Title: Tearful Girl Size: 36" x 36" Medium: Acrylic pain on canvas Completion date: April 2023 Exhibition Text: This painting is a reflection of who I am. I chose this artist because there were certain things that were said about him and a very specific way of living that he had to go through during his peak that I can also relate to. I also chose him to push myself out of my comfort zone, is this is a style that I've never had any experience with. His style is often dramatic and full of bold imagery, which I thought would be a fun and accurate way to represent myself. The work I created represents how I am a parody of all the people I am around and how I also create different personalities similar to others to fit in. |
Inspiration
The inspiration for this artwork is Roy Lichtenstein. Lichtenstein is a pop artist who was most popular during the 1960s, he was often considered disruptive, as his paintings were parodies of other works or of art history. Some of the defining traits of his unique art style consist of the dotting pattern in news papers, called Ben-Day dots (often exaggerated), as well as bold primary colors being the main colors of choice within the painting. The main inspiration behind his works for parodies were often advertisements and comic books. During that time, Lichtenstein was a symbol of change, but to me, he's also a symbol of isolation, because he was always talked down upon, as people didn't believe his art was considered "real art". I connect to this feeling as well, as I am constantly isolated from the people around me as well. I tend to be separated from the people I care about, as I'm always the one kid who "doesn't quite fit in". In this sense, I relate to being off to the side doing what I do best, much like Lichtenstein. I also really appreciate him being a symbol of change, as there can be no development without change. This is something that I am constantly trying to make clear in my organization, as now I am in a position where I can actually make some change. I am one of the very few members who actually succeeds in changing certain things within the organization. |
Girl With Hair Ribbon by Roy Lichtenstein
Crying Girl by Roy Lichtenstein
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I chose Lichtenstein because he has a bold and unique style that's full of dramatics. I am an individual who ins't really that emotional, but to full express my feelings (with I tend to struggle with), I am often very dramatic with my gestures, words, or body language. It's because of these habits that have led me to appreciate things with a little more flare and drama more than other things. I find them fun, and enjoy watching how it affects others. Drama tends to make people respond in extreme and bold ways, much like how people reacted to Roy Lichtenstein's works. They found it disrespectful, and thus, had bold reactions that can now be perceived as rude and aggressive.
Experimentation & Planning
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The planning for the rest of the painting was pretty simple, as I already knew what I was going to do, and all of the colors were going to be primary, excluding the hair and skin, just lick the original style. My first sketch was what I decided to go with in the end, all I did was zoom in for the painting. I did however, test the lines a little bit to make sure I understood how to draw the lips and eyes.
Process
I started this project by making a few quick sketches to have a clear understanding of what I wanted the painting to look like, and was able to create something that I was happy with first try. after creating a plan in my notebook, I realized that I needed to have Ben-Day dots all across the face as the skin tone and eye color. To determine how I was going to create these dots, I decided to do a little test in my notebook on how I was actually going to create dots that would look good in the painting. |
Once I had my plan, it was time to sketch my plan onto the canvas. this took quite a bit of time, since I was able to get the eyes down pretty easily, but it took forever just to try and get the proportions right with the nose and mouth. There was a point where I had the whole thing sketched out, but I took a step back and had to completely redraw the nose and mouth to make the piece look proportionate. This is also where I learned the true importance of having your inspiration open while sketching onto the canvas. Initially, I tried to go off of the sketch in my notebook, but soon after, I found that the details weren't quite right, and that I needed to look at what I originally wanted it to look like.
After finishing the sketch, it was time to go straight into the painting. I started with the line work of the painting, then moved on to the background. once I got the background down, I drew in straight lines over the skin and eyes to use as guidelines for the dots to look consistent and clean. Then, I painted the shoulder, then hair color in and cleaned up the lines I made. Finally, it was time to move on to the most time consuming part of the painting, the skin tone.
Once I finished the skin tone, all I had to do was clean up anything a wasn't happy with and erase the guidelines I used to put down the dots, then I was finished!
Reflection
I know that I say this with ever work I do, but I honestly really enjoyed making this piece. I thought it would be somewhat simple because it was all just flat colors, but it challenged me more than I though it would. I needed to create clean lines and had to have uniform dots throughout the entire face. Once again, the only real problem that I had with this project was my time management and motivation. I really struggled with convincing myself to actually get work done, since I was convinced that the project would be easy, even though it obviously wasn't. This led me to to taking forever to even get started with getting paint on the canvas, and when it was time to do so, I would always to it at night, leading me to be too tired to do it for a long time. |
Original Work
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Critique
Original Work
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I tried very hard with this painting to make it as close to Roy Lichtenstein's style as possible. Much like his style, I used bold black lines to outline everything and to create strong lines, I also was able to recreate similar line work for the eyes, nose, mouth, and eyebrows, and use mainly primary colors within the work. In contrast to this, however, the hair is brown, unlike the usual blond color. The dots are also a little closer together than the the original style, which is a little disappointing, as I spent way too long working on them. Otherwise, I believe that I was able to stay true to the style and recreate many of the same aspects of his works.
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Girl With Hair Ribbon by Roy Lichtenstein
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By using similar line weight, I was able to create similar imagery to that of Roy Lichtenstein. Luckily, despite many of the strange methods I needed to use to get a similar style which showed close expressions as well as close coloring.
ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
The inspiration I chose for this work was a very clean art style with smooth lines, this led to me being more focused and taking more time on each brush stroke to better represent said art style. This may have taken more time, but it did give the painting a closer resemblance to the inspiration.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
It is my belief that Roy Lichtenstein would feel very close with the theme, as he too, was separate from others. His work was seen as not real, leading to his isolation.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
During this project, I concluded that many people purposefully try to isolate others, while some choose to isolate themselves. I also found that being even the slightest bit different than the norm can lead to those people to be more aggressive and hateful.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I chose to have isolation as my central theme. I had already known that I wanted Roy Lichtenstein as my inspiration, and it was from there that I was able to gain inspiration for a theme I can relate to.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
There were very few inferences that I had to make when researching, as this a very popular artist now. The only real inferences that I had to make was how the Isolation and poor treatment and words made Lichtenstein felt.
The inspiration I chose for this work was a very clean art style with smooth lines, this led to me being more focused and taking more time on each brush stroke to better represent said art style. This may have taken more time, but it did give the painting a closer resemblance to the inspiration.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
It is my belief that Roy Lichtenstein would feel very close with the theme, as he too, was separate from others. His work was seen as not real, leading to his isolation.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
During this project, I concluded that many people purposefully try to isolate others, while some choose to isolate themselves. I also found that being even the slightest bit different than the norm can lead to those people to be more aggressive and hateful.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I chose to have isolation as my central theme. I had already known that I wanted Roy Lichtenstein as my inspiration, and it was from there that I was able to gain inspiration for a theme I can relate to.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
There were very few inferences that I had to make when researching, as this a very popular artist now. The only real inferences that I had to make was how the Isolation and poor treatment and words made Lichtenstein felt.
Citations
- “Roy Lichtenstein: Moma.” The Museum of Modern Art. The Museum of Modern Art, 2023. https://www.moma.org/artists/3542.
- Spencer, Catherine. “Roy Lichtenstein Had Only One Great Idea in His Pop Art – but Made the Most of It.” The Conversation. The Conversation US, Inc., September 13, 2022. https://theconversation.com/roy-lichtenstein-had-only-one-great-idea-in-his-pop-art-but-made-the-most-of-it-84630.