Negative Drawing
Reality in a Fairy Tale
Color Pencils, Illustration Board 10in x 15in December 2020 Reality in a Fairy Tale was drawn to some way of how 2020 has been but in a more less chaotic way. It's shown in subtle ways such as signs, small graffiti, and Alice alone, wearing a mask to the isolation everyone had during quarantine. Inspired by Thomas Kinkade's "Alice in Wonderland" I turned its meaning into Alice in 2020. |
Inspiration - Thomas Kinkade
While researching images for inspiration, I already had in mind to do something Alice in Wonderland related, so I found Thomas Kinkade's work, specifically "Alice in Wonderland". Kinkade has has gone through some different art styles from luminism to serigraphs. His work is inspired by the illustrator John Tenniel's illustrations and the Disney Alice in Wonderland animated movie. Kinkade captured in this painting the characters from Alice in Wonderland in a way to show their personalities and In what side they live on. Such as capturing Alice in her childlike innocence that she represents in this painting. All of this had its liveliness with its bold bright colors and shading. It really goes with the Alice in Wonderland since that itself is very wacky or chaotic as one could describe it. |
Planning
The original idea was for this positive/negative art piece, to be based off the same painting which is Alice in Wonderland, dividing it up into London for one piece, and Wonderland as the second piece. I wanted London to become a subtle version of America, specifically on the events that are occurring in 2020. Such as how I noted Covid-19 as one example that not only is a national issue, but an overall global issue. Another is the protests that occurred especially in the summer, a major one being for Black Lives Matter (BLM). Seeing as there are trees in this scene, I thought about decreasing the amount of them to show deforestation or wildfires by adding little flames.
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Since I was still in the idea of turning Wonderland into a positive drawing, or drawing it all in the same illustration board. I thought about making Wonderland in this place that is very calm, an escape from reality of 2020. Since over half this year was the population being quarantined, many had different ways to cope being possibly isolated or stuck with the same people seeing them now more than ever. Wonderland was suppose to be the illusion some may make up in order to still keep their mind at ease as a way of mindfulness. Going back to the top section of the drawing, specifically Alice, I was set to draw her wearing a mask on and not adding any background characters to signify the isolation many experience (minus the cat there).
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Now relating to the last section of the second page, the third page goes more into the ideas of connection between the drawings that won't relate to Wonderland, but instead another drawing. For example in Thomas Kinkade's Alice in Wonderland, Alice is barely touching the water, but in that same place she is pointing, it doesn't have her reflection, but it does have the white rabbit's. An idea was to change it into the other drawing's reflection. Something else written was ways to show some subtle signs of 2020 such as graffiti under the bridge as BLM or something similar to it. Overall, the drawing still had to keep that sense of quietness and isolation just like how Alice is alone and London is shown far in the background.
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Process
From my own personal hobby of drawing with references, I enjoy looking at and image and starting off anywhere to slowly create some type of replica. With Reality in a Fairy Tale, I started off with the pond creating a somewhat half oval but giving some slight curves where the rocks land. Next I added the rocks and space where the water flows towards the pond. After that, I decided to start drawing Alice by drawing her arm that's pointing to the pond. It went from arm, sleeve, skirt, heard, and then hair. Once finishing her outline, I did the little hill and tree behind her. It led onto adding the path, hill, stream, and bridge at last. The background of London was to be added once using color.
