Traditional Drawing Body of Works
This body of works are based on realistic events and about family, human emotions, and connection to animals. It includes seven artworks, and are inspired by the joy and warmth pets and people bring into our lives and how much love for them can grow.
Title: Humans and Their Dogs
Medium: Charcoal on paper
Measurements: 210 x 297mm
Description: I used charcoal on paper to create this piece using traditional mediums and methods. In this piece, the girl hugs her big golden retriever and the warmth and friendship between the owner and the dog are evident. I used charcoal pencils in the outlining and more detailed features such as their hair and the whiskers on the dog, and charcoal sticks for the softer strokes like the girl’s skin, the charcoal strokes blended into her skin using a blending stump.
Title: The Humans and Puppies
Medium: Charcoal on paper
Measurements: 210 x 297mm
Description: I used charcoal sticks and a blending stump in this piece. The charcoal sticks are less fine than the charcoal pencils and give a bolder picture. This is the girl with her puppy golden retriever, as she gives him a warm hug. The puppy isn’t the grown-up dog in the previous picture and has just come to its new home. I thought I would add a hat on the girl’s head in this picture, as it gives more character to her personality. I also added more personality to the puppy by showing he likes to cuddle up to her neck. This shows he likes to be very close to humans and loves to get as close as possible to people’s faces.
Title: Best Friend
Medium: Graphite pencil on grey paper
Measurements: 210 x 297mm
Description: In this picture, I used charcoal pencils and a charcoal stick with the blending stump. If you observe the sleeve on the boy’s jacket, you may notice the depth in the shadows and creases. I wanted it to look like it had a 3D depth to it, so I used a charcoal stick underneath blended it with the stump, and then drew on top with the charcoal pencils to create that multilayering effect. This picture portrays a black labrador and his owner resting together. If people have had dogs, they most likely have come across times when their dogs rest in their arms, even starting to doze off for hours while watching TV with their owners. In this picture, the owner is the first one to fall asleep.
Title: Old Yeller
Medium: Charcoal on paper
Measurements: 210 x 297mm
Description: In this picture, the blending with the stump and charcoal sticks can be observed in the more solid parts such as the clothes, skin, and shadowing of the dog. The rest of the details where there are thin strokes were done with the charcoal pencil. The girl in the picture lifts the head of her old yellow labrador and looks into his sleepy face. The dog is enjoying the attention, and has a relaxed lazy posture, soaking in all the affection he can get.
Title: New Family Member
Medium: Charcoal on paper
Measurements: 210 x 297mm
Description: This picture was made with charcoal sticks and a blending stump. For the darker tones, I press harder on the paper and draw more layers of charcoal in that spot, whilst if I am using charcoal pencils they come in different tones the same as graphite pencils and I pick the darker tone pencils. The new owner picks his new terrier up in the air showing affection and communicating with his new pet. Terriers are inquisitive animals and the dog looks at the owner wondering what he is doing, looking up in his face.
Title: The Old and the Young
Medium: Charcoal on paper
Measurements: 210 x 297mm
Description: This picture was made using charcoal pencils, charcoal sticks, and a stump blender. The hair, hands, and eyelets are the detailed parts using charcoal pencils. The charcoal sticks were blended into the rest of the picture. The strokes in the background and the foreground were used to add a bit more feeling to the picture and to add more texture. The comparison between a puppy starting their life and the old man at the end of his life is the emphasis in this picture. Developing an emotional bond together, they are the old and the young building a friendship that will last.
Title: Old Friends
Medium: Japanese ink and pen on paper
Measurements: 210 x 297mm
Description: This picture was made using Japanese ink, a long-standing medium that I love to use. The puppy’s eyes and nose were outlined in pasted ink that didn’t have as much dilutant. The hands delicately hold the puppy that is so small it can fit in the hand with space to spare. At such a young age, some breeds can be so tiny.
Non-Traditional Drawing Body of Works
This second body of works is based on imagination and narrative and is less realistic than my other works. This body of works is about human experiences, trauma, and the healing of events. The second body of works consists of six artworks some are made with one medium, and some are made with mixed mediums.
Title: Falling into the Dark
Medium: Japanese ink, and pencil on grey paper
Measurements: 210 x 297mm
Description: This piece was done using Japanese ink for the major parts of the work and to outline the person’s body. I used graphite pencils to add softer shadowing on her body and to do a few strokes to capture the movement in the air. This artwork is about human tragedies and bad things that happen to us and when we often feel alone when it happens. The darkness feels like it is swallowing you up, and even if there are people around you, you often feel alone because they are not connected to your experience and you think they won’t understand.
Title: The Shattered
Medium: Pencil and pen on paper
Measurements: 210 x 297mm
Description: Here I used a pen outlining the person’s shape and details, and a graphite pencil for the shadowing. The mixed medium of pen and pencil work well together and complement each other, the pencil is good to use for shadowing where you don’t want the dark black in the pen to be too obtrusive, and the pen is good to use when you want the outline and details to stand out and jump at the viewer. In this artwork, the person seems to be breaking like shattered porcelain. The cracks on her face start to break off and fly off into the air. This represents the shattered pieces we lose when we feel broken, the parts of us we lose.
Title: Stagnation
Medium: Charcoal on paper
Measurements: 210 x 297mm
Description: Here I used charcoal to draw the girl and the jar. Because jars are transparent, I didn’t want anything too obtrusive like pen to outline the jar, but something softer to emphasize this. The speech bubbles and writing in the picture are used with the pen so that it is clear to read and is noticeable. This picture represents the words people say to us and how it affects us. Depending on how sensitive you are, harsh words can cut deep, and you can hold it in for a long time and let it stagnate and affect how you think about yourself, causing more damage than if you just let it roll off like water on a duck’s feather. We all have our breaking points, and we should be careful what we say to others as you don’t know what they are already going through, and you should do it anyway as it makes you a nicer person in society.
Title: Windows to the Soul
Medium: Pen and charcoal on paper
Measurements: 210 x 297mm
Description: I used pencil for the finer details such as the eyelashes, and charcoal for the rest of the artwork, smoothing some parts down with a blending stump. This picture represents sadness, with a figure in somebody’s tearful eyes crying.
Title: You Are Enough
Medium: Pencil on paper
Measurements: 210 x 297mm
Description: I wanted this piece to show all the details and tones in the eye, using graphite pencil to show this beauty in the eye. The writing to the side explains much of what this artwork is about. Inside the eye, a reflection appears of someone looking down, a body posture to say they do not have much confidence in themselves. The other person in the reflection shows a more confident body language, encouraging the other person. The eye has a teardrop, emphasizing it’s concurrence with what is happening between these two people.
Title: Pieces of Me Gone
Medium: Pencil on paper
Measurements: 210 x 297mm
Description: In this last piece, I have used charcoal sticks to create this drawing with the blending stump to smooth down parts of the body such as the skin, besides the hair where I used charcoal pencils to create finer lines. The rough charcoal strokes are left untouched by a blending stump in the background to add texture. Representing the parts of us we lose in human tragedy, like the previous work “Shattered,” parts of his head flake off in leaf-like forms, blowing away in the wind. The bits falling off him are like the parts of him he has lost in grief. The person seemingly puts his head down on his hand in anguish, reinstating the message of sadness in this picture.
