Artwork: Illustration Positive
" Spider man coming home "
Illustration Board
(12" in x 16" in)
November 2017
Illustration Board
(12" in x 16" in)
November 2017
Exhibition Text
Spider- man playing with a dog,” is based on the Norman Rockwell Post boy washing a dog. Although instead of a boy washing a dog, Spider-man is playing with a dog as if he has just got home. Which is presented as a positive scene for both characters.
Planning
Artistic Inspiration
Norman Rockwell
SEP Cover Boy Washing Dog by Norman Rockwell, 1915
Norman Rockwell’s Artistic Process
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When I was researching for my positive piece I was planning on trying to challenge myself and use the same inspiration, but change the tone within the picture. In which I used Norman Rockwell again, using the same position, but making the piece more positive. Although instead I was more inspired by the use of body language and the movement within the piece. I had learned that Norman Rockwell piece's within the magazine line was mostly consisted of the view point of a scene happening, without actual context happening. Which is another reason why I specifically choose to use this again for my positive piece.
Norman Rockwell had been known as a natural storyteller. I which is the biggest reason for me taking the use of form and movement from him and using it within my piece. In many of Rockwell's pieces he used this process of creating a story timeline with a camera first and then turning them into realistic animation series. |
Ethan Castillo
Ethan Castillo Spider-man Comic Drawing,
Spider-man Comic image
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I had found man Spider-man drawings that were comic like and consisted of great detail. Although in particular I had found Castillo's work very detail in the muscles and was inspired to re-create the same effect. I had did a long study on the human figure within certain positions and had not found very much with the similar position as the post boy's in Norman Rockwell's September post. Which is when I took pictures with objects to get the position I had wanted. In Castillo's work the colors he used with his markers were very close to the color tone that I had wanted. Although in Castillo's work his highlights and shadows were very pigmented and dark. In mine I wanted the viewer to perceive the illustration as to be happy. In which is why I lightly colored and did not as harsh of shadowing in my Negative illustration.
I had also looked closely at many of the current Spider-man comic books to get an idea of modern movements with the current Spider-man illustrator. I was really inspired by the way this comic image was produced and loved the constant dark shadows that was consistent through this piece. |
Meaning
The meaning behind my positive illustration was to show the positive and sensitive side to a character that is most commonly known as strong and heroic. The illustration shows Spider-Man and a more smaller dog on top of his thigh and in a distorted position. I had decided to use this position because within my experiences with my dog, he would always climb onto me in this position when I would get home. In which he would be happy to see me. Which is why it had seem logical to use it, but with these characters. To bring my theme into the piece I made the positions in the piece to be seen as a scene. In order for the viewer to feel as if they were looking at s piece that showed specific elements and emotions.
Process
Brainstorming
Sketch#1-
My first sketch consisted of just figuring out how the muscles can be considered for Spider-Man. In which I had only used graphite pencil to explore these muscles Spider-Man is portrayed to have as a hero.
Sketch#2-
I had decided that I wanted to see how Spider-Man’s mask would look like with just colored pencils and sketched his mask with just colored pencils. Although I didn't really like the way it looked so in my end piece I used both graphite pencil and colored pencils.
Sketch#3-
In my opinion this sketch did not turn out as what I had wanted. However I decided to include it to show my attempt at first making the rolled up mask versus the mask in the end.
My first sketch consisted of just figuring out how the muscles can be considered for Spider-Man. In which I had only used graphite pencil to explore these muscles Spider-Man is portrayed to have as a hero.
Sketch#2-
I had decided that I wanted to see how Spider-Man’s mask would look like with just colored pencils and sketched his mask with just colored pencils. Although I didn't really like the way it looked so in my end piece I used both graphite pencil and colored pencils.
Sketch#3-
In my opinion this sketch did not turn out as what I had wanted. However I decided to include it to show my attempt at first making the rolled up mask versus the mask in the end.
