Timeline & Progress

During phase 4 in propel, I have learned the basics of a Gantt chart. A Gantt chart is a programming tool for project management and mainly used in businesses. It is constructed as a timeline to see how long a project will take, what steps to take, and as well show you if you are behind, on track, or ahead. This chart is not only helpful to yourself but also show peers what your project will consist of.

My timeline is a weird one, as it is two different milestones such as “Sketches” and “Find References”. The third one is a repeat for four others since it is of each art piece. The first milestone is the very first goal to complete as without it, who are you going to draw? This is finding people to reference off of, to re-create and draw. The second milestone is making sure to sketch each reference to have a base outline and to know if I want that exact photo I selected. The ‘final’ milestone is relating to my whole project as it shows each step and consists back to the reference photos. My timeline is very small but includes everything I need to know.

For my first piece, I am 9 days behind, meaning I am at least 14 days behind altogether in my project. The extra 5 days are due to not beginning my second piece just yet. Each piece I considered to take 2 weeks to work on. I know that I am behind because of not having a device at home to work on and to catch up on the work I’m behind. There are reasons being such as not being at school as often as I should, and having to finish up my other assignments beforehand.

For the next few weeks, my plans include coming in earlier and staying late after school ends. This will help me by having more time to work on my pieces, and possibly be able to catch up to pace. As for my project, I will be filling in the rest of the details into his face, filling up the background and creating his dreadlocks. During this time I will also be coloring in the base colors for the four other outlined pieces. When I complete my Trippie Redd piece, I will dive straight into my second piece by shading, lighting, and blending. This will get the basic’s done and I can get right into details in the face and clothing fabrics. By the end of the semester, I plan to have finish five pieces including a master-crafted piece of myself.

Final Blog…

This is my very last blog for the semester. Time went by fast when working on a project I found out I love doing. I would say it isn’t going the way I expected it to, but I am still very happy with what I was able to accomplish. I have fully completed one piece with high details included. I have four other pieces to complete but I have learned the tool I need on Photoshop and how it works. This will speed up my next pieces as I know where certain tools are and do. I have started my second piece and I am already 80% completed in just a few days. By the end of this semester, I plan to have finished four out of the five pieces.   

I have decided on my final piece I will be master-crafting a self-portrait. The reason being is that I can have the whole summer to draw and edit this piece. I want to use everything I have learned over the past few months, into this final art piece. All the techniques, and skills I have acquired from peers and YouTube. This meaning my project will extend to the end of summer. I will then present my master-crafted art piece to Mr. Hansen and Mr. Patrician on my own time. I would like to show the improvements I have made from my pieces previously, to my very last piece. 

By being part of the Propel class for one semester has taught me so much about myself and the outside world. I found my passion for digital art while my style is semi-realism. I learned how to write a proper email, PowerPoint, resume, and many more throughout the semester. The one thing I would like to change about myself in Propel would be my attendance. I know that is my own fault but, that is my biggest regret. I wouldn’t be as behind in my project and maybe, I could have completed all five of my pieces in time. My biggest thanks will have to go to Mr. Hansen. He has assisted me throughout my project, taught me tools I would have never found on my own. He has also helped me through a personal problem of mine that I was going through at the time. Thank you to all my classmates and teachers that have experienced Propel with me. I have gained so much confidence from them and wouldn’t know what I would have done without talking to any of them.   

P.S. If any of you readers would like to be updated with my art, please follow my Instagram account @dinosaurbeari   

Sincerely,  

Sara Meeches 

http://www.propellrsd.com/sara-digital-art – Here is a link to my legacy artefact.

POC and Project Review (Late)

During the POC timeline, I did not present my project to prove my proof of Concept (POC). Instead, I was in a meeting with one of my teachers. That was where I proved what my project will be. This was also later after everybody else proved theirs. While in the meeting, I figured out the type of style I would like to draw for the semester, which is semi-realism. This came to mind because of my friend Paige, as she is doing somewhat the same.   

My project will consist of digitally drawing semi-realism portraits. Throughout my project, I will be learning as I go. The referenced photos I receive are off Instagram and google images. I chose people that I strongly admired and people that were suggested to me. It was hard to figure out who I wanted to create a piece on. By the end of the semester, I am planning on having all five of my pieces completed. If I cannot by the end, I will work on the rest unfinished pieces over the summer. This will show my improvement, plus show where I am as a beginner digital artist. 

