20% Percent Time
For my 20% time project, I want to create a mural depicting influential women through history and their achievements. so many of these remarkable people have been nearly forgotten in history and I think my mural could be very educational in teaching others about these historical figures.
Day 1 Reflection
10/19/18
Essentially, 20 time is an opportunity to explore a field of your interest and in the end, produce a product that you can be proud of. Some of the different things students in the past have done include, learning a new language, starting a small business, or making a video. In reality, it can be any skill that interests you and that you want to grow in, which is what I like the most about it. I haven't officially decided what I want to do, but I think I want to focus on the category of fine arts. I don't know if that means that ill try to do something new, or that ill try to focus my efforts on a larger long term project. Either way, I think this will be a project that a greatly enjoy.
Day 2 Reflection
10/26/18
So, today is the second day we spent brainstorming our 20 time projects. So far, we have watched a few videos of other students talking about what their projects had been about, and all they were able to accomplish by setting aside 20 percent of their time. The only aspect of the videos that were disappointing was that we never got to see the actual results that came from all the students 20 time projects. However, 20 time still seems like an interesting project and I'm looking forward to being able to participate in it, and hopefully have a substantial product in the end.
Day 3 Reflection
11/02/18
Since this is the week preceding the elevator pitch preparation, I've begun to brainstorm some of the different points I will try to cover. Some people in the class are still brainstorming ideas for the project and filling out the form we were given to try to pinpoint our areas of interest and find something we would want to do for the project. While I was considering different options for my 20 time, I briefly considered making a comic or focusing on a media of fine art I paid less attention to, such as oil painting or pottery. In the end, I decided that making a mural would be the most realistic since the materials that would be required to do it would be easier to obtain.
Day 4 Reflection
11/09/18
During day 4 of my 20% time, I worked on preparing my elevator pitch. One of the most important factors of the presentation was keeping it succinct since the whole thing had to be under 30 seconds. (as all of you know) It was fairly easy to come up with a quick and succinct summary of my project and it only took one day to prepare. Apparently, the only thing that would disqualify your idea form being approved was if the teachers thought it was too ambitious or if the completion of the project would not fit the given time frame.
Day 5 Reflection
11/16/18
Day five was the day that I finally presented my elevator pitch for my 20% time project. The presentation had to list your idea, the materials you would need, and the time frame you would complete it in. The entire thing had to be done in less than 30 seconds which meant you had to talk fast enough where people were barely able to understand you. Overall, the presentation went well. I completed it in the 30 seconds and my idea got approved.
Day 6 Reflection
11/30/18
I'm still waiting to decide on a mentor, so for today, I've been trying to draw out a draft for how I wasn't the layout of the mural to look. So far, I've narrowed down the list of people I would like to include on my mural to 10 people:
Amelia Earhart
Harriet Tubman
Rosa Parks
Billie Jean King
Emily Dickinson
Cleopatra
Patsy Takemoto Mink
Frida Kahlo
Malala Yousafzai
Anne Frank
These may or may not change as the mural progresses. Even though I have already made a basic sketch as to what I want the mural to look like, Its completely possible that as I begin to draw it onto the actual board I could decide to add or take away a face.
Day 7 Reflection
12/07/18
Update: I never got a mentor. I had a few people in mind that I was going to talk to about things like layout and how to properly enlarge a picture from a paper to a much larger board. Overall though, I don't think I really need a mentor to complete my project. Everything I'm going to be doing is something that I am somewhat experienced with and trying to figure out some of the more unfamiliar aspects will be a good artistic learning experience for me. (At least that's my excuse for not being able to get a mentor)
Day 13 Reflection
02/08/19
I've moved to the second face. This is going to be a repeated process that will get tedious at times and be somewhat uninteresting. I'll try to upload pictures to show the progress I'm making with the board, but it isn't quite yet at the point where I want to share it with other people. the new location is working out a lot better and I now have access to Mrs. Blair who can help me with my shading techniques.
Day 14 Reflection
02/15/19
Painting is hard. I don't have too much experience with acrylics and deciding to do such a large project with so many faces has proven to be very challenging. For now, I'm going to continue with the same thing I was doing last week, adding base coats to the faces and beginning to sketch in the features. I think after a few weeks I will have a better idea of what I want to do for the background of the painting. Two ideas I am considering is a fade of a color (starting dark than reaching white towards the top or just paint it a solid color.
