Criterion E

Criterion A
Investigation was the hardest to do, for me, because we had to write down everything we know about this unit: such as how we edited the photos, why does it have to express myself etc. Compared to others, mine is somewhat shorter. I am not a person who is crazy about word count, but it looks unintelligent if it looks short. However, this is not the shortest thing i wrote in my life, i believe i wrote all the necessary things and some additional stuff such as : what is a portrait. I am satisfied of what i wrote for criterion A and have no need to change it. The only problem is that we had a short amount of time to write it in class, plus i have no internet connection at my house so i couldn't do it at home.

Criterion B
For criterion B i altered 5 photos, talked a little about it and evaluated it against my design specifications. This was the most fun part of the unit because we tested with different kinds of filters with our photos using various sites such as -picnik.com -flauntr.com -splashup.com etc. I mostly used picnik.com because it was the most easiest. The others required to download something or demanded my email address. Each of the designs i made represents my interests and i am satisfied with all the results because to also looks very good. However, i used photoshop for my final design because i have been using photoshop for a long time and i am very comfortable with it. Photoshop is used for professional photo editing with dozens of tools, but the online editors made it a lot simple with just a few tools and easy to use filters.

Criterion D

I dont think i wrote enough about my process of making the portrait. It was really hard to actually recall what you did on what day and stuff. From the beginning i should have took notes in art class about what i did in that particular day, which most people did, but i had no idea we should've. Therefore, i couldnt write with enough detail of what i did. I think that my presentation was pretty good, i talked about all the materials i used, hidden meaning, process and all the things i had to talk about. I am only unhappy about my test. My original test was to ask students and tell only one word about me by looking at my portrait, but not a word about the portrait itself. After everyone gave one word i was going to compare it to my own word, which was ' i suck at art'. But during my presentation Mrs. Wilson got me by saying that it isnt one word which I never thought about. I also didnt have enough time to ask students, i only asked 2 and they said: random, interesting. So in my opinion my test was a failure. Anyways my classmates are too nice to say 'you suck at art'.

Criterion D Portraiture Technology

I was probably the last one to trace my portrait on paper due to the shortage of time and projectors, but i managed to get it done. Since i used the most plain portrait i happened to outline it very fast. My idea of the poster is that i will paint the background with different colors (to show i like colorful things) and paste different stuff that shows my interests like a collage: such as pictures, cut-outs, Cd's etc.
The Process
The materials i am going to use are magazine cut-outs, grass, paint and colored pencils. I painted the background with the 7 colors of the rainbow, which shows i like colors, and then pasted magazine cut-outs, which represents my interests, such as cars, dogs etc. I used the grass as my hair which expresses my appreciation for nature. However, i didn't collect enough grass therefore my hair looks really dumb. I wanted to use string or yarn as my hair but i don't have long hair, and also someone else was using yarn as her hair so i didn't want to copy it. I could've covered the whole background with mag cut-outs but it is really arduous to look for certain things in a magazine, because most of the magazine are text and news.

I spread the white glue over my hair and stick all the grass evenly. The cool thing is that the grass dried out and turned yellow, which shows that my hair is blondish (but it is light brown). The only thing is that there wasn't enough grass to cover the top of my head. After all the gluing and pasting i painted my face with colored pencils. My face is the most "ugly" part because it looks very fat and different from me, plus i don't know how to color "good" like professionals do. My face doesn't have enough definition so it looks really plain and light.

The project in general is very exciting and fun, but because of the lack of my artistic skills, i ended up ruining my portrait. I don't feel very bad about it but it is depressing to have a finished portrait that doesnt look as good, and I was dumbfounded by everyone else's portraits. This project gave me insight to how art can be much more creative if you use different things. It isn't only about pencils and paint, art is anything. We are lucky because we are using good thick paper as of last year's 10th graders used very thin paper and they all wrinkled up and were just bad.

My portrait took 3 double period classes to finish, and i was one of the ones that finished earliest, but still need to write my reflection. Ms. Sudra gave me a lot of help during the process by giving me examples, showing me how to do a certain stuff and what i could do. I applied her advice to my portrait but still my portrait looks very simple and ugly. But i don't think the product is very important but my enthusiasm and work attitude is, and those are the areas that will be graded.

The Product

The product looks nothing like what I've been expecting. At first i thought that my finished artwork would look very unique and interesting but it turned out being a disasterpiece.

Criterion B Portraiture Technology

In Criterion B (design) we should include:
- 4-5 altered photos and details
-Compare each photo to the design specifications
-Tell which design you chose and why
-Evaluate it in terms of your design specifications

Original Photo

This is a portrait of myself i took at home. The pictures of me that were taken during class time could not be found in the grade 10 folder so i had no idea other than taking a photo myself.

