Inspiration
For my inspiration I chose to base my work off of Roy Lichtenstein's Girl with Hair Ribbon because I liked the way her facial expression was set in the frame. I also thought that since Roy Lichtenstein's work was intended for comics it would be a good choice for my triptych painting since I wanted to have three separate panels instead of one big panel for the canvas. The way each panel in the comics was so laborious shows how important detail was to Lichtenstein. He also appreciated simplicity in his works which is shown through the solid color background on the piece. His use of line through the lack of dots on the face and thick black lines outlining the shadows in the hair, face, and body make the girl have a more simplistic look. His use of colors is also simplistic as can be seen through the exclusive use of primary colors in the piece besides black and white. I intend to use a similar color palette although I do see myself running into some problems regarding the hair since I have dark hair. However, I will play with the shades of black and dark brown to make sure the black lines are visible through the hair color so the shadows of the hair can be seen. I like the use of the headband and intend to leave it however I will change the colors since I intend to expand my color palette of the piece to both primary and secondary colors.
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I intend to use a similar color palette although I do see myself running into some problems regarding the hair since I have dark hair. However, I will play with the shades of black and dark brown to make sure the black lines are visible through the hair color so the shadows of the hair can be seen. I like the use of the headband and intend to leave it however I will change the colors since I intend to expand my color palette of the piece to both primary and secondary colors. I will use the dots to shade the skin, eyes, and lips similarly to Lichtenstein. The facial expression she has can only be interpreted as a negative feeling whether it's frustration, sadness, or surprise. I will use the context of my painting to bring out what feeling i'm trying to convey clearly. I will also use Figures with sunset and Whaam! to get a better idea of how Lichtenstein painting settings.
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Planning
The first panel represents me as an individual so I decided to paint a sort of portrait of me in the same way as Lichtenstein's Girl with Hair Ribbon since I want to capture the same emotion he has on her. I have previously done work similar to Lichtenstein's in a painting of a woman in the same way as Lichtenstein. I made my own edits to the painting since I wanted to have it be more personalized but I want to capture the same strength in the shadows as Lichtenstein's work. I will use the same technique I used for this painting which was the grid drawing technique.
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The second panel shows how my culture affects me in which I will show how important it is for me to remember where I originate while still being able to experience other cultures and other places.I want to depict this with a sunset with a singular house to show how even though I want to get to know other places better I still love and appreciate where I originate from and how those memories bring a sort of light and guidance to my life. I still want the sun to be in lichtenstein's style so I will use his piece figures with sunset to base my painting from.
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The third panel shows how I affect my culture and how I want to bring more knowledge to those closest to me. I want to be able to help my culture be more open-minded so they can understand and appreciate the values, perspectives, and traditions of other cultures. I have previously done landscape paintings and I wanted to have something similar to that to show how I want to expand my horizons more. I have lived in the same city in the same house for the majority of my life however I want to get to know other cities and countries which I want to show through some sort of landscape.I want to tie the panel together with an airplane to show the travel aspect and I intend to draw similarly to the airplane in Lichtenstein's piece, Whaam!.
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Process
The first thing I did was build all three canvases using two one foot wood stretchers and two two foot stretchers per canvas. I put them together and used the staple gun to staple the corners together to make sure the frame was put together in a way it would stay together. Before putting the staple in I made sure the two pieces were making a ninety degree angle. If the staple did not go in well I used the hammer to make the staple go in deeper into the wood. Then I used scissors to cut out a piece of canvas and I put it over the frame. I turned the whole thing around and stapled the canvas to the frame from the back making sure the canvas was tight enough so that it looked smooth but not too tight. After I finished building the canvas I went over the whole thing with gesso as well as the sides of the canvas. A skill I developed during this part of the process was learning to use a staple gun as well as knowing how tight to make the canvas on a smaller frame. Once the gesso had dried I went over each individual canvas with light yellow paint which I made with 1/4 yellow paint and 3/4 white paint.
