Self Portrait
Planning
Inspiration
It took me a while to figure out what I would like to use as my inspiration for my Self-Portrait. I had looked at many different baroque artists and some cubists until I had remembered about one of my favorite artists of all time, Vincent Van Gogh. Originally, I had wanted to incorporate the hat and positioning of the top left self portrait, and the colors of the bottom left portrait into one. I eventually decided against it after a while, due to my lack of being able to create a decent looking hat. I then scrapped the entire idea, but still went for a different Van Gogh. I decided to insert myself into his Self Portrait (1887). I just found it to resemble to picture that I had taken of myself originally. I also really enjoy the colors that he had chosen for it, along with the positioning being more reflective of my inspiration picture.
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Planning Sketches
This is a sketch that I had done of myself from my original picture. I think that this has turned out very well and might be one of the best sketches that I have done for face. This definitely helped me get everything in the correct place on the canvas itself. I believe that I was able to get some very good details with the shadowing and each of the specific facial features. I then transferred it to my canvas, using the grid method to assist me.
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This sketch was my first one for this project, from before I had decided to switch my original inspiration pictures to the one I finally decided on. I never truly finished, as the hat had frustrated me to such a large extent. It still allowed for me to finished with the other planning sketch that I had done (above).
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Process
Experimentation
I would have to say that 70% of my time on this project was spent experimenting with different colors and sizing everything. The one thing that I had spent the most time would have to be my flannel shirt. I had gone through at least 2 bottles of black and white paint to create all of the different variants of grays for that shirt. A closer shot of the shirt is the first slide. The second thing that I had begun to work on was my hair. I originally tried to make a darker brown to reflect my natural hair color. I had then tried more a reddish brown color over it to try and stay true to the original Van Gogh, which I ended up preferring over the others. Another thing that I had ended up experimenting with quite a lot was the skin tone. It had definitely taken me at least 4 hours to get the final skin tone that I thought had looked the best to me. A few other things that I had experimented with were the colors of the frame of my glasses and the background colors. I had tried at least 5 different shades of blue for the glasses frame, none of which were able to create the shininess of the original picture. I eventually just gave up on trying to be too exact and just got a decent color that was similar enough. As for the background, I personally feel that it had turned out better than I had originally expected it to. For my base coat, I had chosen a blue, as I had planned to do a blue background initially. When I changed to the darker brown and red colors, I was worried that the blue would interfere with it. I did use a plethora of brown, red, and black paint for it, making multiple different shades of the same colors. |
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Process
Canvas Stretching: Lay out your fabric and place your frame face up. Make sure that your frame is a perfect square. Turn your stretcher frame face down onto the fabric in order to begin trimming your canvas. Allow a margin of canvas around the frame for stretching. Using a staple gun, staple the canvas once in the middle of each side of the frame. At your first corner, pull the excess fabric on the end of the stapled side to make it taught. Staple the edge of the taught fabric. Pull the excess fabric around the side of the frame and pull both corners back over the stretcher covering the originally stapled corner. Then staple excess and repeat until finished.
Sketching: After I had decided on my final sketch and design, I did my first coat of gesso on my canvas and went on to transfer the sketch onto it. I had drawn a grid both onto my sketch and the canvas itself, trying to keep them proportional. I then fully drew myself onto the canvas before I had realized that I need to also paint on a base coat. So, I then used the blue color for a base coat and then redrew the grid and my sketch back onto the canvas.
Painting: After I had finished sketching, I then began to work on painting in this order:
Canvas Stretching: Lay out your fabric and place your frame face up. Make sure that your frame is a perfect square. Turn your stretcher frame face down onto the fabric in order to begin trimming your canvas. Allow a margin of canvas around the frame for stretching. Using a staple gun, staple the canvas once in the middle of each side of the frame. At your first corner, pull the excess fabric on the end of the stapled side to make it taught. Staple the edge of the taught fabric. Pull the excess fabric around the side of the frame and pull both corners back over the stretcher covering the originally stapled corner. Then staple excess and repeat until finished.
Sketching: After I had decided on my final sketch and design, I did my first coat of gesso on my canvas and went on to transfer the sketch onto it. I had drawn a grid both onto my sketch and the canvas itself, trying to keep them proportional. I then fully drew myself onto the canvas before I had realized that I need to also paint on a base coat. So, I then used the blue color for a base coat and then redrew the grid and my sketch back onto the canvas.
Painting: After I had finished sketching, I then began to work on painting in this order:
- Flannel shirt
- Hair
- Background
- Facial features
- Skin tone
- Any final touches
Reflection
Overall, I did not enjoy doing this project what-so-ever. Painting is one of my least favorite things to do in art, especially when I have to do a portrait of myself or someone else. I find the entire process of it all incredibly tedious, especially mixing all of the colors. However, I do think that this is the best painting that I have done so far in my life. I must have spent at least 60 hours working on this piece.
ACT Responses
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
I took direct inspiration from Vincent Van Gogh as seen in the position, hues, and overall appearance of my finished work, as it was made to replicate it with my face.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The keeps a more neutral focus on Van Gogh, but still takes the opportunity to praise his work.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Van Gogh became heavily influenced by the works of Monet and Gauguin, which allowed him to evolve his artwork into what iit became later in his live.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
To me, I cannot see any true theme centralized around Van Gogh's work, as it is more an amalgamation of many different things.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred that Van Gogh lived a troubled life, as so many do. He used his art to escape from that torment, but it was not well received by the community.
I took direct inspiration from Vincent Van Gogh as seen in the position, hues, and overall appearance of my finished work, as it was made to replicate it with my face.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The keeps a more neutral focus on Van Gogh, but still takes the opportunity to praise his work.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Van Gogh became heavily influenced by the works of Monet and Gauguin, which allowed him to evolve his artwork into what iit became later in his live.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
To me, I cannot see any true theme centralized around Van Gogh's work, as it is more an amalgamation of many different things.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred that Van Gogh lived a troubled life, as so many do. He used his art to escape from that torment, but it was not well received by the community.
Bibliography
Impact, The Net. “Vincent van Gogh Biography.” Vincent van Gogh Gallery, www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/biography.html.
Impact, The Net. “Vincent van Gogh Biography.” Vincent van Gogh Gallery, www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/biography.html.