Eva Kowalczyk

Craft

Using the Bamboo tablet and pen, I wrote different numbers in different shades of a color in different sizes overlapping each other to make the background. After that, I used the same technique but in a different color to make the shape of the bottle. It was a bit tricky at first to stay on the tablet with the pen because I wasnt used to using a nonconventional way to draw. In the beginning, I kept running out of room and went off the tablet while in the middle of drawing. After getting a hang of things, I used different sizes and light shades to create the highlights of the bottle, and darker shades to make the shadows of the bottle. I had to be very careful with where I was making the squiggly lines because I wanted to ensure a clean crisp edge to create a very realistic look of the bottle. I arranged the bottle in the middle of the colorful background. I used complementary colors to increase the contrast of the subject matter, the bottle, and the background. I left some white pieces in the background to pop next to the dark purple shades of the bottle. I wanted the viewer to look all around the edges of the bottle, so I made the edges dark purple and the middle a lighter purple to create

a bit of an outline. To really focus on the subject matter, I placed the bottle dead center to make it completely obvious to the viewer that it is, in fact, the focal point. I also placed it in the middle to have a sort of still life feel to it, as if it were the real bottle itself sitting on a table while someone draws it with a real pencil.

Concept

Composition

By creating squiggly lines to form the image of a bottle, I was able to communicate a bottle. The shapes of the numbers clustered together to create the shape of the bottle show that even things or symbols that are used for other purposes can be used to create an image when bunched together. When people think of numbers or symbols, they imagine it them in daily scenarios standing alone or next to other numbers in math equations or a digital clock. Most people never imagine them being used to create bigger images of household items, or anything at all for that matter. I wanted the viewer to think about the unconventional ways to create an image using symbols that have nothing to do with that image. The tools used to create the images hint of the conventional medium, such as a pen and paper, to make an image on a program that is far from conventional.

Purple Bottle

The tools used to create the images hint of the conventional medium, such as a pen and paper, to make an image on a program that is far from conventional.

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Brush Explosion

This technique used by many artists to achieve this look may take a very long time. On the contrary, to get this same look on the computer takes only a matter of seconds...

Adobe Illustrator with brush stroke Chalk Scribble

Adobe Illustrator with brush stroke Scroll Pen 12

Just How...?
For the piece above, after drawing it on Adobe Illustrator, I selected all of the brush strokes and altered them with the stroke called Chalk Scribble. I really liked this effect because it made the bottle look as thought it had been done in actual chalk, rather than on a program on the computer. This stroke symbolizes the careless, fast hand movements an artist would use when using charcoal. This technique used by many artists to achieve this look may take a very long time. On the contrary, to get this same look on the computer takes only a matter of seconds. I think its amazing how a program on the computer can get the same effect so quickly and look as realistic as the real thing.

Adobe Illustrator with brush stroke Scroll Pen 12

this effect made the previously plain bottle now look vibrant

Adobe Illustrator with brush stroke Scroll Pen 12

What the What...?

After drawing the piece on the left on Adobe Illustrator, I selected all of the brush strokes and altered them with the brush effect called Scroll Pen 12. I really enjoyed the way this effect made the previously plain bottle now look vibrant. It almost looks as though it was filled with paint and exploded to splatter it in every direction. I think its interesting how a plain wine bottle can be given effects that couldnt really be done by hand. The four rows of parallel lines scrolled around gives the bottle a very unconventional look. I think this look is very unlikely to be imagined in ones mind. It can only be achieved this precisely by using Adobe Illustrator.

Adobe Illustrator with regular brush stroke size 1.5 - 10 pt.

