The Artist's Mark

The objective of this project was to utilize mark making to demonstrate and practice design elements including balance, hierarchy, line and point. Utilizing a mythical creature as our subject we practiced creating images using line, point, texture, plain, shape and hierarchy. Before creating the final image on a 22x30” canvas I created some sketches that illustrate these design principles and I will explain the process in greater detail later. Overall the goal was to utilize the vehicle of a mythical creature to gain an introduction to design principles and how they work together. 

I started my process by brainstorming mythical creatures that I was interested in. I started by Googling various mythical creatures to see if any interested me. I wanted to find a creature that intrigued me and would provide me with multiple avenues to explore. I decided to go with the Kraken. After sketching some ideas I decided that I wanted to focus on the mystery of the Kraken. There are pieces of the Kraken that are familiar but most of it is shrouded in mystery. That’s why I decided to have a shadowy outline of the Kraken as the background and have various images that I felt represented the Kraken overlaying it. 

Through this process I learned how to utilize design elements like point, line, texture, shape and hierarchy to fill a canvas. Something that I initially struggled with was how to fill a 22x30” canvas. I had never worked with a canvas that large but making smaller sketches beforehand really helped me have a better idea of how to get started. This project also helped me work with pen ink as a medium. This project gave me a good introduction to basic design principles that would help me in later projects as well as how to interpret art.