self portrait project

Self Portrait Blog The inspiration pieces I chose were self portraits of Edgar Degas, Kathe Kollwitz, and Vincent Van Gogh. I found them on my virtual visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York City. I picked them because they seemed fairly simple and not over done. The portrait of Van Gogh is the only one in color. I decided to use pencil to create my self-portrait. I think it is easier to work with than acrylic paints. Also it can be shaded, which I like, and pencils can be erased to make changes. This was a challenging project for me. I decided to try to capture a realistic likeness of myself. It was a lot more difficult than I thought. To try to overcome this I kept looking in the mirror as well as looking at the photo I took of myself for this project. I also kept asking family members what they thought and what changes they thought would help. This piece represents me because it is an indication of effort and determination. Creating art is not my strength but I really tried on all the projects for this class. To create my self portrait I used shading (which reminded me of creating the value scale), symmetry in balancing the face, straight lines to create the hair, beard and eyebrows, contour lines to make the eyes, nose, ears, outline of the face and neckline, proportion (I attempted to make the features as proportional as they are on my face), and texture (eyebrows). Even though I found this project challenging and frustrating I did enjoy working on it. I think my final artwork is a nice portrait but it does not look like me. I sketched and shaded and erased and looked in the mirror but I do not think I was able to capture a resemblance. It definitely gives me respect for those who are able to create successful self portraits.