Adobe Illustrator with brush stroke Chalk Scribble

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Adobe Illustrator - Bamboo pen and tablet

Shapes from Lines:::

How does it look like that..?
Craft For this image of a double stack teapot, I used the Bamboo pad and pen and drew the image on Adobe Illustrator as if it were a real pen and paper. The stroke I had to use had to be careful and delicate because it wasnt exactly like real pencil on paper. I used curved strokes to create curved lines to portray the curved feature of the teapot. Even tho there was no exact outline of the teapot, I was still able to create its shape by suggesting the edges with the ends of the curved lines. I went from left to right with the body of the teapot and also with the handles and bottom on which it stands. Composition - I drew the double stack teapot showing the handles on each side to better describe that it is a teapot. I used small stroke widths to get better detail in the shape of the teapot. I left the teapot in the middle of the page but made three duplicates of different shades of pink starting from magenta to a very light pink. I arranged them diagonally from each other on the page to best distribute them on that page. I made the background black to allow the bright pink colors of the teapots to pop better. I wanted the viewer to look from teapot to teapot and see a subtle change in color but keep the same size and shape of the teapot to accentuate the difference in color. Concept - This drawing is not like others I have done. Instead of drawing the contour of the object, in this case a teapot, I portrayed the shape using horizontal lines bunched together. These lines suggest the shape of the object instead of having a definite line as its outline. I wanted the viewer to think of the fact that an object can still be seen as having a certain shape even though it does not have an outline. Just as the wine bottle made using symbols, these teapots were made using dashed lines in one direction to create its shape..

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an object can still be seen as having a certain shape even though it does not have an outline...

Adobe Illustrator Bamboo pen and tablet

Just as the wine bottle made using symbols, these teapots were made using dashed lines in one direction to create its shape

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Hand in Hand
Craft - To make this piece, I took a photo of my sisters hands and decided to put a twist on it before drawing it in colored pencil. I realized this position of hands looks a lot like a mountain scene, so I decided to make them look a little bit more like that. I drew out the hands and found a photo of a mountain scene which I later added to the hands. From the mountain scene, I added some trees, grass, and a cabin. I gave the trees shadows and highlights to give them the most realistic look possible. Highlights were also added to the fingers, and more specifically the nails on the fingers, to accentuate the realness of them as well. I made the hands a blueish grey color to look more like mountains. I wanted the realistic looks of both the hands and the mountains to give the viewer a visual tug of war between the two elements. Composition - I wanted the viewer to look at this piece and first see a mountain scene, rather than a pair of hands. To do this, I made the hands a blueish grey color and made the trees and grass look as real as possible. I also arranged the hands in a way that gave it a long and narrow landscape orientation to further portray the mountain scene. The way the hands are positioned also make the viewers eyes look from left to right all through the entire piece which allows them to inspect each intricate detail. Concept - The meaning of the hands looking more like a mountain scene symbolizes that a person can be one with nature. People are so closely related to aspects in nature and should spend more time interacting with it by letting go of unnecessary pleasures in society. Living a simple life in nature is possible if a person was able to let go of everything and completely absorb the nature around them. This piece can also be portrayed as a self-portrait symbolizing that they see themselves more as an aspect of nature and the outdoors than actual human esh. These hands and the mountains have a lot in common since both are delicate, yet strong at the same time.

I wanted the realistic looks of both the hands and the mountains to give the viewer a visual tug of war between the two elements

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The hands looking more like a mountain scene symbolizes that a person can be one with nature.

I wanted the viewer to look at this piece and rst see a mountain scene, rather than a pair of hands

