Knots and Bonds
Ryan Z.
Charcoal, Colored Pencil, Ribbon
-
In this piece, the numerous working hands symbolize the citizens, who are the building blocks of our community. In the two corners of the artwork are two maps split from one. The hands are pulling interwoven strings connecting the maps closer toward each other. I wanted to show people weave and build the roads and buildings that connect our community. I chose cardboard because it had a tinted brown background, which helped increase contrast and had a default midtone. It also gave me control on where to place highlights, allowing me to add more detail. I used my hands as reference and formed different poses. I used a strong and focused lamp in a dark room when taking reference pictures. After sketching out the hand, I used a light charcoal pencil to block out the shadows, and kept refining the shadows detail with a kneaded eraser, then added in highlights. I then cut ribbons to fit the hand’s lengths, and pasted them onto the paper with mod podge. On a separate sheet of paper, I drew two maps with colored pencil, cut it in half, then placed the two pieces in the top left and bottom right corners.
-
Creativity means being able to explore different mediums and going out of your comfort zone. It also means branching out and exploring a diverse amount of ideas.