Future Plans and Steps

Only having three milestones was a big shock for me, as I thought there were going to be a lot more from the examples I saw. Technically though, the third milestone is a repeat for another seven more milestones. As we start off, we will have to find a person that we find either challenging or to have more practice on. Then will need to find a photo to reference them off.  

The second important milestone is sketching all the images we gathered, to then importing them on the computer. The final step is to put each sketch into their own Photoshop document.  

Lastly but not finally, the pieces. This means that each milestone after the third one, are repeats but of different figures. These milestones include briefly adding in each step on how I create my pieces. Making sure to blend, shade, add in textures, and getting feedback near the end. Since I would love to hear the comments, bad or good because, in the end, it will just show my progress over time.  

This comes down to why I set my timeline the way I did. I had a tough time thinking of how I could show my future plans and track my progress. The timeline was difficult to start off in my opinion because most of it contained just action steps and repeats. The biggest milestone I would say is sketching and finding the right photo. As it would have to fit in my own requirements (challenging and new) as I am still wanting to learn.  

Carrying onto my “future plans”, I will be creating my first ever male piece digitally. This is not really a milestone, but it is a piece of a milestone as one of my references is a male figure. I am setting a goal for the next few weeks that each art piece that I deliver, will be handed in at the end of the week. This includes the action steps to be completed even if it means not being completely satisfied. I want to keep up with this goal, as I tend to take too long finishing by redoing a small mistake. By the end of the semester, I should have eight completed art pieces, hoping to have at least one masterpiece. 

Couple Weeks In…

Walking into the Propel room for the first time ever to be known as a Propel student, was nerve-racking. Seeing all the new faces that will soon be my friends or people I can talk too and get to know more about. Of course, that was not the case for the first day, I stuck by myself or with people that are from my school. I am not a very outgoing person but that was what my plan was going to be for the first day in Propel.

I remember hearing from my best friend who joined Propel the semester before me. She had told me about one presentation she did about anything she wanted. She chose what she did for the summer. My first thought that ran through my mind was my cats. I was SO excited to talk and write about them. But I was afraid people would judge me, I still did up to after I presented about it. I didn’t want to be known as the crazy cat lazy. The day that changed my mind was when first I had to talk to my class about how I got into video games. I somehow got people to laugh and at the end when at sat back down in the audience. I wanted to go back up and redo it again. Knowing that it isn’t as scary as I thought it would be. Also helping me feel much more comfortable to continue to write my script about my cats.

A thought kept running through the back my mind. Wondering if I was truly ready to present my script in front of strangers. My first semester was terrible with me standing at the front of the class and talking. I could not bring myself to get up and talk about what I wrote down in a room full of 40 people. Most I knew but some that were new to the school. Like how I said about my best friend being in Propel in the first semester, I was not as comfortable. But when she is around I can bring myself out of my little bubble and do things I could not believe I can do by myself.

Propel for me has already changed me into wanting to redo my presentations, learning to make them better for the next time. Before, I would miss days because I didn’t want to show up and present. The last presentation I was supposed to do before coming to Propel, I had a nervous breakdown. I had so many notes, but I still felt as if they were wrong, or as if it is not what my teachers have asked for. After speaking out loud to my class of 27 students who I have known for a couple weeks and or a couple years. Over the past 2 weeks, I have grown to become more comfortable with showing my classmate my work. What I have created and my ideas for projects and presentations for the future.

Starting New…

Hello, my name is Sara. This blog is to show my art pieces, doodles, or any creations I have made. This will let me see and others see my progress with trying different art styles, methods and much more.

For example, this is a piece I put together in the 10th grade. I went image exploring trying to find piecing of images that I wanted and combining them all together creating only one image. I knew I wanted to do something that involved a female sugar skull. Then, I remembered that they liked to have flowers , so I threw in a flower boarder and a bunch of flowers behind the sugar skull to help her stand out a bit more. Finally, I asked my graphic teacher if I could put my design onto a T-shirt, which I did. The only thing that wasn’t included was the red coloring.

Now this is what will be filled in this blog. Either it be hand drawn, or digitally made.