Mackenzie's Blog

Its an old art blog that I'm repurposing for use in different classes that require a blog. I also use it to post random stuff, from pictures to drawings. So there's that

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Meteor away!!

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Sunderland at sunset

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Here is something new that I’m doing, 3D modelling. The first thing that we are assigned to design and create in Fusion 360 is a WW2 boot for some reason. Well, since I have a considerable interest in the history of WW2, I figured that the research part was going to be easy, which it was, as the boot that I chose was a german boot, so the design part was simple. The next part was the difficult part, as it was to actually make the boot. I first combined two shapes together. Then used the fillet tool to change the sides to be more round. Afterwards, I removed part of the boot to make it look like there is a heel. Finally, I added the appearance that it was made of leather or some other dark material. What I found hard about this was getting the sides to fillet correctly and adding the heel to the boot. Eventually, I got the hang of the software and did the final touches to the boot. There wasn’t really any major changes to the plan, as the plan was really simple and didn’t really have any major restrictions that were there if anything I was simply following the structure of the pictures that I was using for reference.

https://a360.co/30EThjW

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T-34 in the forest (war thunder)

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This is the final serious project that we should do for this year. We were given the task to paint a portrait of either ourselves or of someone that is close to you. We first had to ask the person personal questions like “who is that one person you can talk to about just anything?”. Then we had to design and figure out how we wanted our picture to look like. Finally, after our final plan is approved, we get to work on a canvas.

 The process of painting the picture is simple. We first have to lightly trace the reference picture onto the canvas using a HB pencil. Then, we paint the background with the chosen color. After the background is finished then painting the actual picture starts. First painting one side using light colors for the high lights and eventually going darker for the shadows.

 The intangible thing about this painting is that people think that because we are twins, we have a lot in common, including personality. This painting is supposed to show the different in personality by using color to show emotion. On the left side of the painting is my brother and the on the right is me. The colors that I have chosen are orange-red and blue. The first color shows an exciting mood but also some anger as well. The blue shows the more calmer side; however, it can also show sadness. I think that this reflects who I am compared to my brother.

 For envision, an example would be the final plan and the finished product. I thought about how the painting would look like even though it took me awhile to get to that stage. The final product mostly resembles the plan, but only in composition. The colors were decided on the go when the project was underway.

 I reflect on when I thought that painting a portrait of myself was impossible or extremely difficult. I was struggling with how to draw the body proportions correctly. Now I can at least get more. Also, looking back at by final plan, it looks better in its current state then on the final plan.

 For engage and persist, I have put a lot of effort into this project, due to my inexperience with painting or even drawing a portrait. At first I thought that this project was going to be very hard, however, it was a time to learn the things that I didn’t want to learn before. Even thought I had started later than most people, but I had finished the work at around the same time. My determination to finish the work was great, because this was the final art work that I had to worry about. There was also the fact that I was not confident in this unit, but now I feel like I can at least attempt to paint a portrait of someone.

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The process leading up to the final plan. Some picture a blurry due to a shaky hand after painting.

In order: Planning, initial idea, developing idea for final painting, artist investigation, final plan.

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The progression of the portrait painting from start to finish (except for tracing) Reference picture included

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These pictures were the result of media testing in the unit that we are doing. The first picture is oil painting, just using black and white oil paint along with paint thinner and going from dark to light. Since it is oil the brushes need to be cleaned properly in order for them to be use again, so first put it in paint thinner, then use a paper towel to remove as much residue, afterwards rinse water and wipe with paper towel, then check. 

The second picture is arcryllic paint. Using yellow, red, white and alittle bit of black I tried to paint my face. Unfortunatly I had a bit of trouble with the right shading so it looks weird.

For both of them, the skills that I was trying to pratice how to shade using both types of media and how to paint faces. It was successful... mostly, the first picture wasn’t really much of a hassle except for some of the shadows in the mouth/nose region. The second picture was that trying to get the skin tones and shading right with is harder.

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Here is what I did during the spring break. Due to my tight schedule of going out early and coming back late, there wasn’t much time to do this. So the ideas for these picture were on the spot. The first one was based of one of by brother’s drawing, using his style and adding a brick house frame around it. The second on was that I knew that no one would be able to draw something like this due to how tiring and boring it would be, and choosing a probably generic quote, drew this up and this is the result.

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Always

This project goal is to share a story using papers cuts, the story could be real or false. The story that I have decided on is based on a story in the second world war.

The story goes that after a bombing run Charlie Brown’s bomber (Ye Olde Pub) was badly damaged by Fighter planes and the bomber lagged behind the others. Ye Olde Pub was then intercepted by Franz Stigler, who was one bomber kill away from getting a reward. Franz decided no to shot on the bomber but instead guided the plane out into safety by going into formation with the B-17 so that anti-aircraft wouldn’t fire on it. If the others found what Franz had done, he ran the risk of execution. 40 years later after that incident, they meet up and were friend until their deaths in 2008

This project really tested my limit, from multiple redesigns to cutting out the actual shapes. However, this was also a really fun project due to my passion for the second world war, especially the people and the vehicles that participated. The process for making this project is to draw the design on the back of a black paper, then using a knife, cut out the shapes and stick the rest on a white piece of paper. The shapes are connected together to give a sense of unity and to maintain balance.

For my 3 artist habits of mind are engage and persist, developing crafts, and stretch and explore. For engage and persist, the evidence would be the multiple redesigns of the final project since that so long to be given the go-ahead to start cutting. For developing crafts it would be the media testing, to try out and get used to cutting with precision with the knife. Finally for stretch and explore it would be also the media testing, due to being unfamiliar with the media that we were doing in the beginning of the project.

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This card is for my brother, who has been helping me get out of trouble for a long time. There wasn’t really artistic but my brother is quite simplistic in choices. The cards message is to thank him for keeping close but inculdes a joke that my brother and I keep talking about.

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This is the revised version of “walking home”

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This picture is our media testing on paper cutting. We first traced our design on a piece of paper that we outlined. Then after our design is complete, we taped the black paper to the underside of the design paper using masking tape. Afterward, use a pen (ballpoint is recommended) and press on the design paper. This would leave a traced mark on the black paper. Proceed to cut the shape out and after all of shapes are cut out, then glue them

The hardest parts of the media testing was the design process and cutting because the design had to fill out most of the paper and be somewhat hard. We used a knife to cut the design out and keeping the knife where it is supposed to be was hard.

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This picture was my attempt to draw a bicycle using fast and slow drawing. You first draw the basic outline with paint for one minute, do not get into too much detail. Then use a pen to draw the outline of the bicycle along with more minute details.

The car next to it was because there was too much space on one side of the paper

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The Title of my Piece: Walking home

In this project, the story I aim to convey is the two countries that I associate with. The planes are to show that I move between these two countries. The grayed out building on the far bottem left along with the bulldozer conveys that my old home isn’t going to stay for much longer. The Direction of the person shows where my homes are.

This story is significant to me because I have not really lived in singapore, but knowing that my old home in Singapore is going to be removed, and that I kind of dislike the new apartment that I’m moving to. On the top, I lived with my parents in a hotel, because of my father’s job, so I haven’t really seen some of the more poorer apartments.