After the first project, I found out that working on a large
scale was actually quite enjoyable and not as daunting as it appeared. For this
project I chose a 19x25 sheet of paper, and although I wish I could have worked
bigger, I feel I made the right choice given my own time constraints. I decided
to work with charcoal because I enjoy the range of values it provides and it
tends to be a quicker, more expressive medium, and I like working with it. To
figure out my concept, I looked through many different artists’ portraits and
self-portraits, and you can see the results of this research in the photos.
These images influenced the style and thought process I used to arrive at the
final concept, which was to use a reference photo I had taken of me while in Pisa,
Italy.
The story behind the reference
photo is that while staying there with a friend I decided to take my sketchbook
and draw the leaning tower plein air. This is not something I often do because
I get extremely self-conscious even carrying a sketchbook in public, much less
trying to draw from life. I don’t even like people watching me draw- it gets me
very nervous and I usually just put my sketchbook away if I feel like too many
people are watching me. But this time I figured I would be brave and do it
anyway, even though the leaning tower had huge crowds of tourists around it at
all times. While I was drawing I had three separate people ask to take a
picture of me drawing in front of the tower, and I’m sure several more did it
without asking. I know a couple more people stood behind me and watched me over
my shoulder. I had planned on doing a full pencil and watercolor painting of
the tower, but I got pretty anxious so I packed up after I had finished the
pencil sketch. Unknown to me, one of the people who had taken my picture was my
friend, who had been taking pictures of tourists for her photography class. I
actually really like the picture; I look like I’m off in my own world,
completely separated from the strangers around me. I decided to use this photo
as a representation of how I feel when I draw. I get to completely escape into
another world where I am entirely focused on what I’m doing, and all my other
thoughts and worries go away for a few hours. I thought this would be the
“symbolic” part of my symbolic self-portrait. For the background, I used an
imagery that I have drawn many times in my life, and that I plan on getting
tattooed on my ankle. Cedar trees are everywhere in my hometown of Seattle, and
they are very meaningful to me and how I grew up. The mountains in the
background are similar to the two mountain ranges that surround Seattle, and
there are three representing my father, mother, and little sister. I figured
those symbols would be fitting as a background for my symbolic self-portrait.
Portrait drawing
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