Painting Level 3

The concept that I knew I wanted to do for this year would be related to Japanese art or culture. Japanese culture or art is very popular in terms of art. Japanese art covers a wide variety of art styles and media. Which includes ancient pottery, sculpture, ink painting and calligraphy on paper and silk, also ukiyo-e paintings and woodblock prints, ceramics, origami. The concept that I will do for this year is a girl who's wearing traditional Japanese clothing, also a Kitsune mask. In Japanese culture, masks are very popular and are a huge part of their culture as well. The Japanese mask is usually worn and used in theatre, festivals or rituals. These masks can either represent people, creatures, devils, ghosts, and animals. The one that I decided to go with for the rest of the year is the Kitsune mask. The setting for the artworks that I will be making will also be based around torii gates in Japan. The torii gate is a traditional gate that is most commonly found at the entrance or within a Shinto shrine - the main purpose of a Shinto shrine structure is to enshrine one or more kami. Which are the spirits or holy powers that are respected in the ethnic religion of Japan, Shinto - where it marks the transition from the earthly to the sacred. Therefore, my concept is to show the journey of a girl and also the journey of the Kitsune mask transitioning into a fox, and meeting each other along their journey. The reason that I chose to do this storyline is because I wanted to show and learn more about the Japanese culture and their religion, and I’ve always known about the masks in the Japanese culture, so I think that exploring it through painting and artworks will help me understand it better and also incorporate accurate details about the Japanese culture into my artworks. Another reason that I chose to do this concept is since I can play around with different art techniques as for example I can paint it realistically or also magically in away. The subjects in my artworks this year will be heavily influenced by Japanese culture.    

As I have previously said artwork will be heavily influenced by Japanese culture. The artist model that I have looked at the start of this year are Takato Yamamoto, Aaron Bohrod and Banksy.

TAKATO YAMAMOTO - FEMINISM ARTIST

Since my artworks will revolve around Japanese culture, I have decided to research around Japanese artists that do the similar art style that I had in mind. Which was dark, gothic and creepy stuff, hence how I found out about the artist Takato Yamamoto. Takato Yamamoto is a Japanese artist, painter and manga artist. He is born in 15 of January 1960. He is known for his distinct style called Heisei Aesthetic. Heisei Aesthetic is the gothic texture by Takato Yamamoto. Ukiyo-e was originated during the Edo Period (1603 - 1868). Ukiyo-e can also be translated as “pictures of the floating world”. The term “floating world” used in Japan means the daily life interest of the common people. Which means that the artwork with an influence of ukiyo-e includes of somewhat an everyday life of the common people during the Edo period in Japan. Takato Yamamoto developed his own Heisei Aestheticism style in the early nineties while he’s still under the influence of Ukiyo-e art of style. Heisei aestheticism is a blend between the classic form of Japanese woodcut and horror and modern eroticism. One of the few reasons that I have decided to use Takato Yamamoto is the fact that he also incorporates Japanese culture into his series of artworks, such as their traditional clothing. Also, he is a feminism artist which is why I also chose him to be my artist model I think that what I will incorporate with my artworks that relates to him/his artworks is to use a woman as my main subject as he does, also including the traditional clothing of Japanese just like what he does in most of his artworks. He also does abstract in his series of artworks and also very symmetrical background which is something that I would like to look into and incorporate for my 3rd board. Here are some of his artworks: 

Feminism and Art Artist

Shimmering Sky, 2007

Illustration

Pop-art, Ukiyo-e, Heisei Aesthetic

This artwork is called Shimmering Sky made in the year of 2007. The artist uses a contrast between the main subject and the background. He used a plain jet black background and vibrant colours for the clothing of the main subject which is the woman.  Because the art style of the artist is horror mixed with classic form of japanese art style, this artwork also reflects that aspect and the techniques that he usually use. As we can see in the artwork, the artist made the woman as the main subject. He uses red and white to draw our eyes the most towards the girl. We can also see the main subject wearing a traditional clothing in Japan, because most of the artworks the Takato did mostly include an aspect that connects with Japan, which is where he came from. Most of artists usually do stuffs like this when their art style relates something about themselves, in the case of  Takato it was his heritage. 

