This week your homework assignment is to come up with an idea for your final project, which will be due on Monday, December 19th (our last day of class this semester) and to write (type) a brief idea proposal accompanied by a series of sketches in your notebook. I will look at both the proposal and the sketches during class next week, and will be available for discussion for anyone who would like help developing his or her idea. Please go over the guidelines below, and feel free to e-mail me with whatever questions you may have.
Note: You will have a full two weeks to complete your final drawing, not including this initial idea phase.
FINAL PROJECT GUIDELINES:
The general theme of the end-of-semester project is the self-portrait, but you are encouraged to come up with an approach to the theme that is creative and original. Below are some suggestions. Whether you choose something from this list or come up with another idea, you must run your project by me for approval before getting started.
General requirements: All final projects should be on large paper measuring approximately 30” x 40.” Other than this general size requirement, the kind of paper you use is entirely up to you. In choosing a paper, you should give great consideration to qualities such as color, texture, and edges, as these will contribute to the overall quality of your drawing. You may use any of the drawing materials we have used so far for this project. Plan to spend between 25 and 30 hours on this drawing (DO NOT, therefore, wait until the day before class to begin!). The grade you receive for this drawing will greatly contribute to your grade for the semester.
New York Central Art Supply has an excellent selection of drawing papers. The store is located at 62 3rd Avenue (between E.10th and E.11th Sts.). Phone number: (212) 473-7705.
Suggested approaches to your self-portrait:
1. Place yourself inside your favorite image: Select a famous painting, drawing, or photograph that means a lot to you and draw the image with you in it. Begin by taking several photographs of yourself and experimenting with how you want to insert yourself into the image (I recommend making plenty of photocopies of both your photographs and your selected image and using collage techniques to experiment with composition, scaling, etc.). Remember that you needn’t copy the original painting/drawing/photograph exactly; feel free to select, omit, distort, etc. The idea is to use the original piece as a point of departure for a new piece that is uniquely your own. If you change the image significantly, be sure to leave just enough key characteristics intact so that the viewer will be able to recognize the original in your piece).
2. Altered identity: Draw yourself as a historical figure or fictional character. Choose a figure or character whose image is well-documented (in other words, don’t work from what you imagine the character to look like but rather from actual source material). Collect images of your chosen person from books, magazines, newspapers, etc. and base your drawing on these images. Work also from photographs of yourself.
3. Self as object: Transform yourself into an inanimate object. Choose an object that has some special significance to you so that your becoming this object will make a meaningful statement about you as a person. Work from various photographs of your object and you. You may want to draw the transformation as a sequence of phases, in which case you can use four or five separate sheets of paper whose total dimensions will be approximately 30”x 50.”
4. Give yourself the tattoo you’ve always wanted: Draw yourself with the tattoo of your choice. The tattoo can be a famous painting, your favorite poem, a sequence of numbers, a pattern – anything! Work with a variety of source images in addition to several photographs of yourself. Be creative in selecting a site for your tattoo; since it’s not a real tattoo, you can place it somewhere unusual to create a surprising and dynamic image.
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