Insperation
Expressionism was a major turning point in how art was created and viewed. Rather than being purely a depiction of what they see, artists tried to depict the emotions they felt while making the piece. The viewers also shifted how they consumed art. "Good" art used to be realistic and beautiful. Impressionism lead to people appreciating less realistic, but still visually appealing art. The art still showed what the piece was physically based off of.
But expressionism made it harder to understand what was true, and what was the artists feelings. Common physical traits of expressionism artworks include swirling colors and sketchy line work. Colors are either more or less vibrant than would be realistic, and figures are often warped and stretched.
But expressionism made it harder to understand what was true, and what was the artists feelings. Common physical traits of expressionism artworks include swirling colors and sketchy line work. Colors are either more or less vibrant than would be realistic, and figures are often warped and stretched.
A prime example of expressionism is Egon Schiele's figure paintings and prints. His figures, especially male figures, are very stretched out, with prominent ribs and hips, and no visible body fat. They often are missing limbs, and look otherwise unfinished. The female figures are a bit more fleshed out. They usually have all of their limbs, look more finished, have more accurate shading and aren't as warped and sickly looking.
His work is a strange combination of sexual positions and full-frontal nudity of both sexes, and an expressionistic style that implies little pleasure in most of the people he paints. He paints with passion, but not necessarily in a loving way. This is somewhat supported by Schiele's love life. He was run out of town along side his wife and arrested for seducing underage girls. Some of his work was considered pornography, and confiscated for being exhibited around minors. Most people who think about minors in this way, especially if they don't like the way they're thinking about those types of things, are having intrusive thoughts. It's never stated if Schiele actually acted on these thoughts, or if he was using his art to express these thoughts, but acting on them is accepting them. Most people with intrusive thoughts develop a compulsive tick they do to stop those thoughts from becoming a reality. My piece is tied to an intrusive thought I have. But I've learned how to handle these thoughts in a way that doesn't hurt myself or others. |
Oil on Canvas - Female Nude Lying on Her Stomach, by Egon Schiele
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Planning
Process
I scanned the sketch I made and opened it up in Medibang, the same program I used to make Kakapo last year. I because the sketch wasn't quite the right dimensions, I had to stretch the image to fit a perfect 1x2 frame. In any other case, I wouldn't stretch the image, and would instead crop it down to size. But because the figures aren't supposed to be supper accurate, I let it go. It made the fingers look longer and more skeletal, which worked well for this piece.
On another layer, I used the g-pen tool to outline the hands from my sketch. This makes the lines a bit fuzzy, instead of sharp, like most digital line work looks. Then I hid the sketch layer, and inserted a photo of a blank sheet of paper as the background, to give it a natural looking background. I messed with the hue saturation and brightness, to make the background more vibrant and hide some of the shadow from photographing it. At this point I tried immitating Schiele's coloring style, as seen in his oil paintings, but I didn't like how it turned out. I deleted it, because I thought it looked better as an imitation of his lithographs. I also used the white border that's in some of his paintings, because the piece is extremely blank without it. I filled in the cigar cutters handles, so it stands out more, and used the sharp pen to draw white reflections on the blades. This made the cigar cutter stand out, since it was the main focal point. The hands looking unfinished was intentional, but the cigar cutter being fully finished would then draw attention to it. |
Reflection
I tried recreating the coloring style Schiele used, but I found it hard to do digitally. If I had more time to do this, or if I knew more about digital painting before going into this piece, I would feel a lot better about coloring it, and made it look more like Schiele's oil paintings, rather than his few lithographs he made. Every time I tried coloring it, you could clearly see the lines. They didn't blend at all, and i didn't know how to blend it to get the same style as Schiele's paintings.
I also don't like how the white border looks. I used the g-pen again for this part, because it has a randomizer in it, which produces a less sharp, defined edge than the standard pen. I also turned the opacity down a bit, so it would show that I layered them. It was meant to emulate the white border in Schiele's nude self portrait (as seen above in the inspiration section), but I don't think it worked quite right. It looks too artificial.
I also don't like how the white border looks. I used the g-pen again for this part, because it has a randomizer in it, which produces a less sharp, defined edge than the standard pen. I also turned the opacity down a bit, so it would show that I layered them. It was meant to emulate the white border in Schiele's nude self portrait (as seen above in the inspiration section), but I don't think it worked quite right. It looks too artificial.
ACT Questions |
Citation |
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and it’s effect on your artwork.
From the stretched out fingers to the unfinished figures, this piece is directly related to the expressionist movement, and Egon Schiele's art style. 2. What is the overall approach the author of your research has on the topic? The stuff relating to Egon Schiele was meant to be a collection of his works and a bibliography on his life. The information on intrusive thoughts was meant to be a self help website, providing safe resources on OCD, anxiety and intrusive thoughts. 3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration? Many people assume people who think something want to act on it, or that we are all completely in control of these thoughts. People who have intrusive thoughts, though, are unsettled and worried about these thoughts. They worry about what those thoughts mean about them as a person. 4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research? I wanted to see if their was a connection between Schiele's style and his personal life. Just by looking at his works, you can see he has some more realistic, colorful pieces. This made me think his work was dreary and unfinished for a reason, especially when he was known for painting people in grotesque and sexual positions. 5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading you research? I had to draw those connections between Schiele's possible intrusive thoughts and his work. We don't have any proof from Schiele himself, about if he actually acted on these feelings, or if he even really had those feelings in the first place. Much of it was drawing on my own feelings and experiences, and what we know from looking at Schiele's works, and his known lifestyle. |
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