As can be seen on the photo above, he used a black colour for the background. He did this so that the

main subject, which is the girl, will pop out more and will draw our attention into that part of the artwork.

His colour palette was very minimal, in this artwork he mostly used black, red and other neutral colours.

The fact that the main subject is expressionless, it makes the artwork more “dark” and “creepy” as a

whole, this is the type of technique that he use most of the times. It is very common in his artworks to

have an expressionless main subject. The composition of the artwork is that he placed the subjects at

the centre, vertically. He could’ve done this to make the artwork appear more longer. The artwork is a

mixed of realistic and unrealistic. In his artworks the subjects in it is realistic but his ideas is unrealistic,

for example in this artwork we can see that the girl and the man and the plants was created realistically.

But the idea of the of the artwork is not very realistic.

AARON BOHROD - TROMPE L'OEIL ARTIST

Another artist model that I looked into was a Trompe L’oeil artist Aaron Bohrod.Trompe L’oeil is a french word which is translated into “deceive the eye”. Trompe L’oeil uses realistic imagery to create optical illusion effect. Aaron Bohrod was an American artist that lived from 21 November 1907 - 3 April 1992, at the age of 84. He’s well known for his trompe-l’oeil paintings. Aaron developed the Trompe-l’oeil style during the 1950s. Because of this style, he became more known internationally. He also chose themes that involve his surroundings, perhaps why he uses the Trompe-l’oeil style. I chose him as one of my artist models due to the fact that he paints realistically. The way that he uses his brush is one of the things that I would like to incorporate with my artworks. As can be seen in the pictures, it can be seen that it is very well blended and smooth which is a technique that I would like to use.

Aaron made this artwork called "Devil and Deep” in 1977 on panel using oils. The grotesque devil mask makes the whole artwork itself look a bit more

“dark”. His palette selection was also very neutral, except for the letter C which is blue. He may have done

this so that it will be the main focus of the artwork, and our eyes will be more drawn into it. As we can see,

there are nails pushed through the mask, a portrait of a man and the letter C, which suggests that they are

pinned into a wood. I think that the way he painted this was very realistic, just like his usual style. 

The artwork itself is very high in contrast. Which makes it appear more realistic and maybe to make it look

more like a “darker” artwork. As I previously stated, He usually choose themes that involves his

surroundings. Which makes an impact on his artwork and helped him to paint more realistically. 

BANKSY - GUERILLA ARTIST

Lastly, another art model that I will be taking ideas and inspiration from is Banksy. Banksy is an anonymous

artist that’s based in England. He’s a street artist, vandal, political activist, and film director, and has been

active since the 1990s. I chose him as one of my artist models in order to incorporate the guerilla art style

in my series of artworks. Guerilla art is a fun method to show your vision with the world, it is also a street

art that is environmental. This art method includes leaving anonymous art on public places for various

reasons, this could be either just for fun, to leave a powerful message and to share your thoughts through

artwork. What I am thinking so far is that I would like my artworks to leave a powerful message and to share
my thoughts through the artworks that I will be creating. The simplicity of each artwork that Banksy has done

is definitely something I would like to incorporate for my artworks in the future, also artworks that holds a

powerful message and that he gets his thoughts across the audience clearly.

   

BANKSY - Love is in the Bin, 2018

This artwork is called Love is in the Bin, he just recently did this art intervention last year (2018). The medium that he used for this is aerosol paint and acrylic paint. Before it was shredded, it was originally called Girl with a balloon which is a painting that he did way back in 2006, but the original mural that he did for the Girl with a balloon was done in 2002.  The painting was sold by Sotheby’s London at an auction on 5 October 2018 at the price of £1,042,000.

INITIAL DRAWINGS (Around the week 1 -  4 of term 1)

Term 1 Week 5

Term 1 Week 6

Term 1 Week 7

Term 1 Week 8

Term 1 Week 9

Term 1 Week 10

For this term, I managed to finish half of my first board which I think is great progress so far as in terms of deciding and making my board layout I am very indecisive which makes it harder for me to start a new painting which I do not have in mind or what I planned to make.

