This project was assigned to us in our Drawing Foundations course. We were tasked to create an self-portrait that possessed at least ten different values of the gray-scale. Using only ink, we were challenged to use various techniques to achieve this goal. The portrait itself could have been interpretive of how we wished to represent ourselves, or as literal as a rendering of a photograph.

- Strathmore Layout Bond paper (14" x 17")

- Borden and Riley Tracing Pad (14" x 17")

- Canson Hot Press Illustration Board (15" x 20")

- Sakura Pigma Micron Archival Ink Pens (Sizes: 005, 01, 02, 03, 05)
- Staedtler Mars Lumograph Wooden Pencils 

- Adobe Photoshop CC

The first step in creating a self portrait was to... well, draw myself. And because we had virtually all the creative freedom that we wanted to depict ourselves in any way possible, we started off with thumbnails--20 of them to be exact. I used various aspects of my life and personality to create pieces that were humorous, and some that were quite serious. Ironically, after drawing the very first thumbnail, I knew that would be the one that I'd eventually be going with. Infected was inspired by my partner's birth month flower as well as horror video games. Even alone, it stood out. Nineteen thumbnails later, and I was finished with the first step.

Once I got the approval from my professor, it was onto the next step: a itty bitty postcard-sized composite of how I envisioned my final piece. Although we were able to make a few adjustments after creating this composite (and as you will see, I did make a couple of changes), this part of the assignment was implemented in order for us to sneak a preview into our final piece would come into fruition. To make things easier, I snapped a photo of myself in the pose that I planned on using as well with some harsh lighting to help capture the right shadows and highlights I wanted to ink out. Throwing it into Photoshop, I added some elements that I wanted in my final piece just to get a quick idea of how I wanted things to go.

I traced the main components roughly onto bond paper with a light box to create the composite. There was a number of techniques I used: stippling was the main choice for the exposed flesh. It was perfect for creating a seamless transition of values that I felt would be perfect for skin--no harsh lines for any of the shadows. In the hair, lines were welcomed. I used a hatching technique to grab darker values and spaced the strokes out for the lighter parts of my hair. I used a similar technique for the poppies and some crosshatching for the roots. The background was exhausting, but I felt a darker background would help emphasize the zombie-esque feeling I wanted to imbue into my piece. I used scribbles to create the gradient for the background. There were some coil-like scribbles used as well for the blood. 

And voila! A composite was complete.

After blowing up the image to the appropriate 11" by 14" size for the final piece, I used tracing paper to trace out the image and inked out a contour of the drawing. Rubbing some graphite into the back of the page, I retraced the drawing back onto some bond paper. Here, we were tasked to create a surface study to practice the shading techniques that we would be using so we knew exactly how it was going to look, and just to simply refine our skills of course. I just focused on different textures of the piece and once I got the hang of it, I would move on.

Finally, it was time to create the final piece. I traced out the 11" by 14" image once again, but this time, onto the illustration board. I kept the graphite light as I didn't want to transfer too much of the graphite onto my board. Once I had my outline out, it was just a matter of dotting away!

I was really happy with how it all turned out. Granted, it cost me a few hours of sleep because I lost track of time now and again, but it was very much worth it! This definitely was one of my prouder pieces of art from this program and I look forward to making more pieces just like this one in the future!