Our assignment was to do a portrait from real life, or a photo we took ourselves. The hand in the photo is actually mine. I really like the gold flecks in my little sister’s eyes, and her freckles, so I zoomed in. I matted it myself, and chose the mat to bring out the gold in the eyes.

For this self-portrait assignment, I experimented with colors in the medium I love best – highlighters and crayola markers! I loved every individual stroke and blending the colors. I also love making both the colors harmonize and complement each other – even neutralizing colors is fun. I often design characters, and do self-portraits on my tablet, but this is riskier – more spontaneous. Some of the anatomy is off, but I believe it adds to the personality. It’s one of my favorite portraits I’ve ever done.

After our Drawing from Observation project in Drawing 1, our teacher said all drawing, no matter how realistic, is actually an abstraction. She showed us a deconstructed drawing of a cow, by De Stijl artist, Theo Van Doesburg in 1918. I really wanted to try it! She also showed us work from previous Advanced students who abstracted their self-portraits in 4 panels until they were simplified into cartoon characters. This was an exciting experiment for my Independent Project.

I do a lot of “self-portrait” sketches in marker – its my favorite medium.
It felt good to bring this one beyond a sketch, to a finished piece. The subdued lighting focuses on the expression of apprehension.