TED Talk Reflection

Four to five minutes: 3/3

PPT, Prezi, other?: 3/3 I did have a powerpoint, which might have been simple, but I don't think it drove the presentation.

Creative and Supplemental: 3/5 I think I could have been more creative with both my presentation and visual component.

Inspire through your passion: 4/5 I used what I had learned from drawing, my passion, to try to give advice for the audience to use when pursuing their own passion.

Show your product: 2/2 I showed my product by displaying my drawings in the presentation.

Explain your process: 2/2 I explained how I created my timeline, and what I discovered through following this timeline.

What is your purpose: 2/2 I feel that this was shown when I explained the process by which I chose to study the  three famous artists.

Organization: 3/4 I feel like my organization could have been better, as the time I devoted to each part was not even.

Delivery: 3/4 I could have been more enthusiastic, and been more independent from my notes.

If anything, this project was a success in the sense that I have rediscovered why I like drawing, and now I feel more motivated to continue improving. Who knows, with the right steps, maybe one day I could be the next Escher! (or Dali, or Hokusai, or Pollock, or anybody else who is a really good artist).

Style

I have realized through this process that I learn a lot of lessons on my own, which is not what I expected at the beginning of this project. If there are so many resources on the web and in the library, I assumed it must be hard to improve one's drawing skills on his/her own. But I have learned that you can teach yourself a lot of things simply through practice. You start to pick up on mistakes you are repeatedly making, and improve them. I feel like getting better at drawing is really just a matter of trying to improve in a certain area, and then experimenting with new areas and subjects until you learn how to successfully draw them. This, I believe, is how one develops a style.

I have talked a little about developing a style, and it's because without one, you are no different from the everyone else. Though to me, it seems like something that would come naturally when I look at artists like Hokusai, I find it difficult to draw in a way that is unique to me. Instead of the style finding me, I have to go and search for the style. The annual art show is really good at exemplifying different styles, where each student's panel is completely different from the one's beside it. I can tell that a lot of the students in the higher level art classes have found their style. Seeing this makes me want to develop my own more than ever, and I was hoping to accomplish this through the project. However, I think the way in which I organized my project inhibited me a bit.

I decided in the beginning that studying famous and accomplished artists would be the best way to improve my technical drawing skill, because in trying to emulate them and their work, I would need to raise my standards. I would say that this worked out for the most part, since this forced me to draw with a more careful nature, and pay more attention to detail. However, while this method might have been good in that sense, I never really allowed myself to be free. If I had spent more time drawing from my imagination instead of trying to copy various elements from Escher, Dali, and Hokusai's work, I probably would have been one step closer to finding a style that suits me, a place where I felt comfortable and where I interpret others work with my own style instead of simply copying it as best I can.

Of course, my timeline for this project was not completely hindering. Since art has been being created for thousands of years, some would say that there are no completely new ideas anymore; everything is based off of something else. Since I chose artists whose work I enjoy, hopefully I can try to use their work to develop who I am as an artist.

Unorganized

I feel like these past weeks have flown by, I can't believe it has already been this long. This week, I worked on my final piece, which will complete my final product of four drawings. I wanted it to encompass the styles and unique aspects of MC Escher, Salvador Dali, and Katsushika Hokusai, as well as express my own style. Throughout this entire process, I have been focusing on a particular artist, attempting to draw something that looks as similar as possible to their original work. Though I have slightly altered the composition of their pieces, such as my first drawing, which included aspects from Drawing Hands and Relativity, I don't feel like they are my own. Of course, I believe this kind of copying has proved helpful in teaching me valuable lessons about drawing something that looks good. Now, it is really a matter of using my newly refined skills to try to draw at a higher level.

I still think that one of the most important lessons I have learned is patience. Sometimes, I can be impatient, and this has shown in my drawings. I have drawn almost every day since I could grip a pencil, but this could be as minuscule as a few doodles on the margin of a notebook. I never really knew what I was really capable of, since, prior to this project, I did not understand how important taking your time is. Now, with a better understanding of my skill level and practice, I know I will be much more successful as an artist. This is something that I will address in my TED Talk, and explore further, to create a final conclusion that I can hopefully pass on to the audience.

So what is my style? Well, I have definitely noticed in my art classes such as Computer Graphics/Advanced Computer Graphics that I always tend to make my pieces without any real organization. I'm not sure if this is because of the approach my teacher took in introducing the art form, but I do like artwork that is busy. In 5th grade, I did a report on Jackson Pollock, an artist who was famous for his colorful splatter pieces, such as this one:

There may not be any real distinguishable subjects, or objects for that matter, but it is so simple, and --

its fun to look at. This kind of cluttered artwork gives more for the viewer to look at, and potentially more avenues for interpretation.

