Fenn and Bess

Describe:

In this piece, two children are shown on a bench surrounded by nature. There are two trees in the background and a bush more in the midground. The foreground captures the bench and the children on it. The medium used for this piece is graphite. It was drawn with a series of pencils and blending tools to get the shading effects shown above. Shading was used to create more depth on certain spaces in the drawing. It appears as if the smaller child is still trying to climb onto the bench and sit up, while the older child is already sitting upright, rubbing her face.

Analyze:

I kept this piece relatively close to the original reference picture apart from the background. In the original picture, there was more trees and greenery in the background, which I thought might take away from the foreground in a value project like this one. I simplified it so that the bench and the children on it would stand out and be the main focus of the picture. The movement principle of design was used the children both carrying out acts that would be a movement in real time. The viewer can see how the younger girl is climbing onto the bench and struggling to sit upright, while the older girl is rubbing her face, as if she has an itch on it. Another principle used was line. Much of the piece is made up of small lines, such as the willow tree, the pillars, the grass, and the bench to get the wood effect. Moreover, the title was influenced by the two girls in the drawing because it was named after them.

Interpretation:

This drawing is of Fenn and Bess, who are the children of Tom Rosenthal. Tom Rosenthal is a music artist that I listen to quite often and enjoy watching the vlogs that he put on his YouTube channel. In these videos he takes his kids for walks, explains important topics to them, and plays music. These videos are very pure and I wanted to capture a moment that was taken from one. The image that I chose to draw is a screenshot of one of the videos. In this particular one, Fenn and Bess are out exploring and sitting on benches. This picture encompasses what it is like to be young and still learning about life and the way it works.

Judgement:

A strength for me shown in this drawing would be the folds in the clothing. I think I was able to represent how the clothing actually folded in the picture and cascaded against their bodies. I also think that the lines on the bench to create the wood effect turned out successful to get the concept that I wanted across. However, I would say that I need to work on my tree drawing skills. Throughout the project, drawing the trees posed difficulty to me and made me not want to draw them anymore. I need to focus on the movement of the tree more and figure out how to draw the way the leaves look on a branch. I also felt like I didn't add enough value and darkness in the adaptation that I drew. However, the picture itself isn't very dark and so I think it ended up being okay for what I put.