Write-Up

What is the central idea of your concentration?

My concentration is an exploration of the relationship between the characters of Grinch and Martha from the live-action adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000). I’m very inspired by these characters and their story. I wanted to have cohesion beyond just concept, so I went a step further through the use of color. I chose the central colors of blue, pink, green, and yellow. I feel that Grinch and Martha are colorful and vibrant characters, so I wanted my concentration to reflect this.


How does the work in your concentration demonstrate the exploration of your idea? 

You may refer to specific images as examples. When referencing specific images, please indicate the image numbers.
When I first began working on my concentration, I used scenes from the movie as inspiration and then deviated from them by creating scenarios that I imagined could be a continuation of those scenes. I first implemented this idea with Image 1 and later continued with Images ___, ___, ___, ___, and ___. In Images ___ and ___, I decided to include atmospheric backgrounds. I also wanted to explore these characters through a design lens. This is displayed the best with Image ___. In this image, I chose to include Grinch and Martha in a way that was subtle and less obvious than in my other pieces. I did this by breaking them down into geometric shapes and incorporating them into the longest spikes of the central snowflake. Another design technique I used was the use of 3-D elements to create depth and interest. This technique was used on Image ___ with the two gears on the right side of the piece. To add an extra level of interest to this piece, I chose to also design the gears to rotate. In Image ___, I incorporated text by using a quote from Kurt Cobain to further the message of the piece. The most prominent elements of design used in my concentration are pattern, line, color, and texture.

Home Concentration 8

I wanted to take a break from incorporating characters into my pieces, so this piece is solely focused on the architecture in Whoville. I really like the style of the architecture, but it was a pain to draw due to all of the different shapes. To try and make the process a bit easier, I made a grid for myself to sketch in. I'm actually quite happy with how the piece turned out despite the fact that it was a bit of a struggle to draw and paint. 

I accidentally used a gloss white acrylic instead of my normal matte acrylic (which was used to mix every color in the piece), so the end product ended up being really shiny from some angles. At first when I realized I had used the wrong paint, I was discouraged. But I had already painted a rather large section with a color I liked, so I continued to use the gloss white with the rest of the piece. In the end, I liked that the gloss white was less opaque and it was a happy accident that I grabbed the wrong paint. 

Class Concentration 5

A small detail that is introduced in the movie is that Whoville is located on a snowflake, so I was inspired by that to design a unique snowflake. I also wanted to still incorporate Grinch and Martha somehow, so I broke them down into geometric shapes and incorporated them into the long spikes in the main snowflake. 

Home Concentration 7

I am typically not one to outline my figures with black ink before adding color. I'm usually more drawn to the more natural style of coloring right on top of the sketch instead of doing line work prior. So for this piece, I wanted to try doing line art again and try to get some more practice with my Micron pens since I haven't used them very much. 

I also just purchased a set of watercolor pencils, so I wanted to try those out and see how they compared to normal watercolors. I certainly think I need more practice with them because I did feel like I struggled a bit. I really like the splatter design I was able to create for the background. I was able to get a more pigmented splatter by rubbing the pencil on the tip of a wet brush before flicking the brush towards the paper. 

I was excited to do my take on this outfit as well because it doesn't actually appear in the movie. It was introduced about three years ago for Martha at Universal Studios in Hollywood. I think it's such a pretty outfit and it was great for me to practice how to create different textiles with the pens. 

Home Concentration 6

For this piece, I wanted to include a symbol that wasn't super obvious upon first glance. I chose to use the silhouette of the angel that Grinch makes for Martha when they are kids as the basis for the piece. During the flashback in the movie, the angel ends up being shattered to pieces, so I wanted to tie that in by fragmenting the silhouette. 

Because the broken angel serves as a symbol for Grinch's broken childhood, I wanted to counterbalance that with positive scenarios to show that Martha was the light in his life. 

I wanted to stick with the pastel color scheme of the sets, so that was my thought process behind the background colors. I really like the way the three colors I chose look together and I think they work with the toned background well. I also thought it would look interesting if I added a dark shadow under each of the fragments to further show that they are separated from each other. 

Concentration Critiques - Charlie and Josh

Charlie

Overall thoughts:

• I think your take on women is very interesting 
• I love that you're thinking about different generations of women and exploring different time periods throughout history
• I think a strong point in your concentration is your detail work - especially when it comes to your intricate flowers (I know those take a lot of time, but it's worth it!) 