Term 2 Week 1

Term 2 Week 2

Term 2 Week 3

Term 2 Week 4

Term 2 Week 5

27 May - 30 May

Term 2 Week 6

3 June - 6 June

Term 2 Week 7

10 June - 13 June

I finished the artwork of the entrance of the torii gates which is what I have been working on for 2 weeks as I did a lot of layers on it and also for the reason that I wasn't that productive for the past few weeks which resulted with me not finishing my first board mid-term, meaning that I have not started my second board nor any ideas that I will be putting on it too although as of now I will just finish doing what I have planned out for my first board and just plan the rest of the 2 boards as I go along. I managed to finish it just on time and for next week I'd like to start a new piece so that I can go through my board and fill it in with my artwork as soon as possible.

Term 2 Week 8 

17 June - 20 June

For this week I will start a new painting, most likely the girl with the umbrella on its' shoulder and I would also like to finish as soon as possible so that I can finish my first board quickly. I only have a few paintings left to fill up my first board.  I am also planning to paint at home whilst also painting at school which will make my pace faster and to also fills up my first board quickly. I also wanted to start my second board before this term ends, I'd also like to have a board layout sketch for my second board - even if just half of it yet - before this term ends.

Term 2 Week 9

24 June - 27 June

This week is a very short week for me, as I also got sick. However, I managed to finish my plan for my second board. For my second panel, I'm planning to introduce the fox in the picture. I will also start using oil paint and acrylics for my mediums to achieve something more realistic. I will also include an A2 oil paint where the fox and the woman crossed paths, I decided for it to be in an A2 paper as I think it is a very important and a symbolic piece and it plays a huge role in my overall board.

Here is the board layout for my second board:

Term 2 Week 10

1 July - 4 July

For the last week of term, I plan to prepare the papers that I need for my second board, such as putting gesso on an A2 paper, so that I can start the oil paint during the holidays. I will mostly spend my last week preparing the kinds of stuff that I need during the holidays because I'm planning to start my second board and hope to finish it before term 3 starts if I work hard enough.

Term 3 Week 1

I ended up not using the planned oil painting on A2 paper since I don't have any idea

Term 3 Week 2

Term 3 Week 3 

Term 3 Week 4

Term 3 Week 5

Term 3 Week 6

Term 3 Week 7

Term 3 Week 8

Term 3 Week 9

Term 3 Week 10 

Term 4 Week 1

Term 4 Week 2

ART FOLIO LVL 2

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So for the first day, I just started brainstorming for the ideas that I would like to develop throughout the year.
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I continued planning and gathering ideas that inspires me
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At this point I knew that I want my panel this year to be related with animals. Although I do not know how to deliver this just yet.
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After days of doing research and looking up photos of artworks in Pinterest, I realised that I want it to be about animal cruelty.
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I also know that I want my artworks to be done realistically so I started searching up artist that do this. Even watching a few videos from there on. I did this because I have to start working on my art history, and that I have to choose 3 artist that will be my inspiration for the artworks that I will make this year.
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 I came across a video of Marcell Witte, it is a video of his timelapse painting. I like the technique that he use for most of his artworks which is realistic. His choice of subject matter intrigues me, it varies from wild animals.  He paints the fur of the animals individually, which takes a lot of time.
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I continued watching videos of him, and gathering ideas how I can use his technique and apply it to my artworks. Also I started doing my art history, and also talking more about his techniques and stuff. I really like his work and how much impact it makes to the audience. That impact is what I want my artwork to have.
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I found another artist named Marcin Budzinski, a digital artist. I like how the artist use their medium and also having a huge impact to their finished products. Their artwork is realistic also. I started writing about them on my art history also.
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I continued working on my art history.
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For my last artist I found another artist which is Dana Ellyn, which is a vegan artist. Her artworks gave me an idea of what if my artworks revolve around on being a meat eater? I like how her artwork is gore, which something that I enjoy painting. Most of her artworks have bloods painted on it, and is disturbing to audience which is something that I like and would like to do also.
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For the last few days, I continued working on my art history and also gathering ideas and to also finalize what I actually want my artwork to be about and also the story line.
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Continued searching up ideas that intrigues me and stuff
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I decided my panel  to be about animal cruelty, I don't want my panel to be predictable when I say that my theme was animal cruelty. I wanted it to be in a circus. Where animal is being mistreated.
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My two subject matter is a clown and a wild animal, which is tiger
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The topic that i wan to focus this year will be animal captivity or animal rights. To be specific, my theme this year will revolve around circus animal. The message that I will try to show or deliver will be that animals are not meant to be used for the circus. They are not toys or performers that you teach tricks or something, they are not meant to be trained. As of now, I think that my main subject for my board will be a tiger. Here are some ideas around this topic/theme