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I went on to add color to Alice's dress and right before starting her skin tone, I outlined a bit of mask on her to and colored that in and continued off. I then colored the rocks with a base of grey but not too hard because some of them would be over layered by the grass and flowers. Next up was the yellow tone path and then slowly start adding the stem and grass by the pond. |
I started adding more green for the grass all around and a base of blue for the main pond. Something else is the cat that has a red tone to it. Afterwards I made a base for the tree and the hole of it by making it a different brown. Not only that, but the hole has grass above it to which I divided into two greens that compared to the image. Something I realized was the white flowers in the grass to I made little outlines in order to not have to erase and not leave a green in those areas. |
I then added the trees that were beside the huge one and tested the loop like technique for the leaves on the trees where instead of line like, it had swirls like a doodle, but it made them different of view compared to the rest of the scene. I also had erased a part of the brown from the tree to add a sign to social distance so then it is more in a wide view, unlike the subtle ones from the bridge that were smaller and easier to skip. I added the grass by using different shades of green and adding lines of one green and then switching to change in the bland one color thing, so I used some lights, some dark, and other in between. |
Afterwards, I added the bushes of flowers and by adding swirl colors to certain areas and including some greens to show as a bush below the flowers. Next up was the bridge where I used bolder colors with the brown and dark brown. Without going too bold with the dark brown, I added a small BLM under the bridge as a small sign of having voices heard and it'll be shown anywhere and everywhere such as under a bridge. Then I added some light pinks for the clouds and blue for the sky. Then a light orange as a hollow figure of London in the background, starting soft, then darkening one side more than the other.
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Critique
Reflection
Since drawing has also been a major interest for me and also a hobby, I very much enjoyed doing the sketching for it because it kept my mind at ease. Since sketching things in general have always seemed to me feel calm and have joy in doing something creative, I wanted to do something that also brought happiness to those who see the drawing. By using a well known character from many people's childhood, I wanted to present something that reminded people "Hey! There's still a pandemic guys!" with subtle signs specifically with what Alice is wearing (a mask). I realized I need to improve on how to shade in things, what specific colors to use to make them blend well, and other ways for certain things to stand out. Something I really liked was Alice and the sketch I had done to be able to color it all in.
ACT Questions
1. Clearly explain and describe how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
Thomas Kinkade's art affected my drawing by the way he captured characters' personalities and bringing joy to people. In the way he captured that, I wanted to capture reality as it is mainly in America.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Kinkade intended to use his art to support hospitals, schools, etc. and share his joy of art with the people. He enjoyed the simple pleasure of doing art of different mediums and displayed it, that is something I am inspired by to display art coming from the joy I get from making it.
3. What kind of generalization and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
A conclusion I came to was that the little things matter, such as doing art being the little joy in someone's life, it can be something so amazing without even knowing or it can lead to being the source of happiness for someone else.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea was to show a calm environment in the reality we live in as a society and as a country. Kinkade made it as to show his joy of art in different mediums and mine was to give a calm presence in my art.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
There doesn't have to be a huge message to an art piece from the way Kinkade has shown in, but just showing one's feelings through art, can encourage someone to feel the same way whether it be positive or negative.
Thomas Kinkade's art affected my drawing by the way he captured characters' personalities and bringing joy to people. In the way he captured that, I wanted to capture reality as it is mainly in America.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Kinkade intended to use his art to support hospitals, schools, etc. and share his joy of art with the people. He enjoyed the simple pleasure of doing art of different mediums and displayed it, that is something I am inspired by to display art coming from the joy I get from making it.
3. What kind of generalization and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
A conclusion I came to was that the little things matter, such as doing art being the little joy in someone's life, it can be something so amazing without even knowing or it can lead to being the source of happiness for someone else.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea was to show a calm environment in the reality we live in as a society and as a country. Kinkade made it as to show his joy of art in different mediums and mine was to give a calm presence in my art.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
There doesn't have to be a huge message to an art piece from the way Kinkade has shown in, but just showing one's feelings through art, can encourage someone to feel the same way whether it be positive or negative.
Bibliography
“Disney Alice in Wonderland: Thomas Kinkade Studios.” ThomasKinkade.com, 1 Apr. 2019, thomaskinkade.com/art/disneys-alice-in-wonderland/.
“Thomas Kinkade Styles: Thomas Kinkade Studios.” ThomasKinkade.com, thomaskinkade.com/thomas-kinkade-studios-company-mission/the-artist/thomas-kinkade-styles/.
“Thomas Kinkade Styles: Thomas Kinkade Studios.” ThomasKinkade.com, thomaskinkade.com/thomas-kinkade-studios-company-mission/the-artist/thomas-kinkade-styles/.