Day 15 Reflection
02/22/19
The part that has taken the longest so far is waiting for the paint to dry so I can add different coats on top of it. Right now I've decided to go over some pencil sketches in white paint because I ended up choosing a different reference picture to go off of. Its slowed progress down, but I think it will make the end result be better. I also have been wasting a lot of time remixing paints over and over because I didn't make enough the first time. What I think I'm going to do is to keep a total of two paint palettes instead of one, hopefully, it will solve the problem of not having enough paint.
Day 16 Reflection
03/01/19
At this point, I've added the first view basic coats on every face in the mural. This brings me to the most tedious part which is painting all the features on the faces. I'm planning on starting by painting in the white of the eyes and the teeth first. After that, I'll add other aspects of the face such as the lips, eyebrows and the hair. Since I have to wait for the face to dry before I can add a second layer, I will have to work in sections, jumping from face to face.
Day 17 reflection
03/08/19
today was frustrating. I've been working on the face of Amelia Earheart the entire time and haven't been able to accomplish the effect I want it to have. the picture I'm using as a reference has a light source angled dramatically to the right, which means the left side of the face is a significantly darker hue. No matter what I try, the face either looks way too Two-dimensional or just blotchy. I've decided to wait for the paint to dry and try to work on it some more next week. Since there were so many layers of paint that have only semi-dried, any new coats of paint would disrupt the half-dried paint and leave an undesirable texture. for now, I'm working on cleaning up some edges. Hopefully, I'll make more progress next week.
Day 18 Reflection
03/15/19
Amelia Earheart update: I started again by completely repainting her face. the second try was much more successful and I'm actually happy with the result I got today. it still needs some touching up but I feel like I'm in a good enough place where I can move on to another part of the mural. I think A method I'm going to try to use to see if it makes painting faces any easier is drawing in key features (eyes, nose, mouth) with pencil since I think it will give me better accuracy and more control. Overall, I'm proud of the progress I've made this week.
Day 19 Reflection
03/21/19
I ran out of all my skin tones today so I had to rinse out my pallet and completely remix all of them. Thankfully, I wasn't in the middle of painting a certain face, so I didn't have to try to match the new colors perfectly, but it was still time-consuming. Other than that, the main thing I did today was the finishing touches on a few of the faces and cleaned up some of the lines with white paint, which I feel like I never stop doing. I'm happy with the progress I've made thus far into the project, but I am slightly worried that I won't be able to finish it in time, and I still have no idea what I'm going to do in terms of background. For now, I'll stay on the same track I have planned for the project.
Day 20 reflection
03/29/19
I am starting to worry that I won't finish the project by the end of the year. I made steady progress today, but there is still a lot of work ahead and we're getting closer to being in our second to last month. As for the actual project, I painted in some more detailed features on a few of the faces and recolored one that dried a color I didn't want it too. I think I'm going to try to bring in a few paints of my own to see how they compare to the ones I am currently using. Hopefully, they will have a thicker consistency and the white will be able to cover over some mistakes and rough edges in one coat.
Day 21 Reflection
04/12/19
I was nice to take a step back and to come back two weeks later after spring break. Even though I had the lid on over my palette, there wasn't enough paint in each section so it had dried up and I had to remix the colors. Today, I focused on adding details to each of the faces and I was able to touch up another two of them. One problem I still need to work out is timing when to start cleaning up. Recently, I've been overestimating how much time I need to write these reflections so by the time I've finished, there's still about 10 minutes of class left. Because of this, I've decided to time how long it takes to complete this each week so I have so I can maximize the time I have to work on my actual project.
Day 22 Reflection
04/19/19
Today I continued to paint. (shocking, I know) At this point I've just been jumping from face to face, sketching in features and repainting them until I get the right skin tone. Other than that, there isn't too much to say about this week. I'm still worried about finishing it on time, and even though that isn't a requirement for the project, Id still like to have something substantial to show the class when it comes to that stage of 20 time. As for my plans for next week, I'll try to start laying down base coats for the clothing in the mural since I have been reluctant to start that part since I have no experience painting folds in clothes with acrylic.
Day 23 Reflection
04/26/19
Guess who isn't going to be able to finish the mural on time, that's right, me. Even though the projects for 20-time don't have to completely be finished by the end of the year, I'm afraid I won't ever work on it again without a designated time frame to do so. That aside, I made decent progress today and was able to start working on some of the clothes, which are difficult to paint. Hopefully, I'll be at a good place to show the mural when we have to share our projects with the rest of the class. I don't have any plans for a background for the mural, and at this point, that's one of the last things to do, so I think It's just going to stay white.
