Final Value Post

-How has your persistence and engagement in these habits pushed you to further resolve the questions, tools, methods, etc as discussed in your previous post?

-How have these habits pushed you to further develop your artistic practice in general as well as your understanding of value (employing shadow and light to represent 3-D form)?

b. Compare and Contrast your work in the darkroom and your work on the drawing. 

-Which medium felt more comfortable? Why?

-Which medium allowed you more opportunity for "expression"? How?

-How might you better improve your experience and/or results with each of the mediums in the future?

This project was one of the hardest for me because I had trouble differing the values of black and white. When I first began drawing/shading, most of the areas were middle tone, or grey. I worked really hard to try my best to make some parts darker and some lighter. Since, at the beginning the glasses were blended in with the rest of my drawing and didn't stand out, I decided to make everything darker and make the glasses the lightest. Even for the photographs I had some trouble highlighting the glasses, but I used a filter to make the darks darker and the lights lighter. However, after spending a lot of time attempting to perfect my drawing, I have furthered my knowledge in value/3D and will be able to draw something better in the future. I know now how to make an object look 3D and how to shade. 

I felt more comfortable in the darkroom because photography comes more naturally to me. I really enjoyed experimenting with different apertures to make each photograph different. I definitely think the darkroom allowed me to be more expressive because there are so many controls (timing, aperture, filter) that can differ each photograph from each other. I was able to try many different values until I found the right one. Although being very challenging, using the filter was very helpful. I think it is all about time in the darkroom. I only got to spend two days to make my photograph, which I think was not very long. If I had more time, I feel like I would be able to perfect my photograph. But also, I think that it is also about experimenting different things because each time you do it, the results will change. For drawing, I think I would want to be more detailed next time. This time, I mainly focused on the basic shapes, values, etc. But I think my drawing would have benefitted from me focusing on certain areas to add detail, and also make the lights lighter and darks darker. 

Interim Value Post

• What are you trying to evoke in your work through the use of value?
• How are you currently using value to influence your viewer's experience of the drawing and  photographs?
• What specific techniques someone and habits do you need to focus on after break to fully merge your intentions with your final works?

As I complete my drawing and am able to reflect back on my process, I would say that I am trying to evoke emotion, whether that be happiness or sadness. Through the extreme values of black and white, especially in the second photo, I want to bring out a special quality in my work. Also, in the third photo there is a slightly less value scale, as most of it is grey. I am currently using value to make my viewer feel emotion. 

For the photos, I used a filter to makes the whites lighter and the blacks darker. I think it really made my main object, the glasses, stand out. Also, for a few of them I changed my aperture and time to adjust how much light was going to come in. For my drawing, I think it is harder to control the lights and darks, as it is all by hand. That is something I definitely need to work on; making my drawing have a wide range of values. Also, I think I need to work on detail, even though it will be really hard with charcoal. But, I am really excited to face the challenge. I have never really worked with charcoal before, but so far it's going okay.