Thursday, June 5, 2008

Artist Statement

Criteria 1 - I think that I am both a student and a practicing artist because I do both of those things with my time. I think that the student part of my life far outweighs the artist part but I do think that art is also an important part of my life. A person that inspires me is my girlfriend Samantha. We are dating and have been dating for a year which is a long time in high school. She motivates me to succeed by always pressing me to do my assignments and to draw.

Criteria 2 - I like to explore a comic book style universe when I draw. It is very interesting to me and keeps me interested in drawing. I prefer to work with cartooning but a more realistic type of cartooning that has correct proportions and good structure. I like to use either pencil or pens to draw and I like to leave my drawings black and white without any color.

Criteria 3 - I ended up in AP Art because I planned on taking it either junior or senior year at the beginning of high school. I expected a fairly straightforward class that would allow me to work on my drawings and not put too many extraneous assignments on my back. I initially set out to improve my style of art and to try and tweak it a little to make it better. This perpective did not change as my work took shape because my work ended up taking shape in a new and better style, exactly what I wanted from the class in the first place.

Criteria 4 - My background influences my work because my work is always based on some sort of imaginary fantasy I have had, either when I was young or a current fantasy. My background must have influenced these fantasies so I think it is safe to say that my background influences all my work. Past experiences govern everything I draw in my opinion. Also, of the three choices I would say that I am an observer.

Criteria 5 - I really have no idea what I will be like when I grow up. I doubt anyone in this school knows what they will be like when they are older. Some people might have an idea but noone knows what will happen to them in life. Ideally I would make a decent amount of money and have either a small house or an apartment. I might live in this area but I might live somewhere completely random also. I will probably live with my wife, whoever that will be. My house or apartment would be very clean and well-organized because that is the way I keep things. I don't know how many pets or children I will have and I don't even want to speculate because I personally don't want kids or pets but I'm sure I'll end up having some. I dream about being done with high school and that is the furthest extent of my fantasies.

Final Artist Statement - I think that I am both an artist and a student trying to balance the two different lives. I am influenced by my girlfriend, who motivates me to succeed and do well in school and at art. I draw in a comic book style, and I have drawn that way for my entire life because comic books were important to me when I was younger. I work in pencil or pen and ink and usually combine the two on pieces. I haved worked on honing my art style in AP art and that is exactly what I expected to do in the class. My style is better than it was at the beginning of the year, clearer-looking and more bold. My background influences my art, I used to live comic books and so that has influenced me to draw in the style of comic book artists. When I get older I hope to have a successful career and hope that I am able to make enough money to live comfortably. I hope that my art will be my career, maybe I'll be a comic-book artist and that would be a job that I would love.