Day 24 Reflection
03/03/19
So we are nearing the end of 20 time. I guess I'm proud of what I've accomplished during the project, but it still wish I could have done more. Part of me wants to continue to work on the mural over the course of the summer, and the other part of me knows I won't have the time. That leaves me with the option of leaving the project here at Lorbeer as it is now. I dont know if any of the future srudents would have any interest in continuing it. I'll have to decide what to do with it over the next few days. Regardless of what I end up doing later, for the few weeks I have left to work, I'll continue to try to make progress. I actually got a lot done today, mostly working on shading clothing and fabric. I don't know If even will be working on it again or if I'll be more occupied with preparing my final presentation. Whatever does happen, I can say that I'm content with what I accomplished.
Day 25 Reflection
03/10/19
Today was disappointing. I didn't get nearly as much done as I had wanted too. (also I don't even know if I'm still supposed to be making these updates since our blog entries were already graded). I might get one more 20 time day to work on my project, but other than that I think we've reached the end. In retrospect, I realize there was a very slim chance I was ever going to complete it by the end of the year in the first place. Between finding the board, cutting it, getting the first layers of paint on, transferring my picture to the board, and then moving everything to Mrs. Blair's classroom, there wasn't much time to actually paint. I think I am going to try to find alternative option than taking it home since I have no clue where I would store it, and the paints I used aren't waterproof so they wouldn't last outside.
Day 1 Reflection
10/19/18
Essentially, 20 time is an opportunity to explore a field of your interest and in the end, produce a product that you can be proud of. Some of the different things students in the past have done include, learning a new language, starting a small business, or making a video. In reality, it can be any skill that interests you and that you want to grow in, which is what I like the most about it. I haven't officially decided what I want to do, but I think I want to focus on the category of fine arts. I don't know if that means that ill try to do something new, or that ill try to focus my efforts on a larger long term project. Either way, I think this will be a project that a greatly enjoy.
Day 2 Reflection
10/26/18
So, today is the second day we spent brainstorming our 20 time projects. So far, we have watched a few videos of other students talking about what their projects had been about, and all they were able to accomplish by setting aside 20 percent of their time. The only aspect of the videos that were disappointing was that we never got to see the actual results that came from all the students 20 time projects. However, 20 time still seems like an interesting project and I'm looking forward to being able to participate in it, and hopefully have a substantial product in the end.
Day 3 Reflection
11/02/18
Since this is the week preceding the elevator pitch preparation, I've begun to brainstorm some of the different points I will try to cover. Some people in the class are still brainstorming ideas for the project and filling out the form we were given to try to pinpoint our areas of interest and find something we would want to do for the project. While I was considering different options for my 20 time, I briefly considered making a comic or focusing on a media of fine art I paid less attention to, such as oil painting or pottery. In the end, I decided that making a mural would be the most realistic since the materials that would be required to do it would be easier to obtain.
Day 4 Reflection
11/09/18
During day 4 of my 20% time, I worked on preparing my elevator pitch. One of the most important factors of the presentation was keeping it succinct since the whole thing had to be under 30 seconds. (as all of you know) It was fairly easy to come up with a quick and succinct summary of my project and it only took one day to prepare. Apparently, the only thing that would disqualify your idea form being approved was if the teachers thought it was too ambitious or if the completion of the project would not fit the given time frame.
Day 5 Reflection
11/16/18
Day five was the day that I finally presented my elevator pitch for my 20% time project. The presentation had to list your idea, the materials you would need, and the time frame you would complete it in. The entire thing had to be done in less than 30 seconds which meant you had to talk fast enough where people were barely able to understand you. Overall, the presentation went well. I completed it in the 30 seconds and my idea got approved.
Day 6 Reflection
11/30/18
I'm still waiting to decide on a mentor, so for today, I've been trying to draw out a draft for how I wasn't the layout of the mural to look. So far, I've narrowed down the list of people I would like to include on my mural to 10 people:
Amelia Earhart
Harriet Tubman
Rosa Parks
Billie Jean King
Emily Dickinson
Cleopatra
Patsy Takemoto Mink
Frida Kahlo
Malala Yousafzai
Anne Frank
These may or may not change as the mural progresses. Even though I have already made a basic sketch as to what I want the mural to look like, Its completely possible that as I begin to draw it onto the actual board I could decide to add or take away a face.