Suggestions: 

• I'd like to see you continue with your unconventional frames and your flower cutouts
• It would be fun to see you use more unconventional materials  
• A possible piece about women's suffrage or women's rights
• Further exploration of the different generations 
• Further exploration of pattern and texture
• Continue to incorporate quotes  
• Try to use maybe one more different medium - I'd personally like to see you try colored pencils 
• I don't know if you are unhappy with the backgrounds of any of your pieces, but if you are, I'd suggest playing around with an editing app 

I think you have a great concentration with visually interesting pieces, so I look forward to seeing what you create moving forward!

Josh

Overall thoughts: 

• I like that you're taking a design stance
• I like that you're also incorporating photographs of your shoes
• I like that you incorporate fantasy into some pieces 
• Your love for shoes is evident in your pieces and I like that about them 

Suggestions: 

• I really like the message and the design of your first piece, so I think it would be interesting if you did something like that again 
• I like the way you are designing specific types of shoes with unique characteristics, so I'd like to see you continue that
• Along with that, I think you could benefit from adding actual pictures of fabric into the parts of your design to turn them into the physical design
• I'd like to see you incorporate more photographs of shoes you own or are drawn to into your digital work 
• I thought your boot illustration was really fun, so I'd like to see you try another traditional piece 
• Further exploration of the blueprint layout 
• Maybe design shoes to fit different physical needs 
• Continue to explore and incorporate texture

I think your concentration is very interesting, so I look forward to seeing more of it!

Home Concentration 5

For this piece, I thought it would be fun to have an interactive element. I came up with the idea to draw Grinch with a thoughtful expression in front of a background of gears because he is an inventor in the movie. It was also a play on the expression that you say when someone is thinking, "I can see the gears turning in your head." 

At first, I wanted to have the gears overlap each other without a set pattern, but changed that idea upon making my stencil. I thought it would look better if the gears appeared to be connected so you could envision them all spinning at the same time. I chose to add the two gears on top because I wanted gears that would actually spin. 

This piece also gave me the chance to use my metallic Prismacolors since those tend not to make their way into my pieces. I used silver and gold to outline the gears so that they would have a little shine to them. I also wanted to create texture by lightly going over some areas with the Prismacolors to bring out the tooth of the watercolor paper. 

Home Concentration 4

For this piece, I wanted to try something new that was a bit abstract. I had watched a video by Valerie Flynn talking about what doodling has taught her and got inspired by that. I took my time and built up my painting swirl by swirl until I got a result that I liked. I'm happy I chose to paint the background black because I think it's a great color to serve as the negative space because it makes the colors pop. This piece also makes me think of Wicked whenever I look at it because of the line, "Pink goes good with green." 

Class Concentration 4

This piece was my take on the art challenge that has been going around YouTube, the Crayola Marker Challenge. It truly was a challenge to only use Crayola markers because they are water-based inks and don't tend to blend very smoothly. I didn't have a whole lot of leeway if I made a mistake, so I had to be very careful with my strokes. 

I used the Crayola Supertip markers as is for the hair and for some accents throughout the piece. For the majority of the piece, I scribbled some of the ink onto a plastic lid and used it like watercolors. For the most part, this worked really well. They just had a tendency to bleed and dry in a weird way. 

Inspirational Artists

I have taken a great deal of inspiration from artists I've discovered through social media. The main place I use to discover new artists is Instagram. Some of these artists also have YouTube channels where they post a range of things from art challenges to art tutorials. I've taught myself a lot of techniques that I apply in my art through watching these videos and analyzing these posts. 

One Instagram artist that really stands out to me and inspires me is Maxx Stephen. He is an artist that primarily draws Disney Princesses, but he draws them in his own style. His work is almost entirely done with Prismacolors, but he also does some Copic marker illustrations. His work is easily identifiable because he almost always uses Strathmore gray-toned paper and Spica glitter pens to add details. Though I haven't added any glitter pens to my collection of materials, I did get a gray-toned sketchbook because of Maxx. He said he prefers working on the gray because he feels it makes the colors pop. 

His greatest strength is his wonderful use of the Prismacolors. I'm amazed every time he posts a new picture because everything looks so beautifully blended. Though I'm unsure as to what his blending technique is, I've studied his work-in-progress pictures to try and get an idea. I just love his work. He has greatly inspired me to continue to use Prismacolors and has made me appreciate the medium even more. 

Someone who fits right into my concentration is an artist on DeviantArt named Inubaki. I found her artwork several years ago and I still really love what she's done. Grinch-related artwork that's similar to what I've been doing is pretty hard to come by, so it's great when I can find someone else's take on the subject. Though stylistically our art differs, I really do appreciate her point of view. Her style falls more on the anime spectrum. Though there was a time when I toyed with anime, I have no desire to try and create art in that style. I really appreciate the look of anime, but it's just not my thing. 

