which makes it a little more interesting to look at as compared to the other two. Hence, I went on to further work on this draft.
[Style Reference]
The style that I choose, I decided to go with a more stylistic look. Having stylised features such as triangular nose with a rosy cheek and with textured sort of illustration. To go with the overall dream-like fantasy theme.
[Color Scheme]
As for color palette wise, as mentioned before I wanted to create a more dreamlike, fantasy feel since I love to escape from reality and travel to different places. I have chosen a more dreamy, galaxy color palette which consist of mainly pink blue purple and turquoise.
Final
My final piece, showing me flying away carried by my mic balloons in my dreamland, traveling within the galaxy filled with my favorite things. The scene depicts how much I like to escape away from reality to a more fantasy place and travel around the world. The mic balloons represent how much I like singing. There are stars around the galaxy representing my favorite movie interstellar, cat constellations representing my favorite pet, together with watermelon and strawberry planet representing both of my favorite fruits!
[Reflection]
Overall, I really enjoyed this project very much as it allows us to have the freedom to explore ourselves, our own style and our own imagination! What I have taken away is that self-portrait doesn’t necessarily always have to be having yourself situated at the center of the piece and to combine with abstract elements. It could also be a scene of interesting composition that tells a “story” about yourself. Also, I have learned to just enjoy, have fun and sometimes go with the flow of what comes to you naturally. Since its a self-portrait, it should always reflect your own style and how you go about working with the given theme!
References (Images retrieved from)
(Self-Portrait ideas)
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/405042560235723096/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/405042560235723012/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/405042560235723001/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/405042560235723024/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/405042560235722966/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/405042560235614255/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/405042560235613996/
(Style and Color Scheme)
https://mei-ling7.livejournal.com/919.html
http://fayehsu.blogspot.com/
https://www.pinterest.se/pin/447263806735039104/
http://www.diana-toledano.com/blog/2012/10/dreamy-night
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/651403533577590392/?lp=true
https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/206884176611951351/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/434175220309828803/?lp=true
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/324892560604460904/