EXPRESSION STUDIES!

At long last, I've FINALLY finished painting all twelve facial expressions for our expression studies! I'd have to say they turned out MUCH better than I thought they would. I had no idea I could paint like this! :D

I'll try to be as clear about which is which as possible... From left to right, top to bottom, they are as follows.

--Happy

--Relaxed

--Sleepy

--Confused

--Frightened

--Resentful

--Enamored

--Sneaky

--Proud

--Angry

--Nervous

--Over-Caffeinated

He wanted these to be about 3"x3". Obviously I went a little overboard at times. Oops! But I'd have to say that for the most part I'm pleased with how these turned out. :D

Texture Scavenger Hunt!

WARNING!!!
I am absolutely HORRIBLE at conveying textures through paint. You can forget it...

These are my textures. From left to right, they are as follows:
-Dirt
-Leaf
-Stone
-Another Leaf
-Brick
-Cloth, pants

None of them really... succeeded, but that's why I'm in school, isn't it?

EDIT: Last 4 are as follows:
-Cloth, shirt
-Something fuzzy
-The back of my hand
-The floor


Still didn't particularly succeed at these either. But just you wait. Once I post my expression studies, you'll be in AWE!!!

Because I am Persian...

 

Well, HALF Persian... I am interested Persian culture and almost anything Persian. Because of that, I REALLY want to find a good Persian miniature painting I can use for my tableau vivant. So far, I'm not really confident about all of the things I've found, but I think that my IDEAL choice for the art piece I will work off may be this one.

There are about a million different ways I've seen this painting titled, but the one I'll stick with is "Khosrow Discovers Shirin Bathing In A Pool."

Khosrow and Shirin are characters from a Persian epic poem known as Shahnameh, written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi. The Shahnameh tells the mythical and historical past of Iran from the creation of the world until the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century.

This illustration, however, is from Nizami Ganjavi's poems. He took characters from Shahnameh and wanted to focus on the more romantic aspects of the story, as opposed to the historical aspects. This story is apparently somewhat of a classic love story, about Khosrow and Shirin, along with Khosrow's rival for Shirin's love, Farhad.

I plan on reading any summaries and translations of their story that I can find. From what little I know, this story sounds really interesting and I guess I'm a bit of a loser, but love triangles, if done correctly, are great parts of a story. I look forward to researching this a little more.

Nashmi the Archer by Reza Abbasi

Kind of boring, but there is something I like about this piece. All it is is an archer, smokin' his pipe, doin' his thing in what appears to be some type of vague wilderness. I think it's just that he has a lot of character. He has a bow, he has a pipe, and for an archer he looks awfully laid back and lazy. A bit of contradiction? I don't know.

Non-erotic Ukiyo-e

An Ukiyo-e print that does NOT include sex of some sort. Thank goodness. Unsure of the artist or title.
Sadly the image may be too small to use for the project.

Project 1: Tableau Vivant

A term meaning "Living Picture," the Tableau Vivant was a popular form of entertainment in Europe before photography, radio, or film. A group of models would recreate paintings, etchings, or scenes from books by posing in frozen attitudes on a stage, often with elaborate costumes, props, and lighting. Tableaux Vivants are still created at the annual Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach - a $4.1 million production featuring 40 art works recreated over a period of 2 months. For this assignment, you will create a Tableau of one work of figurative art, and use it as a reference for a new illustration. The illustration will be 11"x15".

Traditions to look at:
Chinese Scrolls
European Illuminated Manuscripts
Egyptian Painting
Greek Vase Painting
Persian Miniature Painting
*Ukiyo-e Prints


BOLD - The main one I'm interested in
* - That one awkward one that COULD work if I choose the right one...

Of course, I will be looking at all of these. Let's see how this works.

Research!

Soon going to do some research of different things to do the first Illustration project on. We are to find a piece of art and make a tableau of it.

MORE DETAILS WHEN I GET A SYLLABUS!

Oh hey...

So this is my blog. I will be posting my Illustration 2 work up here. Feel free to comment and critique whatever ends up on this blog. Feedback is appreciated.

The life of a college art student is hard, so be patient and I will try to update whenever I can.