Overall, I want to show my experiences, and what I have taken away from them. Hopefully, this will lead to more art, and better art, so that the world will ultimately be more diverse and fresh.

Video Log

Genius Project Vlog from Walker S on Vimeo.

The Great Wave of Art

This week I took a look at Katsushika Hokusai. He was a Japanese artist (which you might have figured out by the name) who is most known for his series titled,
“36 Views of Mount Fuji.” This series contains pieces like Red Fuji and The Great Wave off Kanagawa, which is probably his most famous painting of all:

This was one of the only paintings that I had seen by Hokusai prior to this project, and it was the reason that I became interested in him. As I’m sure a lot of people do, I really liked “The Great Wave” for Hokusai’s unique approach to drawing the sea foam on the crest of the waves. When I look at it, I think of a bunch of clawed hands reaching out, trying to grab on to something. Now that I think about it, this may have even been Hokusai’s goal. The ruthless nature that the waves convey is reflected in the people’s distressed position. Whatever the true reason for this particular style, it was cool, and it inspired me to make an attempt at emulating his style, as I have done for MC Escher and Salvador Dali. In my drawing, I tried to combine elements from various Hokusai prints to create a landscape that flowed from one thing to the next. Again, this was my goal, so I am not sure how well I achieved it, but here it is:

I used these three paintings as a reference:

Hodogaya on the Tokaido

The Great Wave off Kanagawa

Asakusa Hongan-ji temple in the Eastern capital

Something that I never really gave much thought to before starting this process was reference. Using an object, photograph, or other piece of art really helps with producing drawings that are realistic, or maybe just look good. What I never realized was how much artists utilize reference images, no matter how much experience they may have. Of course, there is a point in an artist’s career where they can drawing realistically without the need for looking at a reference, and right now, this is my ultimate goal. Throughout this process, I have been relying on work from Escher, Dali, and Hokusai, and I think the drawings I made are significantly better than older ones in my sketchbook. But I have always started a page with the goal of emulating the work of the particular artist, and I have not allowed myself to come up with my own ideas.

In a way, things have gone according to plan; I wanted to devote the first part of the timeline to learning about the greats and practicing drawing, so that when I went to create my final piece, I would have the freedom to make something that expressed myself. Hopefully I will be able to show that I have made an improvement over the course of these seven weeks through my final drawing.

Sources:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa.jpg

http://www.katsushikahokusai.org/biography.html

Melting Clocks, Elephants, and Dali

Another week of drawing. This time, I studied Salvador Dali, who I would say is one of the most well-known surrealists of the past century. I chose to study him because of his eccentric work, which also, as I learned, matched his eccentric personality. Unlike some artists, who might avoid the public and keep to themselves, Dali used every ploy he could think of to attract the attention of people, and was self-centered and very, well... confident. For example, Dali studied at the Academy of Arts in Madrid, but was kicked out after refusing to complete his final exams, arguing that the professors judging him were not qualified, as he, Dali, possessed more knowledge and skill than them.

This personality may have been developed from his childhood, which was a relatively positive experience for him. Salvador Dali’s mother encouraged him to explore art and be creative, and this was most likely a factor in building his imagination, which would lead to his ultimate success. I know from the brain unit that the brain is experiencing major developmental stages throughout one’s childhood, and studies have shown that it is easier to excel at a certain activity if one is exposed to it at a young age. Dali was fortunate for this, but his adolescence ended with a tragic event when his mother died of cancer when Dali was only a teenager.

It must have been hard, but the artist managed to survive, and went on to become one of the leaders of the surrealist art movement. In 1931, Dali painted what is perhaps his most famous painting, the Persistence of Memory (If that didn’t ring a bell, it’s the one with the melting clocks).

Looking through his work, I noticed that Dali uses certain subjects in multiple pieces, similar to what MC Escher did. Clocks, for instance, appear in the above painting, as well as Soft Watch at the Moment of First Explosion. Obviously, this object became immensely famous, and is probably common knowledge in many parts of the world. I even have a clock styled after these melting clocks!

I decided to practice some of the different subjects that I had seen in Dali’s work. Of course, the melting clocks were the first component I drew.

Then, I noticed that Salvador Dali featured elephants in a number of his pieces, which always had unusually long legs, or maybe they're on stilts:

So, I tried to emulate this style.

Finally, I further practiced hands, which I am beginning to understand, little by little. In an attempt to use Dali’s style, I drew a hand that appeared to be melting, which, although unsuccessful in my eyes, will be a part of my final product.