I think there's a sort of charm to Inubaki's simplistic coloring style. Greatly due to Maxx, I however prefer rich colors and a whole lot of detail. I also like how she sometimes takes elements from the movie and puts her own twist on it, such as changing the skirt on Martha's dress by adding layers of ruffles. It gives her illustrations a lot of character. 

Class Concentration 3

Though the major draw of this piece is the background, my goal for this piece was to continue to experiment with movement and coloring fabric. 

I used a still from the movie as a reference for the background, but I came up with the clothing design because I wanted to practice drawing clothes with folds and bunching. I found it was much easier to color these folds using lighter colors as opposed to the darker colors. I also like the look of the blue jacket better because you can really see where I added hints of yellow and pink to complement the sunrise. 

Home Concentration 3

For this piece, I wanted to try something new. I stumbled across a channel on YouTube that creates pixel are using painted backgrounds and perler beads. After watching several videos, I got inspired to make my own pixel artwork. 

I started out by creating a pattern, but soon found out I would create a lot less headache for myself if I just free-handed the design using the masking tape method. This method is done by placing the beads onto the sticky side of the masking tape so that they stay in place while you iron them. I really liked this method, though it was tedious. 

For the background, I chose to do a somewhat abstracted staircase using the sponge technique I've used before. I didn't want to have a background that was too detailed due to the fact that the focal point of the piece is pixelated and had details omitted from it. In the end, I actually like that not all of the beads fused together to close up the holes. This allowed for me to place color onto the background so it could show through the holes once the beaded piece was glued to the background. 

Home Concentration 2

This piece was inspired by the flashback scene in the movie where Grinch is ridiculed by his class as all of his classmates stand around and laugh at him, except for Martha. I chose to make this distinction by painting Martha in a brighter blue and adding a hint of green to her right side to show that she sympathizes with Grinch and doesn't follow the actions of her peers. 

From what I could gather, the quote I used was from Kurt Cobain. I chose to tie in the second line of the quote with the dripping coming off of the classmates to show that they all will drip into the same puddle. At that point, there's no way to differentiate one from the other. My message for this piece is that it's much better to be different instead of being the same as everyone else. 

Class Concentration 2

Grinch and Martha have hardly any interaction in the movie, so I wanted to change that with my own vision. I was greatly inspired by the ballroom scene in Beauty and the Beast for this piece. I also wanted to focus on movement and let the details drive the piece and create interest. The dress Martha wears in this piece is actually my favorite costume from any movie, so I took a great deal of time to add as many details as I could. I also played with layering different mediums within those details to get the look that I wanted. 

Home Concentration 1

This piece was created using the technique I researched, using a sponge to create texture. I'm incredibly fascinated with the interior set of Grinch's cave in the movie, which was inspired by the Guggenheim Museum, so I wanted to use the sponge to create the rocky texture of the cave walls. 

This piece was a redesign of my favorite piece from my summer concentration:

I really wanted to approach it in a different way by using a different medium and trying to give Martha a more realistic look. 

With my concentration, I really want to explore scenarios that deviate from the canon plot of the movie and put my ideas of 'what if' into my pieces. In the movie, this dress has less than a minute on screen, which I think is a shame. Because Martha wears this dress only a short time after she professes her love for Grinch and it's white, I think it is a visual representation of the purity she feels within herself and shows that she is ready to start her new life. She also wears this dress during her first visit to the cave, so I wanted to depict how I think she'd react to it, with awe. 

Class Concentration 1

For my first concentration, I really wanted to push myself and give perspective drawing another go. This piece was also challenging for me because my reference pictures were in one-point perspective and I had to mentally think about it in two-point perspective so I could think about how to draw it that way. I also had to take some creative liberties because I could not see what was supposed to be on the left side of the room, so I chose to add a hallway because I liked the look of it. 

I really wanted to convey emotion with this piece. Choosing to make the piece so small was deliberate because I wanted to create a sort of claustrophobic atmosphere because Martha feels trapped in her situation because she longs to be with Grinch, but Augustus is after her heart as well. She also feels socially pressured to be with Augustus because he is the mayor of Whoville and has basically brainwashed the Whos into thinking that Grinch is a menace to society. She feels very small and feels that she won't ever get the life she desires. 

The blue color scheme was not my choice, it's the color scheme of the actual set. I found it was an interesting choice of color because not only is blue a color that evokes sadness, this particular shade of blue comes off as very cold. I was also very inspired by what the set designer on the movie, Meridith Boswell, had to say about the set, "Martha's set deviated from most of the rules we had established in that it was more cluttered, which gave it narrative to help explain her character." The cluttered aspect also added to the claustrophobic atmosphere that I was thinking about when creating the piece.