Day 7 Reflection
12/07/18
Update: I never got a mentor. I had a few people in mind that I was going to talk to about things like layout and how to properly enlarge a picture from a paper to a much larger board. Overall though, I don't think I really need a mentor to complete my project. Everything I'm going to be doing is something that I am somewhat experienced with and trying to figure out some of the more unfamiliar aspects will be a good artistic learning experience for me. (At least that's my excuse for not being able to get a mentor)
Day 8 Reflection
12/14/18
12/14/18
Today, I finally began working on the actual mural. I got the board I needed from Mr. Lee. Since its scrap wood, it has some holes and splintering edges that are not ideal for painting on top up, but I don't think they will be much of an issue in the long run. during my class periods, I put down a few base coats of white paint so the color I put on top of it will not be altered by the color of the wood. After that, I will begin to transition the image I drew from paper to the board.
Day 9 reflection
01/11/19
My board is currently being kept in the small storage room that's connected to Mrs. Hefler's class. I used paints borrowed from Mrs. Blair's classroom to lay down the first coat of white paint. It took a few coats to fully cover the original color of the wood and create a good base for adding even more layers of paint to. There are still a few deformities on the wood that I probably should have sanded off before I began painting but as it turns out, they are hardly noticeable one the first layer of paint was added.
Day 10 Reflection
01/18/19
Once the base coats dried, I worked on drawing a grid onto the board so I could transfer my original sketch. I wasn't as patient as I should have been so I didn't spend much time carefully measuring out the lines and basically just lined up my ruler and tried to make a straight line as best as I could. The result: the lines were messy and I had to paint another coat of white and try again later. After essentially wasting an hour of my life I was finally able to begin drawing the faces onto the board. In the end, the positioning on the people I had decided to draw turned out slightly differently than the original sketch but it kept a similar general layout as the original version.
Day 11 reflection
01/25/19
Using a saw and a file from Mrs. Crutchfield's career exploration class I was able to cut off the pieces of excess wood to better fit the grid I had drawn on it. The process was tedious, and since there wasn't anything to hold the board down some of the lines came out crooked and cut deeper into the board then I wanted them to. (and I cut off some of the desk in the process) However, using the industrial file I was able to make some of the lines less jagged and smooth out some other parts of the border. Unfortunately, because I stupidly decided to draw the faces before cutting the board, many of the pencil sketches have been smudged and will probably need to be redrawn.
Day 12 Reflection
02/01/19
Day 9 reflection
01/11/19
My board is currently being kept in the small storage room that's connected to Mrs. Hefler's class. I used paints borrowed from Mrs. Blair's classroom to lay down the first coat of white paint. It took a few coats to fully cover the original color of the wood and create a good base for adding even more layers of paint to. There are still a few deformities on the wood that I probably should have sanded off before I began painting but as it turns out, they are hardly noticeable one the first layer of paint was added.
Day 10 Reflection
01/18/19
Once the base coats dried, I worked on drawing a grid onto the board so I could transfer my original sketch. I wasn't as patient as I should have been so I didn't spend much time carefully measuring out the lines and basically just lined up my ruler and tried to make a straight line as best as I could. The result: the lines were messy and I had to paint another coat of white and try again later. After essentially wasting an hour of my life I was finally able to begin drawing the faces onto the board. In the end, the positioning on the people I had decided to draw turned out slightly differently than the original sketch but it kept a similar general layout as the original version.
Day 11 reflection
01/25/19
Using a saw and a file from Mrs. Crutchfield's career exploration class I was able to cut off the pieces of excess wood to better fit the grid I had drawn on it. The process was tedious, and since there wasn't anything to hold the board down some of the lines came out crooked and cut deeper into the board then I wanted them to. (and I cut off some of the desk in the process) However, using the industrial file I was able to make some of the lines less jagged and smooth out some other parts of the border. Unfortunately, because I stupidly decided to draw the faces before cutting the board, many of the pencil sketches have been smudged and will probably need to be redrawn.
Day 12 Reflection
02/01/19
I've moved my board to Mrs. Blair's classroom since she had a more easily accessible sink and the proper painting supplies. I've been able to set up in the back room and get a bit of help from Mrs. Blair for painting and shading faces. (Mrs. Blair has sort of become my mentor) Since I now have easier access to supplies, my progress in completing the mural has sped up exponentially. At this point, I have most of the faces covered with a base coat of face and have finished painting in the features of one of the most prominent faces on the board. Does it look good? no. But I'm making progress.
Day 13 Reflection
02/08/19
I've moved to the second face. This is going to be a repeated process that will get tedious at times and be somewhat uninteresting. I'll try to upload pictures to show the progress I'm making with the board, but it isn't quite yet at the point where I want to share it with other people. the new location is working out a lot better and I now have access to Mrs. Blair who can help me with my shading techniques.