Design 1


This is my first altered photo, i simply just increased the saturation and hue which makes a nice glowing effect. I really like this picture because of the way my face is pointing out (with increased brightness), and glowing pictures look really cool. But i would not choose it as my final design because it would take some time tracing it on paper. It is better to trace a simple photo and then design it anyway i want in art class.

Design 2



This is probably my favorite altered photo because it looks like a pencil sketch, and looks really realistic, if it was a pencil sketch. I used Picnik.com to alter this photo and used a filter called sketch. There is also the same effect on photoshop but not as good looking as this one, plus this site is free! Of course photoshop is the best photo editing because it has a lot of tools for editing than just adding effects or filters like most online photo editors. I am not going to choose this as my final design because it does not meet the design specifications, even though i like it. Instead i might use it as my Facebook photo or something.

Design 3

This design looks really cool on a computer, but on paper it might not, because it wont show the same effect when i trace it on paper. I used a filter called 'Neon' on Picnik.com This expresses my likeness for digital lights or so called 'neon' lights. Neon lights can bee seen anywhere: bars, disco clubs, ad posters and even cars. It is used as a decoration, but only can be seen at night or when it is dark. I would not use this design because it is hard to trace when projected on paper because there are complex lines on my hair and on my eyes, which tells us that it doesn't meet the required design specifications.

Design 4


This design was also edited on Picnik.com. It looks like its been painted with water colors but it looks really dull because it used colors like brown and gray. This really doesn't express me because i like colorful things, not dull. Therefore, this portrait is out of my list for tracing, it doesn't meet the design specifications and i just don't like it.

Design 5



This is my final design and the one im using for tracing. Its true that i dont like dull things, as said above, but i do like plain things like this one. This design meets all the design specifications, it expresses me, easy to trace and simple. It was altered in Photoshop through a filter called 'cut-out', and it really does look like cut-out.

Criterion A Portraiture Technology

In this unit we are combining Art and IT to make a mixed media portrait of ourselves, and the best thing is that you can do anything. The first day we started this unit we went outside and took pictures of ourselves and then edited it using a wide range of sources. The websites or programs we could use were :

-picnik.com

-flauntr.com

-splashup.com

-photofunia.com

-photoshop

After we've edited our photos we are supposed to outline them on a blank sheet of paper and design it any way we want using many different materials, items and colors.

The main aim of this unit is to express yourself the way you never expressed before, which is through a mixed media portrait. By doing this unit you can also learn about yourself. You can discover unknown hobbies and things you like you didn't know before. This unit helps us develop and expand our creativeness and imagination.

About Portraits:

Portraits are a type of art where someone must be in the picture and the face is and expression is predominant. Portraits can express the feeling, personality and the mood. Portraits can be done in any media: paintings, snapshots, sculptures and in any other art form. People drew portraits for a very long time and is still a popular choice in art today. Self-portrait is another type of portrait where the artist draws him or herself in the mirror or something else.

There were some troubles when trying to look at our pictures we took. The thumbnail of the pictures didn't match the actual picture file, and by that i couldn't find my portrait so i had to take a picture at home.


Here is the original photo and the altered photo

In art class we watched a video about a artist named Vik Muniz from Brazil, and his artworks. He usually makes his art with unique materials rather than the typical pencil and paint. He uses strings, yarns, sugar, chocolate, cotton fluffs and real clouds. For the works he did with yarn, he calls it pictures of thread, and he named some of them on how much yarn he used.





The product has to express yourself. It has to show what kind of person you are. For example: A student named Chung Hwan who did this unit last year, does not like his photo taken, so he completely covered his face so you cant even say its a face. Another girl drew numbers dropping from her hair, which tells us she loved numbers and math. You can express yourself in any way you want, through a collage, using different media (pencil, colored pencils, paint etc.), mag and newspaper cut-outs, beads and jewelry, rice and beans etc. The thing is to be creative as possible, but still expressing yourself.

This unit is linked with Human Ingenuity of the AOIs because we are creating something. Human Ingenuity is quite an important AOI because we should be using our mentality in order to create things that will be beneficial towards us and represent who we are.

Design Specifications:

-Multimedia
-Technology (to alter photo)
-Photo of yourself, no one else
-Express self

-Easy to trace
-Simple, not extremely detailed

Citations:
-Sudra,Anna. Art lecture. Internation School of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. 3 Sep 2009.

-"Portrait." Wikipedia. 14 Sep 2009. Wikimedia Foundation Inc., Web. 15 Sep 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait.

-Wordsmith, . "About Portrait Photography." eHow. Demand Media, Web. 15 Sep 2009. .