Coloring Outside the Lines

For this project, we received a list of themes, mediums, and elements of art that we could choose from. While reading through the list of themes, the only thing that continuously jumped out at me was the title “Color Outside the Lines.” For me, I have always been such a creative individual. Color outside the lines is in some sense my life motto, as everything that I do is just a little bit different. I like to think differently and create differently than outlined by others. I knew this was the theme that I wanted to build upon. I did not want to do something completely basic because that would be the opposite of the theme! I began to think about how being creative and unique is not something that can be grown or form, it is something that one is born with. I love photography because of the emotions that can be found behind all of the memories. I remembered how my family has kept multiple photos from my childhood that highlight my uniqueness. I decided to incorporate some of my favorites into a series of pieces.

Practice

Practice

I am fascinated with how watercolor looks juxtaposed with pen and ink, but I have never tried it on a large scale before. I decided to take a risk and explore that area with this project. I thought that maybe I could take some of the photos where I am acting outside of the box and “color outside the lines” with them. To do watercolor, I knew that I had to use watercolor paper, but I was not sure how I was going to copy my photos onto thick paper. I decided to try it anyway and it worked! I am glad that I took the risk because it really paid off. That was the main hurdle that I had to jump throughout this project.

Pen and water color example 

I edited the photos so that they were really faded. This was to emphasize the dullness of normalcy and to give me the opportunity to highlight the main figure in the photo. Once I printed out the photos, I began outlining the main figure with a fine line pen. In addition to simply outlining it, I added in value with lines in various thicknesses. After all the value was added in, I put in the color using water color pencils. I thought that water color pencils would be better than paints to be able to get more detail. I created some value with the pencils, but the majority of it came from the pens. I experimented with various textures and colors to create a very vibrant and upbeat feeling.

The overall project was not much of a risk for me as I did not experience many issues along the way. Despite this, I learned a lot from this project.  I have never created a series of pieces such as this that are all cohesive and enhance one another before. Making all four individual pieces work well together was at times a challenge, but I think working on that skill will definitely be beneficial in the future. I really like the final pieces and absolutely love the joyous and bouncy feeling they bring across to viewers. When I showed the pieces to my mom, she said that she was overcome with happy memories. She said that it transported her right back to the happy scenes. I think that I really captured the theme well but in a very non-conventional way and I am happy that is has inspired others! I am not completely finished, but here are my almost completed pieces!