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Bleeding Happiness
I poured a bigger puddle of nail polish towards the top so, as I tilted the glass, the streaks would be longer and thicker.
Craft The way I made this piece was with nail polish and a sheet of glass. I picked different color nail polishes and simply poured them on the sheet of glass in different areas. After that I tilted the sheet of glass which let the nail polish slide down in streaks of color. Some of the colors mixed together right on the sheet of glass as they slid down which made a cool mix of unusual shades. I poured a bigger puddle of nail polish towards the top so, as I tilted the glass, the streaks would be longer and thicker. Composition I didnt have much control over the arrangement of the nail polish, since I was relying partly on gravity to do the work. I poured more yellow nail polish in the upper left of the sheet of glass to get a sun-like approach and blues and greens in the middle. The words live, laugh, love already came printed on the glass, so I had to pour the nail polish on the opposite side. On the edges, I put red nail polish to grab the viewers attention. I wasnt really using any specific technique to get the composition I achieved, because I wanted the streaks to come out naturally and with a surprise. I didnt really try to get any specific look other than the sun in the upper corner. I also wanted the viewer to look from top to bottom of the sheet of glass, so I put the brightest color, yellow, at the top, and let the other colored streaks drip down to the very bottom. Concept The meaning of this piece is that the sun has the potential to create happiness in things that didnt previously have it. The yellow circle in the corner symbolizes that sun and the colors coming off of it symbolize the bleeding happiness it creates. The words live, laugh, love go along with the theme of the piece because the overall meaning of it is, in fact, to live, laugh, and love.

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Ribbons of My Body
I didnt want the focus to be on the space in which the figure lays in, but rather the figure itself.
Craft To make this piece I took a photo of my sister in a natural pose that made her look as though she was just lounging. After that, I observed strips of ribbon and the shadows and highlights they make when they lay naturally on a at surface. I took different parts of those ribbons and, in my mind, placed them on my sisters body where the parts looked similar in shape. Then, I drew out my sisters photo and later drew those parts of the ribbon on top while still maintaining the overall form of the body. Once I cleaned up the edges, I outlined the ribbon pieces with black sharpie marker and colored them vivid colors with colored pencil. Lastly, I drew a black horizontal line in the background to hint a sense of space without being too obvious. Composition As for the arrangement of this piece, I wanted the viewer to look at it and see a human figure but still be aware that it is made of ribbon. I told my sister to pose naturally to mirror the natural ow of ribbon when it is set on a table. As a result, my sisters body came out to look long and curved like. As for the background, the dark line I drew suggests a sense of space rather than just a at blank white area. I didnt want the focus to be on the space in which the figure lays in, but rather the figure itself. I also thought the straightness of the line would contrast with the curved shapes the ribbons make. Concept The meaning of this piece is that one can make out a humans figure out of everyday material, such as ribbon. A figure doesnt have to be made from an outline. It can be seen using different shapes or objects and still be communicated as a figure. The natural look of ribbon mirrors that of the figures shape and gives off a relaxed feel. I think its interesting to use different techniques to communicate a figure.

A gure doesnt have to be made from an outline. It can be seen using different shapes or objects and still be communicated as a gure.
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How To Feel

Craft The way I made this piece took a very long time. I started out by drawing a womans face with her expression being sad and lonesome. After that, using only different shades of blue marker, I put dots starting from a light tone to a darker shade in highlights and shadows of her face. Where I wanted more color I added a higher concentration of dots. It was very difficult to get a rigid line out of the dots for the smooth edges of her hand, so I added some dashed lines to complete that effect. For the hair, I wanted to accentuate the fact that it was smooth and owed, so I drew straight and curved lines instead of using dots. I made different parts of her facial features different shades of blue to bring them out, for example her eyes, lips, and hair, as well as the rind on her finger. Composition I made the piece somewhat small because I wanted to use the pointillism technique, but didnt have much time to complete it. I cropped in on

the face of the woman to allow the viewer to focus more on her expression and the feel she gives off with her look. To make it more than just an ordinary portrait, I added her hand into the picture to make it more interesting. I wanted the viewer to look at her hair, eyes, and ring first so I made them a very light turquoise to contrast with the rest of the regular darker blue in the piece. Concept The meaning of this piece is that a certain feeling can be evoked from the viewer by just using a certain color. The facial expression plays a big role in the feeling of the overall piece, but the color of it put the cherry on top. It this piece was done in warm tones, it would evoke a happy feeling and make the expression look almost content or joyful. I wanted the viewer to have a sad, mysterious feeling when looking at this piece, so I did it all in cold blues. To accentuate the empty feeling within the woman, I left the background white.

