Glass Painting
BLM
Inspiration
My inspiration came from Celia Amroune and Aline Kpade's Black Lives Matter, digital illustration. I was really interested in the simplicity, and minimalist design of their people. I was really intrigued with how the illustration was able to give a very powerful feeling, without the need of including facial expressions. Although I was inspired by the protests and the overall movement. When deciding who to have as the people, I did decide to include two of the most important people who started the sparked the movement, that being George Floyd and Breanna Taylor. I then looked into photography of the protest and included two protesters that I believed would fit with the rest. I also wanted to incorporate the Black Lives Matter hand symbol in the piece although I was not to sure how to include it without just slapping it on in black paint. The most important thing I wanted to include somehow was all the people killed in police brutality, and all the people who have united to make a change. When noticing Celia and Kpade's piece I notice the clothing was monochromatic with their faces, I did want to use this as an opportunity to foreshadow, in a way, that there is hope and how the movement will continue on until there is a change. The illustration did have a very monochromatic color pallet which I was unsure of including.
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Planning
For the first sketch I was very inspired by the smoke, I do believe it was a very crucial thing to include when thinking about the protests. many officials would throw smoke bombs at them. I was also debating on including the people or just one person, as well as the aftermath of how the placeis
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For the second sketch I did the same thing as the first but this Time I was not sure to include the police riot gear or leave it simple. then began to list what people thought of when hearing the term Black Lives Matter and let that guide me.
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For the third sketch I was seeing how I could include the cities and I added the police tape. Although I did realize this sketch was going off track from my inspiration and goal, which was to bring awareness to the movement, and by having the city destroyed could be misleading in a way I did not intend. Another reason being I would have no way to represent the people in any way
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Process
When beginning the process, I was still unsure of how I wanted to lay it out, I was not very convinced with the sketches, so I let the work guide me. I started off with printing reference pictures and making an outline on how to make a very simple silhouette. I did this by putting paper over the printed ones pointing them on light and roughly drafting it, then fixing them to my liking. I did cut them out and layered them and seeing how the composition would look. Once I liked it, I placed glass over it to get an idea of how the final piece would look. I fixed the layout, and then each print would be in a different glass, I taped it onto the glass and painted on top, helping me see the guides and not go over.
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I did struggle with the acrylics on glass, If I would let it dry and try putting paint on top, the glass would peel off, but if I went over it when it was still wet I would not have the same opaque consistency. This is when I decided to use variations of shades and multiple strokes to symbolize being treated unfairly as a minority. They are being stripped from their rights, As for the clothes I decided to symbolize hope for the future, as blue represents hope, I also decided to use different shades to not have one bland color throughout the piece. Once I was finished I let them dry and layered them on top with the hand gesture being at the bottom / back and having the George Floyd silhouette on top / front.
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Experimentation
For experimentation I was focused on how the faces would be I was unsure of how to do the face, I do think going back I would have kept this simple style, as for the strokes, I would use a flat square brush to create a weaving pattern, adding white or black to create different shades. As for the faces I would just use up and down strokes, to create the effect. When working on the hair I would use a round brush, for the men dabbing the paint to show the small curls their beards have, and for one of the women, having wavy lines adding black and a little bit of white to show depth. For the other women I decided to use the effect of the glass made with acrylics to show the depth. I did multiple paint strokes to show take off a bit of the painting, also adding a bit of depth to the painting.
Reflection
The final product did turn out good, however looking back I wish I would have thought about the glare and how I would take the final image picture, I did spend a couple hours trying to figure out how to take the final image without showing the background or lights. I also do think I could have layered the people a bit different so they each stood out more. I do think the overall message is there but there could have been better improved, with making the clothes smoother because they do look out of place with all the strokes included. When looking for inspiration I did come across multiple artists, even non-artists, taking about the movement, and I with the researched I realized there was such a huge movement of the piece, adding even more meaning in making this piece. Along with the realization that many other countries have also spoken out on the internal Issue.
Similarities and Differences to Celia Amroune and Aline Kpade's art work
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ACT Responses
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effects upon your work.
I did let my inspiration guide me since I did know I wanted to include people involved or sparked the movement.
2.What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from the research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration
The artists wanted to bring awareness to the issue, even if they were from a different country showing they support the movement.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I did learn they're is a huge amount of support from people all around the world, just showing how there is an issue and there need to be a change.
4. What was the central idea of theme around your inspirational research?
Bring awareness to the issue and show much of the people have been effected by it.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
There are millions of people killed by police brutality just because of their race, and the media not covering even half of the people effected by it.
I did let my inspiration guide me since I did know I wanted to include people involved or sparked the movement.
2.What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from the research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration
The artists wanted to bring awareness to the issue, even if they were from a different country showing they support the movement.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I did learn they're is a huge amount of support from people all around the world, just showing how there is an issue and there need to be a change.
4. What was the central idea of theme around your inspirational research?
Bring awareness to the issue and show much of the people have been effected by it.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
There are millions of people killed by police brutality just because of their race, and the media not covering even half of the people effected by it.
Bibliography
Amourne, Celia and Kpade, Aline. Black Lives Matter, 2020. Retrieved from https://sacreefrangine.com/en/collections/print/products/black-lives-matter