Step-by-step for creating the illustration
Step #1-
I had sketched out everything that I was going to include in my drawing from highlights to shadows. Step #2- Although once I laid down all of my shadows and highlights I right away went over the graphite pencil and started to lay my different colors on top. If the highlight wasn't visible enough I had went in with a white eraser to clean up it up. Step #3- The process of making clear enough of shadows had been a little bit of a difficulty for me. Although I had used yellows and oranges to make the highlights and shadows in the dog's fur to pop out instead of being too blended in. Step #4- When I was doing the shadows and highlights for Spider-man's mask I had used Red, and White to create the form of his head. When I blended with the white it was more of a pick color, which was important to keep the colors light to create the positive vibe. Step #5- I had laid my graphite pencil first I used white to blend to create the floor texture. I added a small welcome mat to make the piece more critical to how happy the dog was for Spider-Man to be home. Step #6- After I was finished with the piece I added a very light blue and light grey water color to the background to create a scenery piece feel to the illustration. And added the Saturday evening post front page title to give the piece more of a confusion to the viewer. |
Skills and Technique's
Some skills I had developed while going through with this project is that I had developed a sense of logic when it came to the blues and red's in Spider-Man's suit and the hair on the dog. As well as my Negative illustration, for Spider-Man's legs in my Positive illustration I sketched out with graphite pencil of the shadows and highlights that I had wanted to show. I had also considered the way my shadows had came off of and where the light was hitting on both Spider-Man and the dog. In the first trial I only included brown tones for the dogs hair. I thought that it had made the dog to blend in to well together and you couldn't actually see the long hair coming off of the creature. I then added yellows and oranges to diverse the fur.
Compare & Contrast
With Norman Rockwell's artwork and mine your a able to justify how both my work and his is in the same form and scene from the Saturday evening post. Although instead of a post boy washing a dog, Spider-Man is coming home and you see the positive overwhelming of the dogs reaction. The same Realism is used, but only in the dog. I had used the same construction of flow in form with Norman's piece and mine. Although in contradistinction I changed the mood of harsh and sadness from his piece I made thew piece more vibrant and joyful.
I used more of Ethan Castillo’s work because of how he has recreated Spider-Man into a comic like technique. This causes the scene to be even more out of the ordinary and provides a strong comparison. Although unlike Castillo’s piece I wanted to show a small part of Spider-Man's identity to make a clarity of how close he is to this pet. This causes the piece to have a close connection to the dog and Spider-Man.
I used more of Ethan Castillo’s work because of how he has recreated Spider-Man into a comic like technique. This causes the scene to be even more out of the ordinary and provides a strong comparison. Although unlike Castillo’s piece I wanted to show a small part of Spider-Man's identity to make a clarity of how close he is to this pet. This causes the piece to have a close connection to the dog and Spider-Man.
Reflection
Critique
Overall I believe what I had took away from making this negative piece was to enhance and develop my critical and logical thinking. As I was drawing I had to study and draw body movements to make sure that my drawing was correct within its state. Not only I had to study human movements and muscles, I had to look at dogs as well. Although when creating the fur I used some odd colors to justify how much I wanted the colors to show more visibly. In this piece I found it hard how to make it positive within the same position since the piece I referenced wasn't a positive piece. Although I came up with my final artwork, which I am mostly satisfied with. I believe I could have made some improvements with adding small details throughout the piece to make it better.
Experimentation
In this artwork I decided to add different elements such as the welcome mat to conclude the idea of Spider-Man coming home and his dog being there to greet him. I had also made the colors light to create the mood through them. Although I wasn't able to actually experiment much because I only bad two boards. The experiments I was able to do was add or subtract objects.In which I had added my welcome mat, to make the viewpoint to seem as if spider-man had just got back from somewhere and the small dog is happy to see him home.
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ACT Responses
What is the overall approach ( point of view) the author has regard to the topic of your inspiration?
The overall point of view the author has of my inspiration is giving information to the viewer of who, what, and why my inspiration came to be.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc, while you researched your inspiration?
The kind of generalizations I had discovered over the people I had researched for my inspiration is that the artists I had included are very divergent from one another. They are also from different time periods and movements as well.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my research had been revolved around the Realism movement because of how much detail was put into how realistic the piece was able to be.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
While reading my research I had made inferences on the movements and tried to make an overall broad fact.
The overall point of view the author has of my inspiration is giving information to the viewer of who, what, and why my inspiration came to be.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc, while you researched your inspiration?
The kind of generalizations I had discovered over the people I had researched for my inspiration is that the artists I had included are very divergent from one another. They are also from different time periods and movements as well.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my research had been revolved around the Realism movement because of how much detail was put into how realistic the piece was able to be.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
While reading my research I had made inferences on the movements and tried to make an overall broad fact.