This week we were assigned a painting portrait. I decided to paint Darrelle Revis the cornerback from the Tampa Bay Bucs. Here is my progress on it because I was out sick from school on Thursday. I should have the finished version by sometime next week. Also expect a portfolio piece. Stay tuned!

This week we were given a series of tutorials to do based on portraiture. This one is based off a tutorial where we were supposed to use a model shot and add different textures. I, of course, used the best, most renown, celebrity female on the planet, Selena Gomez. Zendaya is a close second, but she does not compare. Stay tuned next week for more work.

This week's work were based off of the portrait articles I posted about earlier this week. I made three pieces.

This one is based off of the first article. I followed the standard rule of thirds and plain grayscale portraits Bonfigli uses in his photographs. I also added a slight burned border to hold it all together.

This is based off of Rowse's article. I followed his ideas of more colorful clothing and background. He also mentioned that sometimes cutting off body parts of the person can prove affective. I had the person look at the basketball to tell the story and give the viewer the knowledge that basketball is big in this person's life.

For my third piece this week the theme was similar to the first piece. This is also based off of Bonfigli's color schemes. I did incorporate the idea that looking at a certain thing can help tell a story. This was from Rowse's article. I added the lighting effects to tell the viewer that the person is sad but there is hope still there. Stay tuned for some more work next week.

This week we were assigned multiple readings on portraiture to open up the third quarter unit. The links for these three articles are below.

http://ilovephotography.com/ilp-goodportrait.html

http://digital-photography-school.com/10-ways-to-take-stunning-portraits

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2013/06/20/10-portrait-photography-mistakes-every-photographer-makes-and-how-to-fix-them/

The first article, by Eddie Bonfigli, differs greatly from the second, by Darren Rowse, in that Bonfigli's believes in all portraits to follow the standard rules. For example, he believes that the rule of thirds should be used, and also does not believe that the person should be wearing stand out clothing. He likes the background to be either very dark or very light, not in between. He likes the main focus of the image to be on the person. Rowse's style completely contradicts Bonfigli's. Rowse likes dynamic images with a lot of color. He believes the background and clothing of the picture should stand out. He also thinks that objects can be added to help tell a story. He does not always necessarily follow the standard rules of portraiture like Bonfigli. Stay tuned for art this quarter.

This week is exam week so we aren't required to blog this week. We are supposed to finish our last piece of the semester. It is the final propaganda piece. My piece is pretty self-explanatory displaying the idea that many tax dollars we pay are possibly being used for things of little to no purpose. The top of the Capitol building is meant to be a trash can. I originally was about to submit it, then I realized it needed a border. I added a simple black border and it looks much more balanced. Stay tuned for some more work in the next few weeks.

For this week I just continued to work on my bear painting. I finished it up and created my own texture brushes and added fur to the bear and bark to the tree. I also downloaded a cloud brush from the internet and painted a cloud in the background. To add depth to the tree I put a gradient overlay to add shape. Stay tuned for more art!

This week's assignment was another portfolio piece meaning that I can make whatever I would like. I decided to paint again. As you can see is I am currently painting a grizzly bear cub. My color palette is sitting in the top right so you can see the color combinations I'm using. I am trying to decide what I would like to do for the background. Check back soon for my final piece. Stay tuned!