Since this past spring 2023 semester has ended, that means my ceramics class also ended. So, for the time being, as I wait for next semester to start, I will be exploring different forms of medium to create art. The first medium that I have chosen is colored pencil. I have only recently started creating art with this medium so I do not have many pieces finished yet. As a beginner with this new medium, I started with creating simple things. These include basic drawings of a water bottle, alien, and characters for a children’s book. I chose these subjects because they gave me a “feel” around how colored pencils can be used.
For instance, for the water bottle I only used the color blue which allowed me to color with dark and light shading to emphasize the fact that there is dimension and form to the bottle. I chose to color the alien because it was a way in which helped me figure out what each color looks like and what goes together on the page. Since there are usually so many colors to a colored pencil box, I thought it would be important to see the colors on paper without it being scribbled on. Plus, the alien was simply a fun exercise that also allowed me to feel like a kid again.
In addition to the water bottle and alien, I created characters of a children’s book with colored pencils as well. Not only did I create the characters but I created the entire book itself about a child’s loss of a sibling and how to cope. This book is an important part of my college career because it is based on art therapy and the idea of trauma. Apart from the fact that I created this book, it gave me more than one opportunity which includes the exploration of using colored pencils for a medium and a deeper dive into the profession that I want to indulge myself in. I wanted to use colored pencils because it is a medium I rarely use and it allowed me to decide what colors are right for me. When I was creating the draft I decided to use more than one shade of a color per character and drafting it was a helpful way to see what the colors would look like all together. The colors of the characters connect to the story of the book on a deeper level that I am proud of and it excites me to use colored pencils more in the future.
