Up Close and Personal - Chalk Medium

                                                  Up Close and Personal - Chalk Medium
                                                                 The Dragon's Eye

                                                                         
                                                                            Thumbnail
                                                         
                                               
                                                                        Final Sketch

Final product with chalk

How did you respond to challenges that occurred as you worked? 
One of the main challenges I ran into using this medium was over blending. Dragon's usually have scaly textures and I first didn't have the cracks showing. I went back in and outlined the scales in black. Another challenge I went through was not being able to get dark. I had to do many layers of black and color to finally reach the medium I wanted. The last thing that I had difficulty with was making things pop out. To fix this I used a whited to add highlights and used the black to deepen the colors. Overall using the chalk was very easy and I didn't come across any other problems.
Did your work take an unexpected turn due to a mistake or did something happen that was unplanned?

     My work went as planned as far as I can think of. The only thing I didn't expect was the flatness in the eyeball. I thought it was going to end p more rounded and three dimensional, but most of it ended up being flat.

What is this artwork intended to say?

My drawing of the dragon eye shows evil, darkness, and hatred. It represents negativity and dark times up close in action. This dragon is awake and it has evil written all over it. There are so many things that the darkness of this dragon can represent. It is there for the viewer to interpret.

What issues are you examining through your artwork?

Negativity is a common occurrence in many people's minds. Negativity sees everything and manages to get in the way of many things. The dragon eye shows that it has a view of everything and the dragon gets in the way and blows fire, just like negativity can show up at any moment. 

How is this artwork about who you are or what you like?

I personally can't stand constant negativity, but the dragon eye shows that there is darkness and negativity everywhere. I also find dragons very interesting and I am a huge fan of drawing eyes. I know drawing eyes is a popular object to draw, but I wanted to try something different and draw a non human eye.

Did you learn new techniques or processes as part of the work for this project?
I learned the technique of starting off in light layers and then build up the intensity. Usually when I used color I start off very dark and then it makes it difficult to blend. Using this technique helped me build depth in the dragon eye and it's skin.
Did you gain skill with familiar materials?

As I continued drawing with the pastels, I became more comfortable with the materials and it was much easier to work with. I am looking forward to using this medium again because I am now experienced with using the color chalk pastels.