A certain feeling can be evoked from the viewer by just using a certain color. The facial expression plays a big role in the feeling of the overall piece, but the color of it puts the cherry on top

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Day And Night

Craft - To make this piece I used various shades of nail polish on a piece of glass. First I carelessly poured bright shades of nail polish onto a piece of glass in one area and then darker shades of nail polish on the glass in the other area. After pouring enough nail polish to create a puddle, I slowly tilted the sheet of glass one direction and let the nail polish slide down to the edge. After I got the streaks long enough, I tilted the sheet of glass in the opposite direction to let the nail polish slide down again. Using this technique created long vertical streaks of nail polish on the sheet of glass. I left the sheet of glass with wet nail polish sit for two days to make sure it dried completely. The smell during the making of this piece almost put me out as well. Composition - I arranged the bright shades of nail polish on the top portion of the sheet of glass and the darker towards the bottom to create a division of the entire piece. I wanted one half to contrast the other. I wanted the viewers eyes to go in a zig zag sort of motion when looking at this piece, so I poured more nail polish in opposite corners of the glass. Also, by doing this, the streaks came out in the same areas where there is more nail polish. Because of this, the zig zag eye motion has a better chance of working out. I also paired complimentary colors red and blue, and purple and yellow by putting one above the other. Concept - The meaning of this piece is that something as natural as day and night can be portrayed using chemicals that are man made. Just as the composition of the nail polish are on opposite ends of the sheet of glass, so are the times of day and night. This piece can technically be turned upside down and still look as though it is supposed to be that way. The versatility of this piece works with the meaning because is represents the fact that a person can still function during the day as well as in the middle of the night.

something as natural as day and night can be portrayed using chemicals that are man made

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Its hard to stop the addiction

Transformation
Craft - The tools I used to make this piece of a young woman transforming into a skeleton were black and white charcoal on grey charcoal paper. First, I got a photograph of a young woman and a skeleton and sketched them together on the paper. I made the woman appear to be revealing her skeletal self while undressing. I used simple outlines of her upper and lower extremities with minimal shading. As for her bones, I made them look as realistic as possible by adding bright highlights and dark shadows. I made the edges very crisp to ensure the most realistic look. Composition - I arranged the woman in the middle of the page without any background to allow the viewer to focus on her bones. I made them extra bright and white using charcoal to get the most attention from the viewer. The rest of the womans body is made very simple with minimal shading as not to take away the attention from the bones. I made this piece long and narrow to accentuate the vertical orientation of the woman. The hands of the woman cover a part of her face to make the viewer want to see more. I left the background to be just the color of the paper to show the simplicity of the overall piece. Concept - There are many meanings to this piece, but the dominant significance is that many people, women especially, do whatever it takes to look beautiful on the outside even if it involves destroying their inner organism. Taking drastic measures to achieve a long wanted body figure is not something unordinary nowadays. We starve ourselves to lose weight. Some even take drugs to speed up the results. We over work ourselves when we exercise, keeping in mind that the look we want to have is just around the corner. We load on creams, serums, and other beauty products to get that look weve always wanted. The list is endless. While we think to be living the best lives healthy and thin, we are really trying to deny the fact that were really just slowly killing ourselves from the inside just to look the best on the outside. Its hard to stop the addiction. Getting ourselves to reveal the truth takes a lot of courage, but to admit that to ourselves is a lot harder than you think. What meets the eye is never what life is really like.

were really just slowly killing ourselves from the inside just to look the best on the outside...
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Just a Little Imagination

