Wk 9 — Art Activity — Student Choice, Part 2
For my first piece, I knew that I wanted to portray the feeling of depression, emptiness, and just a sense of “this is it”. Visually, It shows a rope that wraps around a hand, reaching for a pile of rope labeled as “Free.” The piece is extremely dark, but I did not want it to glamorize what it feels like to be in a depressed state. Being told you are worth nothing or being labeled as a “problem,” really starts to take a toll on you, so I wanted the main motif to be “hopeless.” The original vision is still there, but I changed a few things like darkening specific phrases, adding some shading, and making the hand more realistic. I will add, however, the shading was the area that was inconsistent since the rope in the hand has a different monochromatic palette compared to the one on the shelf. In general, the changes applied make the piece better and I hope the message was portrayed properly.
The final piece was more colorful (clearly) but for a good purpose. Visually, I used the popular hashtag “#SettleForBiden” and right under it, “Not a F**ing Fruit”. While I made it, I really wanted to bring light to the fact that both choices for U.S. presidents are not great by any stretch of the imagination (keyword being “settle.” However, I don't believe that Donald Trump (a.k.a the fruit) should remain in office for multiple reasons. The rainbow in the background was designed that way on purpose because if Trump remains in office, there is a high probability Gay Marriage will become Illegal. I, a Gay Hispanic Male, will not have any of that, so Biden would be the ideal choice for now. There were not too many changes, mostly the color scheme, but I will say they're a lot of things i hate about this piece. The linework is sloppy, and the lettering is not where I would want it to be in terms of sharpness. Also, the color gradient in the letter is barely apparent, and it's just very inconsistent. Overall, It portrayed the message, but I would absolutely redo the piece if I had the time.
Conclusively, I really enjoyed this week. It taught me to not draw when I don't have peace of mind because the piece will not be up to my standard. Furthermore, I would've added some more detail here and there or maybe completely redone one piece. But it felt great to choose any topic, and portray it through different forms of media. My pieces were not perfect, but I absolutely loved portraying messages I have always wanted to.