I AM AN AMERICAN RAWR

     This is an acrylic painting featuring Darin with a domo, paper cranes, and the American flag. This project was painted using the Van Gogh style which incorporates hatching lines throughout the painting.
     I thought it would be pretty cool to use this style, but now that I've finished the project, I can say that I don't really like it. It turned out pretty good. I think the flag was done well.
     Originally, the photo of Darin had a classroom background and nothing on the table. I wasn't sure what to use for the background and table items. I thought about using the background from the Van Gogh picture that I used as a model, but it seemed too plain and I thought I could make it better. I decided to put symbols that represented Darin in the painting. He makes paper cranes a lot, and likes domo, so I painted those. Darin is also always saying that he is an American, hence the flag and of course the title :).

Panda Blah

     Mixed media/collage project. It didn't turn out as well as I wanted it to, but that's what I get for procrastinating :\. At first, coming up with an idea was troubling me. I had several ideas, but kept changing them. I had drawn a small picture on one of my notebooks earlier in the year so at the last minute, I decided to use it for my project.
     The background is acrylic paint with inked metal pieces. I tore, painted, and pasted tissue squares on a swirly cut out then pasted that onto the paper. I then pasted the panda and dripped ink throughout the paper.
     It felt like a good idea, but after I pasted the tissue paper, I wasn't too confident. I think it's the color that I'm not happy about. I could have made the picture bleed off the paper a bit too.

Black and White Acrylic Painting Project

     This is an acrylic painting of a woman in a gas mask, painted during quarter one. It turned out great but came with its challenges.
     Starting the painting went well. I was able to sketch it out fairly fast and begin painting. I started painting the face first so that I could cover any excess with the black paint used for the gas mask. However, actually painting the face took longer than I thought. Making the lighter shades and gradients was difficult. I would often have problems getting the color right or smoothing out the gradients. At one point, there was a dark splotch on the nose because part of the paint had lifted up. I put so many layers of paint on the face that you can barely see the tooth of the canvas.
     In a way I sort of of cheated. After I had finally gotten the skin right, I moved on to the eye. I didn't want to screw up on the make up and have to redo the skin, so instead of making smooth gradients, I used a tiny brush to make small hatching lines.
     The gas mask didn't give me any problems, it just took time to finish it. I painted the hair last which was the easiest part then I was finally done :). It only took one quarter to paint it...
     This was also based off of a photo I found on google. I haven't been able to find the original again to credit the photographer, so if anyone knows, please let me know.

Rana's Pond Slide Pictures

     Slides used for a picture drama. Representing the story of a ninja fanatic named Kenny who kicks a frog one day. Unknowingly, Kenny has kicked the deity of the pond. Rana, who then turns Kenny into a tadpole. The pictures were drawn on 4''x4'' paper then scanned onto the computer which were then colored using photo shop. These show 22 of the 77 slides.

      I worked very hard on all my slides, even though they seem kind of simple. It was my first time using photo shop to color which was an interesting and frustrating experience at the same time, but I'm glad I pursued the method because the pictures wouldn't have looked nearly as good if i used the paint program alone.