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For the first panel I decided to draw a grid on the panel to be able to more accurately depict Lichtenstein's Girl with Hair Ribbon. I printed out a copy of the piece and cute it using an exacto knife so that the dimension of the panel would go well with the dimensions of the photo. I added details on the printed copy that were left blank like the tops of the head and below her neck. I completed the hair and added clothes to give the piece a more united look. I also divided both the printed copy of the piece and the panel into twelve equal size squares to be able to better copy the general takes I wanted from Lichtenstein's piece. I used the grid to guide me on drawing the figure on the canvas and once I had finished I fixed any minor details I wasn't satisfied with. The first thing I painted on the canvas was the black lines since I wanted to have a general outline for the piece. Once it was done I painted the area where the skin would go white so that I didn't have the yellow background color on the face. I used the rations I had previously used to make a skin color of half white, one fourth yellow, one eighth brown, and one eighth red paint. Then, I used a deer foot stippling brush to make dots on the face like skin making sure to not put dots on the highlighted parts of the face to give the face some sort of dimension which is necessary considering Lichtenstein's style. I then made a mix of brown and black paint to get a dark color for the hair, however, I made sure the color wasn't so different from the black I used to outline that it wouldn't be noticeable. I also used this color for the stippling on the eyes. Lastly, I painted the lips pink and the head band pattern red and green.
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For the second panel the fist thing I did was paint a semi circle with orange paint I had made making the the flat side of the semi circle was as straight as possible. Then I used tape to help me outline triangles above the semi circles to make the sun look as though it were shining. Then I used tape again to outline the triangles with an equal thickness in line. I outlined each triangle with black paint using a flat brush. Then I outlined the semi circle again using tape to outline the flat side of the semi circle. After the sun was done I began to paint the house outlining it in black paint. When the house was finished I painted it white so that I could use the deer foot stippling brush to make it blue. I chose blue since there was already a variety of warm colors and I wanted to balance warm colors and cool colors in the panel.
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For the third panel the first thing I did was paint the hills and give them dimension by painting them with different hues of green. When the hills looked good I blended one last time with a flat brush and outlined them in black, again, using a flat brush. Then I printed out the photo of Whaam!, specifically the airplane, and colored the back of the photo with a pencil to transfer it onto the canvas. I only transferred the parts that were important to the look of the airplane since the type of airplane was different. I then outlined it in black and colored it in white. Then I used the deer foot stippling brush to color it grey. The last thing I did was put in clouds using a flat brush to lightly blend white and grey into the canvas.
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Reflection
My piece relates to my inspiration in the way it uses rhythm and repetition in the stippling to give color and vibrancy to the piece giving it more texture to the surface of the canvas. Just like Lichtenstein, I had a combination of smooth and rough texture on the canvas through the use of stippling and smooth painting on different elements on the canvas. I also used space by keeping it to a minimum when it came to background to give the pieces a more simplistic view. When reflecting on my three panels I do wish I had taken into consideration the shape of the canvases I had built relevant to the pictures I was going to attempt to copy in. For example, The first panel had a very long face at the beginning so I had to manually adjust the face shape which was a struggle for me. I do think I fixed it well enough however looking back I should have taken proportions into account more. I do notice that the right eye is slightly smaller than the left eye when it comes to the proportions of the face even with the head turned as it is the eye looks slightly smaller than it should be.
Connection to ACT
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
I was able to identify the cause effect relationship both through the facial expressions and simplistic idea for the artwork accompanied with the identifiable stippling in Lichtenstein's work.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach I had was both using his principles for the majority of my work yet still taking ownership over my own piece by making important edits to the piece.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
The kind of generalizations I made were that I though the stippling was thicker however I later discovered his stippling is a lot smaller than I originally thought.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea around my theme is identity and the influence of culture on identity
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
The kind of inferences I made were that they were all simple pieces however I later realized that simplicity in a piece means there has to be so much more attention to detail.
I was able to identify the cause effect relationship both through the facial expressions and simplistic idea for the artwork accompanied with the identifiable stippling in Lichtenstein's work.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach I had was both using his principles for the majority of my work yet still taking ownership over my own piece by making important edits to the piece.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
The kind of generalizations I made were that I though the stippling was thicker however I later discovered his stippling is a lot smaller than I originally thought.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea around my theme is identity and the influence of culture on identity
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
The kind of inferences I made were that they were all simple pieces however I later realized that simplicity in a piece means there has to be so much more attention to detail.
Bibliography
AaronArtPrint.Org. “Girl with Hair Ribbon.” AaronArtPrint.Org, www.aaronartprints.org/lichtenstein-girlwithhairribbon.php.
Tate. “'Whaam!', Roy Lichtenstein, 1963.” Tate, Feb. 2016, www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-whaam-t00897.
Tate. “'Whaam!', Roy Lichtenstein, 1963.” Tate, Feb. 2016, www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-whaam-t00897.