• realistic
• Oil paints (so that i can work on the layers a bit longer)
• Acrylic
• Watercolour
• Bears,Lions and tigers in circus
• Circus tricks (e.g fire ring?) 
• Dark/Gore
• Colour palette - neutral colours

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I started gathering up ideas on how I can widen up the idea that I had
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For my first few works I want it to show the natural habitat of the tiger before being in the circus. Here's the thumbnail sketches that I did along with notes around it explaining what's happening.

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Although I have a plan, I feel like something is still missing but I can't pin point where just yet. I might change the layout along the way
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I tried sketching the tiger on the first artwork, but I didn't like it. I even tried painting a side profile of a tiger but it was so bad and I didn't like it.

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Because I didn't know what to do first, I decided that I will do the clown first as it is also one of my subject matter. I looked up pictures of clowns that I would like to draw. I learnt that I prefer the vintage looking clowns.
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I brainstorm on how I can make the tiger and clown connect in a way.
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I decided to use charcoal to draw and sketch the portrait of the clown.
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I finished the portrait of the clown, I find the charcoal easier to use.

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I decided to also do a charcoal drawing of a tent represent the outside of the circus. It was pretty simple to do and will help the audience to understand the settings a bit more, and to also learn about techniques on using charcoals. ( the only photo I could find was when it's on my board)

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As of now, I decided that I might as well do an eye of a tiger done in charcoal. This will represent on how the tiger sees the tent for the first time. and that after that the clown (portrait) will come into the picture, kind of like introducing the clown after showing the tiger in its natural habitat.

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I don't like how it's going so far so I decided to why not use lino cut then.
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I sketch out the eye of the tiger and also using a reference which is this photo below.

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For the last few days I continued chipping the parts away. I also decided that I want to use white ink, in order to do that I decided to cut away the parts in black instead of white parts in the traditional way. I will do the printing tomorrow, because I ran out of time in class.
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Here is the final result, I like it so far. I might do more of this if I have the time. I like how simple it looks. I also used a black paper for the background as I am using a white ink.

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After doing the other artworks, I decided that it's time to work on the tiger in it's natural habitat. So first of I decided to work on the tiger walking around. I will be working on this piece for the next few days or so.
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I used a combination of charcoal and graphite. Here's the progress so far. I like it so far

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I finished the artwork

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After finishing it, I decided that I will sketch another landscape but this time without the tiger just the woods alone.
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I finished the forest sketch.  I also used charcoal and graphite. It's okay, the purpose of this artwork was just to show where the wild animals (tiger) came from originally anyway. It is pretty basic.

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now that I kinda have the basic layout for the first half of the board, I decided that I want a sketch of a tiger roaring after the series of the tiger seeing the clown and the tent. It is done in graphite. The result is alright. I'm okay with it.

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But because my teacher told me that I should have more than one print so that it does not look odd, I decided that I will also do the lino prints for the different portraits of the wild animals in the circus as well. The size is A5 and I will be doing 4 of them in total. It is the portrait of a tiger, lion, bear, and an elephant. Here is the state before I cut away parts of from it.

I ended up using these 4 prints on my panel, I didn't have enough time to do the rest of them which is my fault. I really liked how it turned out. But i'm disappointed in myself because I didn't finish the rest of it. Those 2 spaces left in my board were the only part that I let myself down, i decided to use the other same prints to just fill up the space. It can be seen on my first board bottom layer.
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So for today, I decided that I will use oil paint to paint a tiger's portrait with clown makeup over it. Representing how dominant it is over clowns, which again represent us humans mistreating animals.
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Here is the reference photo that I have chosen. I will add the clown makeup later on when I finished the portrait.