Overall, I would say that Dali has taught me some lessons, both positive and negative. I learned that expressing your imagination is a great way to develop your creativity, which is really the most important part of a drawing. Furthermore, this creativity will eventually allow you to have a distinct style that sets you apart from the rest of the world. These three artists, MC Escher, Salvador Dali, and Katsuchika Hokusai, who I will be looking at in the future, are easily told apart. And that is where I want to be someday, both able to be pointed out by my work, and famous enough to be compared to these great men.


Sources:

http://10awesome.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/The_Persistence_of_Memory_Salvador_Dali1.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEEr6LQKIKCVj0Okwyy6Rymb9fIgj95t5oRipa81vS9lqHYE69TXSCRiPCQG4tR5pHkWz1PcJK6Sq7c78ayPRN-m-QAW_wZIJkuWfEuqd5k3TqpsXX7ZtLR5koIVpUFtTOstFSsJQxPo4/s1600/Dali-Elephants.jpg

http://www.artquotes.net/masters/salvador-dali/biography.htm

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/dali.html

Drawing Drawing Hands With Drawing Hands

After the first week of this project, I would say that I have learned some valuable lessons about MC Escher and drawing as a whole. Since I decided to devote some of my time to studying MC Escher, I looked through a lot of his drawings. As I said in my previous post, I noticed that there a few objects or styles that occured in a number of his pieces, such as buildings and architecture, and patterns that repeat themselves. After reading a biography of Escher, I learned that he was very intrigued by the regular division of a plane. This term describes the division a canvas, which would be the plane, into different shapes, which are designed to fit together so that there is no, as one might say, negative space. Since showing examples is usually helpful, here is one of his tessellations, which holds an appropriate title-- Regular Division of the Plane III:

As Escher was thoroughly interested in this sort of art, he created many different tessellations, taking inspiration from Alhambra Palace in Spain. This Islamic palace, over six centuries old, is filled with walls that are decorated by repeating patterns of different shapes, such as the one pictured here:

The curving shapes created by the colors fit into the the identical curving shapes that are white. The perfection of this design reflects the thorough planning that went into it, just as this is seen in MC Escher’s work, such as Regular Division of the Plane. When reading his biography, I noticed that this keen interest in geometric designs was not very surprising, given the fact that geometry was really the only subject that MC Escher excelled in during his rather unsuccessful career as a student. This shows to me that focusing on your interests and strengths is very important, because those skills set you apart from the rest of the world and allow you to find success in your own way.

Anyway, although I did enjoy his tessellations, I never got bored of looking at Drawing Hands. I’m not sure about other aspiring artists, but I always found drawing the human body to be very challenging, especially more specific parts such as hands. In this piece, Escher provided a prime example of an anatomically correct hand that looked like it belonged in a photograph, instead of a lithograph print. I decided that I wanted to work on drawing hands so that I could try to emulate MC Escher’s style better. So, I started drawing. This is one of the pages I used for practicing:

I found a reference image of a hand, and tried to distinguish the general shape and positions of shadows. After four attempts, I felt that the last hand looked the most like a real hand, which is number 4. I learned from this exercise that I was continually making the same mistake of drawing the little finger at an angle that would only have made sense if you had just jammed it between a car door. The solution to this, which paid special attention to in the last attempt, was the planning. Drawing guidelines proved a good way to make sure the drawing would turn out alright at the very least.

This next image is another one of the pages I used to practice. During this session, I decided to explore some different poses instead of the simple position I used for the previous page.  As you can see, I started to focus particularly on a hand holding a pencil, since, as you can imagine, this is the pose in Drawing Hands. When I analyzed this, I saw that some hands stood out as looking better than others. I determined the reason for this to be because of my patience. I have always drawn a lot throughout my life, but since I do it for the sole reason of it being fun, I was never really concerned with taking my time. I have now realized through this process, that taking my time results in something that just looks so much better, which brings me to my next point.

As a sort of tribute to MC Escher, I decided to make a drawing that combined what I had learned with Escher’s work. So, this is what I came up with:

I think it would be safe to say that this is probably the best hand out of all of the ones I drew. Though it is not the exact position of the hands in MC Escher’s drawing, I tried to incorporate elements from both Drawing Hands and Relativity, which I mentioned in my previous post. Overall, I think this piece has really changed my idea of what I am capable of, as long as I keep in mind the three ideas:

     Planning (Using reference, and drawing guidelines)
     Patience (Not rushing, making sure it looks the best it can look)
     Persistence (Not giving up, repeating a process until it comes easily)



I guess I’ll get back to drawing now.

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Sources:

http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Escher.html

http://www.designscience.ca/LODs/LOD_Gestalt/images/figure_ground_horses.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Tassellatura_alhambra.jpg