Visual Narrative - Drawing 1

Description:

- In this piece, was completed in color pencil. There is a single tree that has a swing attached to it with a girl sitting on the swing. The tree is without leaves, suggesting that this scene takes place in the fall. The long sleeve shirt and jeans that the girl is wearing also suggests that the weather is colder out. There is a light source coming from the right, shining on the tree and the girl’s front, creating an outline around her. The tree has many different colors coming together to make it. There is grass on the ground, with its color being a mixture of green, yellow, and brown. With the color scheme of the background and the light source, this suggests that she is swinging in the late afternoon during the golden hour.

Analysis:

- In this piece, one of the main points is the texture that is shown on the tree. This was created with using a magnitude of different browns, greens, reds, yellows, blues, and purples. The texture was also created by using different styles of hatching in order to get depth and variation in the portions of the tree. There is a light source coming from the back right, shining on the tree and the girl’s front to show that she is facing the sun. This creates the effect that this piece takes place in the late afternoon. Line was a large part of this piece with the different line styles used in creating the grass, as well as the tree and the swing. The thirds ruling was also used in this piece because the tree’s base is positioned off to the side and then curves to cover the piece. In addition, the girl is not exactly in the middle either, which creates a more interesting piece, rather than having the subject in the middle. Moreover, movement was used in this piece by the angle and position of the swing to make it look like the girl really is moving and going back and forth. Movement was also considered in the tree as the eye naturally travels up the tree when looking at it because of the way the textured lines move up the tree.

Interpretation:

- This piece represents the way I would spend my fall afternoons when I lived in Pennsylvania. Often times, I would be outside until dark, but my favorite time was the golden hour right before dark when everything is so bright and alive. This time was always so calming and let me reflect on the great day that I had outside before I went in for dinner. I loved to swing and so this piece encompasses part of my childhood that meant so much to me. This piece is also very timely for me, as I am turning 18 in a week’s time, so it has let me be reflective of my childhood as it ends. I know I won’t magically feel grown up as soon as I turn 18, but by society’s standard I will technically be an adult, and so it has just been nice to reflect on my childhood and happy times, before I turn 18 and before I graduate.

Judgment:

- This is the first colored pencil piece I have ever done. When I first started this piece, I thought it was going to be a nightmare since I have been sick and out of school for the majority of the time it was assigned. Then on top of having little time to complete this, I was using a medium that was unknown to me and what I thought was sort of hard to use. However, I very happy with the way the tree turned out and the texture that I was able to create on the tree. I honestly never thought it was going to work out, so I’m glad it did. There is always room for improvement, but as far as my first try goes, I think it went pretty well. Moreover, I would change how I drew the girl. I was having a lot of trouble with the skin tone, as well as her hair and just drawing a person in general. I don’t think she turned out the worst, but if I were to do it again, I would probably choose different colors for the clothing and hair, as well as put more texture in them. In addition, I would also try to define the light source a bit more because other than on the tree, it is a bit weak.