Overview
Title: Muppet and me Size: 2ft x 1ft Medium: Digital Date: December 2023 |
Exhibition Text
Using a puppet form of myself as a child I depicted myself and this puppet together in a moment shared. I wanted to use this piece to represent how I've come to accept my childhood in the past. |
-Inspiration-
When looking to inspirations that I wanted for this project I wanted to make sure the work gave off a sense of fantasy. Since I already knew my concept I wanted someone who had a connection to that. I decided to look into the work of Beatrix Potter, she was known for her illustrations in kid books. This type of feeling was exactly what I was looking for within my inspiration, I really enjoyed the soft look that her work has.
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When looking into her work I noticed the texture she used in her art that gave the art more personality. I also really enjoyed her use of soft colors that made her art just feel gentle and nice to enjoy. I really wanted to incorporate this look into my own art since my theme has to do with childhood, this look would be perfect for my own art. I also found her line work to be interesting too, I really enjoyed that she used different thicknesses throughout the work since it made the artwork a lot more enjoyable to look at. Since I know I'll be doing line work for this work I wanted to include how Beatrix did her line art in my own.
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-Planning-
The first thing that I wanted to figure out for this project was the design for my puppet, since this puppet is supposed to be a figure of my childhood and my self as a kid I took inspiration from baby/kid pictures of myself. I looked at all the different hairstyles I had as a kid and drew them in more of a simple form to go with the puppet design. I then also came up with 2 designs for outfits that I could wear, a dress and overalls. This is because I found that in most of my pictures I was found wearing one of these, for the design I found them in 2 pictures of myself and decided that I would base the outfits off of them.
When I finally chose the combination that I wanted I started working on the composition of the art. I already knew that i wanted to have myself as I am right now in the work since that would connect with my meaning. I decided to have them be in the middle looking at each other because it gave a sense of understanding from both sides. I also added 2 hearts on the top of them to represent the love that I had for my childhood and that would add a connection to them both showing that.
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-Process-
When doing the line art I made sure to look at how Beatrix did her own linework. I noticed that in her art she had a variety of thick and thin lines, this made her work look more appealing to the eye. I wanted to include the different line work in my own so I made a few parts more thin and thicker then other parts. I also used the line work to depict simple shadows, I also saw this done in Beatrix's work.
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After the line art was done I started to work on the base colors that I would be using in this art work. When picking out colors I kept in mind my own favorite colors and colors that I would wear as a kid. I wanted both of these variations of myself to share a similar color palette so people could tell that they have a connection to each other when they first view the work.
Next thing I work on is the background of the art work. Since I wanted to keep the focus on the 2 characters in the art work I wanted to keep the background simple to not avert attention. For the background I wanted to keep in mind the colors that I already used in the foreground, I didn't want to use anything that was too similar but I wanted to make sure that it worked together. I also ended up whitening the bottom of the 2 figures, this is because I wanted to give the art more of a memory or dream feeling.
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The last thing I wanted to do is add more in the background, I felt like the background I already had was too simple. I decided to add this blue splatter pattern behind the figures instead of the entire background. By doing this I bring even more attention to the center of the art where the figures are.
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-Critique-
When taking a look at my own and Beatrix's art I can notice a lot of similarities and differences in our art work. In the line work you see the use of thicker and thinner lines, this gives the art a better sense of shadows and light, It also just makes the artwork a lot better then one solid line through out the entire work. One other simulations that you can spot from these two art works is the use of texture in the art. In Beatrix's art work the texture can be seen throughout the entire art work while I mostly just kept it in the background. When looking at our art you can see a lot of differences as well, mainly the use of the background in these art works. Beatrix used her background as a way to set her characters in a area that would fit, I on the other had decided against using a background, this is because I wanted to give the art a sense of a memory so using a background would take away from that feeling.
-Reflection-
When working on this project I had a really fun and good time since this piece really was important to me. I really liked that I was able to really work with more of a variety of tools in this art then I usually do. When taking a look at my inspiration Beatrix I noticed the texture in the art that really brought life to her work. In order to include that in my own work I had to work around the fact that I was working in digital so I had to use different tools to complete the look. I really think that in the end I widened my knowledge on different tools in my program that will defiantly help me in the future.
-Act Questions-
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
The uses of texture that my inspiration can be found in my own work.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I wanted to look into my childhood and create a physical representation for it.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
How the idea of accepting your childhood is hard but it can be pretty in a sense of those memories are always with you.
4. What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
The concept of accepting your childhood as it is.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I made inferences about how my childhood would look like as a puppet.
The uses of texture that my inspiration can be found in my own work.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I wanted to look into my childhood and create a physical representation for it.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
How the idea of accepting your childhood is hard but it can be pretty in a sense of those memories are always with you.
4. What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
The concept of accepting your childhood as it is.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I made inferences about how my childhood would look like as a puppet.
-Citations-
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2023, December 9). The tale of peter rabbit. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Tale-of-Peter-Rabbit
Spangler, T. (2022, August 25). HBO Max removes about 200 “sesame street” episodes. Variety. https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/hbo-max-removes-sesame-street-episodes-1235345685/
Nursery characters, Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter by Tom Hill. Pixels. (n.d.). https://pixels.com/featured/nursery-characters-peter-rabbit-beatrix-potter-tom-hill.html
Spangler, T. (2022, August 25). HBO Max removes about 200 “sesame street” episodes. Variety. https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/hbo-max-removes-sesame-street-episodes-1235345685/
Nursery characters, Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter by Tom Hill. Pixels. (n.d.). https://pixels.com/featured/nursery-characters-peter-rabbit-beatrix-potter-tom-hill.html