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During class I also had a look through on my Pinterest board for this year, looking for an inspiration. My plan is that I start the oil paint at home, and I will start another artwork whilst at school.
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Today in class I prepared the materials that I needed for my oil painting of a portrait of a tiger. I prepped the paper, laying a layer of acrylic primer I think on the paper. My teacher then continued to do the rest of it because it takes a long time to dry and we had to do multiple layers on each side.
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I got my prepped paperback thanks to my teacher for helping me out. after school I continued working on it at home, I finished the layout/under paint for the tiger and putting where the values are even though this is only like the second time I am working with oil paints I am still kind of pleased with how it turned out. I also made sure it is similar to the reference photo that I have chosen. I plan to finish this for the next week or 2 maybe.

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I continued working on the oil paint (tiger) at home. I like it more when I do it at home as I have more time to blend and stuff. I'm very satisfied so far even though I still struggle with it a bit more but hopefully, I get better and learn new techniques as I continue working on this artwork, although the process is a bit slow I will continue working on it over the weekends. Hopefully to finish it next week, then adding the clown's makeup afterwards.

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For today I started up this blog and started updating my works so that I won't be running out of time. Good thing that I've kept the photos of each artwork's process that I did so far.
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Today is Saturday I continued working on my oil paint. Here is the progress so far.

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So I didn't like the progress of the tiger so I decided that I will re do it again. The total attempts for this artwork is 3.

I did not like this and i was struggling to make it look realistic. So i decided to use acrylic paint as I do not have an acrylic piece for my panel yet. For the makeup I will use red acrylic so that It pops and it looks good and it represents the clowns makeup, Kind of like switching roles showing that the tiger takes the lead now and shows the tiger being the dominant one. 

I liked how it turned out and the effect that it has on me. In my opinion the tiger looks very fierce with that makeup also. 

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In class today I talked to Mr about my progress so far, I also showed him my oil painting and it's progressed so far he said it looks good. So I think I will finish that artwork this week. I also finished the outline for the sad clown today. I am also thinking of a way to incorporate the tiger prints on it like what I said to my teacher. I also referred back to my past charcoal artwork so that It will link or connect in a way and also for it to look similar to each other as it is supposed to be the same clown anyway. I plan to add the tiger print on the body of the clown, I made this upset looking clown as I'm doing the switchover of the roles in a way.

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Today I started painting the clown with watercolour so far I have only done 1-2 layers with not much of a shading just yet.
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I continued working on the watercolour artwork, I even used my sketches as my reference so that it looks similar and to show that it is the same clown. My plan for this one is that the switch over between the tiger and the clown. I think that if the clown have the tigers body it will show the tigers position before, which is being taken advantage of. That is what it represents and how i interpret the artwork.
I have an extra one because I didn't like how it turned out at first so I did it again. It is a mixed media, I used watercolour for the portrait of the clown and for the body I used acrylics. The clowns emotion is also rather sad.  I am pleased with how it turned out.

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I  had an idea today that I may or may not develop into an actual artwork. It is the linocut or woodcut but with different layers of colours, I've already watched different videos just getting a grip on what it is or how to make it. I think that it is kind of confusing to do but I don't know when or how I will use this technique and which artwork will be made. As of now, I'm just thinking of maybe another portrait of the tiger. This technique is called two-color block print.
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Now that I have my first board settled, and even have a few spaces left for my 2 board.  I decided that I want to incorporate the 4 wild animals which is the elephant,tiger,lion and a bear into a painting. As they are also in the circus and is doing tricks. So I decided to also what I did to the 4 prints, also 4 A5 sized painting of them doing circus tricks in particular. I used mixed media in all of them. It varied from fine line pen, watercolour, acrylic and oil paint. The outcome was pretty neat. I like the overall look and some of the animals even have uniform or costumes on. I did these artwork to show what is happening inside the circus and which and what animals were there being mistreated. What I failed to do was to show that they were being mistreated, I didn't do my part well which is to make them look like they're in pain and suffering which is also my part because at this point I'm rushing these artworks. I feel like I didn't do well in terms of having the message portray what I intended it to be. Which I also think can be interpreted in another way, but not how i wanted it to be. It can also be interpreted that the animals inside the circus were peaceful before the tiger (my main subject) - discover the tent and the wrong doings that the clown is doing - cause war and outrage towards the clowns which obviously has control over these poor animals.

Mr even helped me with this ideas and helped me to develop this ideas. This was his suggestion before. 

