For our second major assignment we were expected to create a self portrait that portrays some form of duality in our individual personalities. Having full creative freedom for this assignment allowed me to create a piece which not only shows duality of personality but the vast concepts that form the make up of my personalities, and the ties that bond them.
The concept for my idea was to have to my face cut in half and then put each respective half on opposite sides of the canvas. Each side of my face portraying a different side of my personality. One side shows the professional, dull side of my personality which I used monochromatic shades to express. The other half portrays the fun, energetic side of my personality, which I used warm and vibrant colours to portray. Both sides were then separated by the suggestion of a universe and placed on individual backgrounds which merged into the universe. I then placed each half of my face on an individual background; the monochromatic side was place and an extremely colourful expressionistic background, while the coloured side of my face was placed on top of a monochromatic background. Each background is supposed to represent how each respective side of my personality, stands out when surrounded by personalities of opposite natures. I felt in order to portray the intensity of my concept; acrylic on canvas would be not only ideal but necessary due to how fast paint can be. Especially because time was one of the major deciding factors of this assignment.
I am extremely pleased with the way this piece turned out simply because of how well the finished product looks. As I was creating the piece, I was also experimenting, because I hadn't done a painting like this before and could not predict how it would turn out. The finished product for me was like succeeding in an experiment, it turned out just as I had planned and it looks like a professional fished piece.
I feel as though this piece looks finished and professional due to the use of the elements and principals of design. I used movement and line to keep the observers eye moving around the entire piece and colour and shades to balance out the subject matter. The biggest problem I had when creating this piece was trying to make the subject matter balanced. Originally I had planned to put each respective background on opposite sides (reversal of the finished project), however when attempted, the coloured side felt to heavily weighted. In order to balance out the piece I decided to put the colourful background with the monochromatic face, and vice versa to balance out the weight of the painting. I then further created balance by putting a bit of grey on the edge of the coloured face and a bit of colour on the edge of the monochromatic face to unify the two sides of my personality. In doing so, I feel as though I not only connected the two faces, but unified the piece itself. This gave it that finished professional look.
If I could fix on thing on this painting it would be to extend the top of the head of the monochromatic side because the eyes make the facial proportions a bit off. By extending that hairline, the eyes would seem further down on the face, which would follow the eye placement rule of halfway down the face.
Overall I was really pleased with the finished product. This assignment really pushed me to think conceptually about myself, and in the process pushed me to create a finished piece faster then any painting I've done before.
The concept for my idea was to have to my face cut in half and then put each respective half on opposite sides of the canvas. Each side of my face portraying a different side of my personality. One side shows the professional, dull side of my personality which I used monochromatic shades to express. The other half portrays the fun, energetic side of my personality, which I used warm and vibrant colours to portray. Both sides were then separated by the suggestion of a universe and placed on individual backgrounds which merged into the universe. I then placed each half of my face on an individual background; the monochromatic side was place and an extremely colourful expressionistic background, while the coloured side of my face was placed on top of a monochromatic background. Each background is supposed to represent how each respective side of my personality, stands out when surrounded by personalities of opposite natures. I felt in order to portray the intensity of my concept; acrylic on canvas would be not only ideal but necessary due to how fast paint can be. Especially because time was one of the major deciding factors of this assignment.
I am extremely pleased with the way this piece turned out simply because of how well the finished product looks. As I was creating the piece, I was also experimenting, because I hadn't done a painting like this before and could not predict how it would turn out. The finished product for me was like succeeding in an experiment, it turned out just as I had planned and it looks like a professional fished piece.
I feel as though this piece looks finished and professional due to the use of the elements and principals of design. I used movement and line to keep the observers eye moving around the entire piece and colour and shades to balance out the subject matter. The biggest problem I had when creating this piece was trying to make the subject matter balanced. Originally I had planned to put each respective background on opposite sides (reversal of the finished project), however when attempted, the coloured side felt to heavily weighted. In order to balance out the piece I decided to put the colourful background with the monochromatic face, and vice versa to balance out the weight of the painting. I then further created balance by putting a bit of grey on the edge of the coloured face and a bit of colour on the edge of the monochromatic face to unify the two sides of my personality. In doing so, I feel as though I not only connected the two faces, but unified the piece itself. This gave it that finished professional look.
If I could fix on thing on this painting it would be to extend the top of the head of the monochromatic side because the eyes make the facial proportions a bit off. By extending that hairline, the eyes would seem further down on the face, which would follow the eye placement rule of halfway down the face.
Overall I was really pleased with the finished product. This assignment really pushed me to think conceptually about myself, and in the process pushed me to create a finished piece faster then any painting I've done before.