Craft - The tools I used to make this piece consist of graphite and sharpie marker on paper. I used the camera on my MacBook Pro to snap a photo of myself with a sad expression on my face. I sketched out my portrait and shaded it realistically in graphite. For my blonde hair, I added a few dark streaks to illustrate its wavy shapes and erased the highlights to show its silky texture. After that, I started to draw an abstract design in the background. I used sharpie marker to create the abstract design. I made the design go off the page in the upper right corner. After doing that, I added a white frame behind the portrait. Composition - I put the portrait of myself to the left side of the landscape orientated paper with the abstract design going in a swirl and off into the opposite direction. I wanted the viewer to have constant eye movement so I stayed away from the usual placement of portraits and put myself off to the side. I balanced the color vs. black and white by evenly distributing the abstract swirls. My face instantly became the focal point, so to balance it out with the rest, I put a bright yellow circle in the opposite corner. I also contrasted the

organic shapes of the abstract design with the rigid geometric rectangle shape on the left side. Lastly, I colored the background a light blue to tie it all together and subtly create a backdrop of a sky. Concept - The meaning of this piece basically mirrors what was going thru my mind at the time. I had no idea where I was going with the piece or what I was going to add to it. All I knew was that I was going to start with my portrait. From that, I aimlessly added swirls, but didnt include the same colors in all parts of it. The music I was listening to greatly inuenced the designs I came up with. I wanted the viewer to see that the process of making this piece was done as freely and unplanned as the swirls appear.

The music I was listening to greatly inuenced the designs I came up with..
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The Monarch
From a photograph, to a beautiful insect
Craft To make this buttery on Adobe Illustrator, I first started out with a photo of a monarch buttery and added the shape of the body of the buttery on top of the photo, which was just a black shape. Onto that, I added a bit of grey and white specs to give the at shape dimension. I had to make sure I created the shapes in the order they appeared, because if I made a shape that was underneath another after the first shape, it would end up on top of that shape in stead. After creating the body, I added the wing, which was one big black wing shape with no colors. Onto that wing, I created shapes that depicted the orange and yellow spots on the butterys wing. To make them look as natural as possible, I had to use gradients of oranges and yellows within those shapes. To make sure that the gradients were accurate, I had to use both linear and radial gradients. I also added small specs of grey, yellows, and oranges on the wing, but turned down their transparency, as they were only a small contribution to the wing in the beginning. It was extremely time consuming making all the tiny specs because there were so many of them, and getting them to look accurate with the original photograph meant I had to zoom in quite a bit to even be able to see what shape I was making. Towards the end of the creation of the buttery, I zoomed in and made two small lines to depict the antennae. It was very difficult to make them because of the size and width of the antennae. I gave all the shapes Gaussian Blur to better blend all them together. I organized the shapes into different layers so it would be easier to move them around on top or underneath other shapes if I needed to. I organized all the wing shapes, body shapes, orange shapes, and small specs together in their own layers. For the background, I created a new layer and made a light green gradient and added some moss colored organic shapes on top of the gradient and turned down their transparency very low to about 30 and 40 percent. Composition As for the composition of this piece, I wanted to accentuate the intricate detail of the butterys wing, so I used the side view of only one wing. I positioned it so the viewer could clearly see how detailed the butterys wing really is and have their eye follow it all throughout the piece. I used bright colors for the wing and a toned down background to help bring out those bright colors. I wanted the viewer to immediately look at the bright colors on the wing and not notice so much of the background. Concept The meaning of this piece is to see how accurate a program on the computer can make of something that was made in nature. A great example is this buttery because people take for granted how detailed and complicated the structure is so they dont notice the beauty until it was remade by man, or in this case, a woman.

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The Process

I first started out with a photo of a monarch butterfly and added the shape of the body of the butterfly on top of the photo, which was just a black shape.

Onto that, I added a bit of grey and white specs to give the flat shape dimension.

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Adding the Wing

After creating the body, I added the wing, which was one big black wing shape with no colors. Onto that wing, I created shapes that depicted the orange and yellow spots on the butterflys wing.

To make them look as natural as possible, I had to use gradients of oranges and yellows within those shapes. I also added small specs of grey, yellows, and oranges on the wing, but turned down their transparency, as they were only a small contribution to the wing in the beginning.

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Detail... Detail...
It was extremely time consuming making all the tiny specs because there were so many of them, and getting them to look accurate with the original photograph meant I had to zoom in quite a bit to even be able to see what shape I was making.

And More Detail!

Adobe Illustrator

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The Artist