My Body of Work: "No Regrets"

My artwork is representational of an emotional journey. In comparison it is not a representation of me- a self portrait, I merely used myself to model the emotion I wanted to express (anyone could have been the subject).
It goes through the very possible stages of a suffering individual.
The first one is very vulnerable looking compared to the rest; the figure is looking looking down and essentially fades into the background of the artwork, the door is in contrast prominent and infront of the figure.
The mood is then suddenly changed in the second artwork, it becomes confronting and slightly unstable with the figure's concerned face, yet within the eyes there is a moment of certainty. Everything is more dramatic with the increased scale.
Then, straight away again the mood shifts to something that resembles instability and an ultimate loss of control, a display of distress. The third one presents this complete change through the change in composition with the strong diagonals, and the larger focus on the figure resembling something quite Baroque styled.
Finally, the last artwork regains the glimpse of control seen in the second one. There is certainty within the face and a sense of stability. The diagonals are gone, and the face is half cast in the light and dark. Here the suffering is being left behind, whether or not it will happen in the future is irrelevant, the individual has overcome an instance of being stuck in a moment and has grown in character because of it, and therefore that suffering will always be a part of them but with "No Regrets" ("Teenage Dream" Katy Perry)

Mission Accomplished!!!

The BOW is finally completed! I've been able to frame three of them and all I need to do now is frame the third one (the last one which I completed).

Here are the first two:



Here are the last two:



The progress to its completed form is evident here in the fourth one.

Done and done. "Artwork no. 3"

On finishing "artwork no. 3" I discussed areas that needed work with my teachers. It came to their attention that I needed to emphasise the structure and shape of my hand, as well as the hair- extending it and making it look more messy.
This was the result after addressing the few concerns.

On to "Artwork no. 3"

Working on "Artwork no. 3" was a similar story to that of "no. 4". My progression of it was again exponential, and it all started when I switched back to the charcoal (the only reason why I was going to use pastels was because I was running out of my current charcoals but Miss bought another packet [which I was extremely grateful for] and I could therefore continue).
I don't have many early stage photos (other than the previous ones shown) for this one because of the fast rate progression, but it basically started from going over the parts in pastel and then moving to the face.



The areas I need to work on now, are the right arm and the toning.

Left side of the face.

I shaded the left side of my face and added some of the highlights.
I need to touch up the lips however, neaten the left side shading and work on the left eye.



Unfortunately I did not capture a single shot of the completed result on its own or the progression of touch up in which I made to finish the artwork. These touch ups consisted on achieving the correct shape of the eyes, lips and then touch ups in toning.

Progression of "Artwork no. 4"

This artwork has kinda taken me by surprise. On working with it I realised that rather than filling in and then adding tone, it was more logical to be adding the tone straight off or paying closer attention to individual areas of colour to achieve an instant tonal effect. This of course was bound to happen considering the cropped view, but even so it has now become evident in my technique that I am paying closer attention to the detail in my drawing as opposed to the photo I'm drawing.
So because of that, my progress suddenly exponentially increased.



Detail of the eye area:



Apart from the left side of the face, I now need to work on my hair and making it look less cleanly cut and more apart of my head. I also need to add highlights.

Starting "artework no. 4"

I made dramatic progress on "artwork no. 4" due to the determination I had in getting it finished for school assessment marking.
Here I've started on the right side of the face, and I must say it's looking very Picasso-esque.

Started on 3rd

I attempted to start my 3rd one using pastels, but the tone it's creating seems to be weaker than my previous artworks.



Close up of arm:



After this setback I decided I'd stick to Miss' advice, and work on it in class after the due date for my BOW (in terms of school assessment). This wouldn't be too much of a concern to my marks as long as I finished the fourth one.

3rd or 4th?

At a bit of a cross road here. I want to try and work on both my artworks at the same time but I've been told perhaps I should focus on one? Miss suggested I do this and focus on the fourth one. It makes sense considering I want to try and be expressive with my fourth one.

Time Constraints

Due to my BOW being due for school assessment marking, I had to speed up the work I did and so I decided to leave "artwork no. 2" and return to it for later touching up.
Now I had to look at a vision of my BOW, that was set in stone, so the question remained... What was going to be my fourth and final artwork? I've previously mentioned the idea I had had for that, but now with the time constraint and the uncertainty surrounding that idea, I needed something else. Upon brainstorming with miss, we found the answer, and it lay within "artwork no.2"- The face. We decided to crop the face and then draw it on the same size page as "artwork no.1" but, obviously it is enlarged because of the cropping.



Now all that was left to do (having drawn up my "artwork no. 3" and "artwork no. 4") was fill and colour it in!

Almost there for no.2!!! YEWW :)

The dark tone of the artwork is starting to really emanate from the charcoal; the scale of the artwork complements this. However, work on the right side of the face is still needed to achieve the correct proportion within the face.

Becoming more expressive...

It is important that the blending in this larger one is not overworked but at the same time smooth so as to really get that shape in my artwork. Below I am beginning to work that style of toning on my chest and face. Still not quite there yet.

Toning and Filling

Here I'm starting to tone up the face adding some depth as well as continuing filling in the white areas.

Progression of Artwork no. 2

Filling in the main areas.