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After doing this, I have a portrait A4 left of space beside it will be the switch over of the tiger and the clown. An idea came to mind that what if I did the tent with fires on them to represent chaos and riot in the circus. To also show the taking over of the tiger in the circus and helping his co animals to be free from this animal captivity and animal cruelty. I used my sketch of the tent as my reference and I used another reference photo for the flames.

here is the final product 

I did the tent in watercolour, I also made it look like worn out and I used burnt umber a lot for this one to make it look like it is burnt in a way. I used acrylic paints for the fire. I like this artwork and I think I did well on delivering how to show the audience that there's a chaos or a riot inside the tent, which after it is the killing of the clown and stuff. 

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My first plan was to show a clown with a tiger in it's head kind of like a mask or some sort. I like the idea at first but the longer that I kept thinking about it, i realised something is off. I think that if i did it that way it might look like that the clown won over the tiger which is not the message that I want to show. I have sketches and I even started painting it in oil paint before I realised that it does not really fit with the message that I want to deliver. This was done in an A3 paper. Although I liked the progress so far it just doesn't fit with it. 

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After brainstorming after the portrait of the clown, I decided that for my final pieces I want to fully show the clown in pain and that tiger having bloods all over it which represents the death of the clown and the wild animals winning and being freed. The first artwork I did was actually inspired from one of the artwork that one of the artist that I chose did. I even used his work as my reference photo but did a few tweaks on it. So my reference photo is this.

this is a pretty artwork. I liked it and the message that it delivers to the audience. I decided that for my own artwork I will try my best to make it look like the clown's hand, and just like what I said before it has to has blood on it.

I did the background first with a black poster paint. I used oil paint for this. I like how it turned out and how the blood looks real, I also like how I left some mark of the blood on the paw of the tiger. I like the overall look of it and i think it also delivers the message well and makes sense to be in my board and connects the story pretty well.
For the last space I had, it is an A3 lanscape, the background is also covered in black using poster paint. I want the ending pieces to be dark which is what I did. I had a few plan and trial and error for this but I didn't stop doing it again and again until i'm satisfied because I want the best to be in my board. Here are some of the artworks that didn't quite work for my expectations.
I first had this idea, i found a reference photo for the tiger which is good. My first idea for this is that in the end the tiger left the circus and he is walking in the wild with blood dripping on it's mouth I was gonna show some smoke from the fire or maybe even have the tent at the back but when I drew the tiger it looks off and I just didn't like it even though I followed the positioning of the tiger the best that I could.

 So I did it again an sketch another idea that came to mind. So for this idea i decided to keep the tiger's side profile and with it's mouth open. I also did it in acrylic paint I think. The outcome of it was just so horrible, it even looked like I didn't paint it. Everything was so off, from blending and so on. The background is black. My proportions for this was farrrrrr offfff.

After doing this, I actually quite like the idea of this but I just didn't do it well. So i decided to stick with this idea. So i paint another A3 paper black and sketch the tiger once more. This time the outcome was so much better than the other trial. I also did this in oil paint which I guess i paint better in and blend more smoothly.

 Here's when I was sketching it with a watercolour pencil first.

 Here's the other extra artwork I did before doing it all over again. So i had a spare and i decided to stick it to the side

I like how the tiger looked and even have bloods dripping off from it and having the head of the clown beside it with bloody eyes and neck is a great concept i think. I think that I did a great job finishing up the board well and it ended nicely with the ending of the tiger beating the clown and being the dominant one as it should be anyway because wild animals should not be controlled. This just shows that the clown is gone for a long time.
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Here is the final product for the year. I was sticking my work on my board on the day that the courier is gonna arrive so I did not have a proper photo of my panel but here's what I have.

In conclusion, I think I did well for my panel this year. I got my message delivered. I think that I used a variety of the techniques that the artist that my artworks were inspired off from pretty well. I used those artist's work a lot for my references for the other artworks that I did. From the brushstrokes, the realistic painting, and the impact that it has and the impression that it leaves on the audience. I didn't sleep for almost a week just to finish it off because I manage my time very poorly this year which is disappointing. If I did manage my time better though I think I will have a so much better board than this. I also like how the story makes sense and I like the flow of the story happening. But needless to say I'm proud of the artworks that I've done this year.