The poem I chose was “The Rose that Grew from Concrete” by Tupac. I liked how simple it was. My interpretation  was that even in a cruel world or environment, something beautiful can blossom. I tried to set the mood to be gloomy because the poem talks about injustice and unfairness that is present in society and being able to evolve into something amazing. The rose is growing out of concrete just like the poem says. The sky is made with gouche paint, the colors being purple, orange and a greyscale. I then took the painting into photoshop and added the lightening and the rose. I made the rose be the brightest component to emphasize how it “grew” and “learned to breathe fresh air”.  The environment is meant to be lonely because at the end of the poem he says ” Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared”

For this project I picked the song “Mixed Emotions” by Lil Tjay, who is a rapper from NYC. I designed the project from the lyrics that the song had. I did not want there to be a specific focal point so I made the important things pop out by cutting them out and gluing them onto the ground of the project, which made the eyes go to different parts of the art. I also tried to show movement with the paint splatters which represent blood, It flows from the “heartache” thats present up to the success and fame which the rapper goes through and talks about in the song. The gradient in the background is also representative of the darkness he went through and the transition from the black to yellow is his life leading up to his happiness and success which is represented by the yellow. I tried using complimentary colors such as green, red, yellow and purple so that the project looks united.

In my News Article project I picked an article that was talking about the temperature in Antartica hitting a record high of 65 degrees. I decided to make my polar bear the focal point because with the temperature going up they are one of many animals that are greatly effected by this and they are endangered. I tried to make my artwork follow the quote “Less is more” because I think with this topic even though it is a simple piece it speaks volumes. I created value within the blue to make it look more like the ocean. With the polar bear I got a picture from online and edited it to make it have more texture by rubbing water and paint onto the paper. Texture is also shown on the  blue because I used a sponge to dab the paint onto the paper. A sense of depth was created with the polar bear because it lifts off the page a little.  I made the polar bear have tears coming out of its eyes to show how sad the situation is. The ice that the polar bear is standing on is also melting which was created by diluting the paint.

In this project I created a cyclops who has a genie like tale. With this composition I ripped out articles from various magazines and glued them down for the background. The words from the magazines give a little texture, this goes well with the concept of the background being a cave because they act like the rubble and rock like features that are present in a cave. I used the gouache paint to bring the background to life using a black and white value scale. The top of the artwork is black and the bottom is left to be the color of the magazine while the middle shifts to grey. I purposely made the paint brush leave streaks so that there is a sort of rhythm to create the illusion of the stalactite that are usually formed in caves. To create a sense of balance with the top and bottom of the art I painted spikes to act as rocks. Overall the piece has an asymmetrical balance which creates a sense of unity with the background and the imaginary being.