In this portrait a created a visual representation of a crime scene. I used regular pencil for the outline of the whole portrait and a black sheet of paper to transfer the portrait from my sketchbook to a small sheet of paper. I included a chalk outline of dead body surrounded by bright yellow caution tape and picket signs. The picket signs read “Black Lives Matter” and “City of Brotherly Love”. I also included a police car because I felt the crime scene would be empty without it. I used color pencils to give the objects its main color and markers to trace over the different objects and bring them to life. I used a needle eraser to draw the white outline and make it look as realistic as possible. I used a black pencil to color in the ground surrounding the chalk outline. I used yellow pencil and marker as well as black marker to draw the caution tape and the headlights on the police car. I used brown pencil and marker for the handles of the pickets signs and black marker for the writing on them. I drew the police car with blue and red pencil and marker for the body, sirens, and writing on the side. I used black pencil and marker for the tires of the car.

The point of this portrait was to highlight the trend we see in today’s society where a black person is killed by a white cop and suddenly “black lives matter”. However, when a black man is killed by someone of the same color, suddenly black lives don’t matter. I included the picket sign titled “City of Brotherly Love” to contradict the black lives matter sign because I feel as though we can’t say white cops are the problem when we are out killing each other everyday.

I want this to portrait to make people reflect upon themselves and see that we need to address the core problem of black on black crime before we address the problem of police brutality.

The last I created a portrait with this much detail was when I drew a famous car from “The Great Gatsby”. Just like my current portrait, it started off as a pencil drawing and then I added color with the help of color pencils and markers and brought the drawing to life. It is a portrait I am most proud of because I put a lot of effort into it and was very satisfied with the end result. I am proud of my current project because in my opinion it makes a statement I think the whole world needs to hear.

One technique I learned while creating my portrait was the use of a needle eraser. It allowed me to create my chalk outline as neatly as possible. I feel being neat and precise is an integral part of creating art. There is honestly nothing I would change about this project because of the amount of freedom I had to create whatever I wanted. An artist by the name of Edward Rhea Hemphill inspired me to make this portrait. His work can be found at http://art.blacklivesmatter.com/blackfuturesmonth/. In conclusion, this project taught me that art really can speak to you if you listen with your eyes instead of your ears.

For our first quarter project we had to draw or paint a portrait that represented a meaning behind it. For my project, I choose to draw a picture of a ram, the reason for this is because i had a hard time and struggled figuring out what I should draw. Ms. Hertz suggested choosing a drawing I already had in my sketchbook and converting it onto the piece of paper. I went through several attempts with drawing something new and different, until I decided to go with the last option that I had and use a drawing I already have.

The drawing is a ram with a third eye, and human like features, the idea behind this drawing itself is that I was relating it to me. Reason for that being is because I am an Aries and I wanted to draw something that reflected my zodiac sign, and also the power of being open minded. Another reason why I just choose this picture is because it was something I had already completed, and it was just a good drawing in general. Color wise I choose, to leave it as a black and white drawing, so I inked it in with, black sharpie pen, copic marker, and a black sharpie. I'm used to drawings thing a lot usually in black and white, it also focuses things more on the details of the picture, without to much color distracting you. I didn't have any real inspiration for this project but only, something that comes from within, and there wasn't any artist I got an idea from to create this.

If i could change one thing about this project it be the time i spent working on it, it didn't take me long to get the drawing done. But it did take me long to come up with something, and because of that I missed a lot of checkpoints, that could have boost my grade up.