ART
Christopher Madsen
My artwork is a connection, a path from my inner self to the world called reality. When I create I feel like I am creating a small portion of myself, mixed in with the thoughts, emotions, and feelings I am experiencing at the time. Art is the easiest way for me to express myself and the ultimate way for me to show my creativity and enjoy life. Art is not only about expressing oneself and being creative, for in order to create realistic pictures one must have a basic understanding of light source, and the medium with its color intensities and texture.
I have efficiently used my current knowledge and understanding of art to make my artwork look more realistic and creative. I am constantly aware of my light source, which helps me to shade and shadow the objects in the pictures accordingly. Where the objects are closer to the light source I give a lighter tint and as the pieces of the object get further away, they are shaded darker. The contrast of light and dark is determined by how close the light source is, and what affect I want to have on the viewer. For instance, if I draw a picture of a mutilated kitten, and I want the viewer to feel sick or sad, I would make the difference between light and dark small in order to keep a melancholy feel. However, if I wanted to make the viewer feel the terror of this sadistic event, than I would make the contrast between light and dark really high in order to instill the drama of this extreme situation.
In art, the intensity effects on the mood as well. Most of my drawings have a distressed or dismal feel to them, so I have decided to give my drawings low intensities and darker shades. This character has also helped me choose the medium in which I most often create my artwork. At the beginning of the year, I used pencil and pen, for it was the easiest and most familiar way for me to create. As exciting as these mediums where, I still felt a need for color, boldness, and a quicker way to fill up large spaces of paper. So I started drawing with chalk instead of graphite. Not only does this allow me to add color to my drawings, but by using the side of the stick and spreading the chalk around with my fingers, I can fill up my large drawings quickly and with less work exhibited. I also have found myself using a lot of black in my drawings, and rubbing in the black chalk takes time and makes it difficult to smoothly blend the different shades in my drawings. Now, instead of using chalk for the black in my drawings, I mix charcoal into the pictures. The charcoal helps me shade smoother because it is easier to rub into the chalk. In addition, my objects pop out of the page more, and seem to be more realistic, complimenting the low intensity of the chalk.
Thus, by observing just a few basic elements of art, it has helped me to be more creative and efficient when trying to create. The artwork that is created is indigenous to the individual, but the means of making artwork realistic and eye pleasing is not. That is why it is a good idea to have a basic understanding of a few simple artistic elements that although are technical, help the individual to be freely creative and unique in whatever art style that individual chooses.