Day 14 Reflection
02/15/19
Painting is hard. I don't have too much experience with acrylics and deciding to do such a large project with so many faces has proven to be very challenging. For now, I'm going to continue with the same thing I was doing last week, adding base coats to the faces and beginning to sketch in the features. I think after a few weeks I will have a better idea of what I want to do for the background of the painting. Two ideas I am considering is a fade of a color (starting dark than reaching white towards the top or just paint it a solid color.
Day 15 Reflection
02/22/19
The part that has taken the longest so far is waiting for the paint to dry so I can add different coats on top of it. Right now I've decided to go over some pencil sketches in white paint because I ended up choosing a different reference picture to go off of. Its slowed progress down, but I think it will make the end result be better. I also have been wasting a lot of time remixing paints over and over because I didn't make enough the first time. What I think I'm going to do is to keep a total of two paint palettes instead of one, hopefully, it will solve the problem of not having enough paint.
Day 16 Reflection
03/01/19
At this point, I've added the first view basic coats on every face in the mural. This brings me to the most tedious part which is painting all the features on the faces. I'm planning on starting by painting in the white of the eyes and the teeth first. After that, I'll add other aspects of the face such as the lips, eyebrows and the hair. Since I have to wait for the face to dry before I can add a second layer, I will have to work in sections, jumping from face to face.
Day 17 reflection
03/08/19
today was frustrating. I've been working on the face of Amelia Earheart the entire time and haven't been able to accomplish the effect I want it to have. the picture I'm using as a reference has a light source angled dramatically to the right, which means the left side of the face is a significantly darker hue. No matter what I try, the face either looks way too Two-dimensional or just blotchy. I've decided to wait for the paint to dry and try to work on it some more next week. Since there were so many layers of paint that have only semi-dried, any new coats of paint would disrupt the half-dried paint and leave an undesirable texture. for now, I'm working on cleaning up some edges. Hopefully, I'll make more progress next week.
Day 18 Reflection
03/15/19
Amelia Earheart update: I started again by completely repainting her face. the second try was much more successful and I'm actually happy with the result I got today. it still needs some touching up but I feel like I'm in a good enough place where I can move on to another part of the mural. I think A method I'm going to try to use to see if it makes painting faces any easier is drawing in key features (eyes, nose, mouth) with pencil since I think it will give me better accuracy and more control. Overall, I'm proud of the progress I've made this week.
Day 19 Reflection
03/21/19
I ran out of all my skin tones today so I had to rinse out my pallet and completely remix all of them. Thankfully, I wasn't in the middle of painting a certain face, so I didn't have to try to match the new colors perfectly, but it was still time-consuming. Other than that, the main thing I did today was the finishing touches on a few of the faces and cleaned up some of the lines with white paint, which I feel like I never stop doing. I'm happy with the progress I've made thus far into the project, but I am slightly worried that I won't be able to finish it in time, and I still have no idea what I'm going to do in terms of background. For now, I'll stay on the same track I have planned for the project.
Day 20 reflection
03/29/19
I am starting to worry that I won't finish the project by the end of the year. I made steady progress today, but there is still a lot of work ahead and we're getting closer to being in our second to last month. As for the actual project, I painted in some more detailed features on a few of the faces and recolored one that dried a color I didn't want it too. I think I'm going to try to bring in a few paints of my own to see how they compare to the ones I am currently using. Hopefully, they will have a thicker consistency and the white will be able to cover over some mistakes and rough edges in one coat.
Day 21 Reflection
04/12/19
I was nice to take a step back and to come back two weeks later after spring break. Even though I had the lid on over my palette, there wasn't enough paint in each section so it had dried up and I had to remix the colors. Today, I focused on adding details to each of the faces and I was able to touch up another two of them. One problem I still need to work out is timing when to start cleaning up. Recently, I've been overestimating how much time I need to write these reflections so by the time I've finished, there's still about 10 minutes of class left. Because of this, I've decided to time how long it takes to complete this each week so I have so I can maximize the time I have to work on my actual project.
Day 22 Reflection
04/19/19
Today I continued to paint. (shocking, I know) At this point I've just been jumping from face to face, sketching in features and repainting them until I get the right skin tone. Other than that, there isn't too much to say about this week. I'm still worried about finishing it on time, and even though that isn't a requirement for the project, Id still like to have something substantial to show the class when it comes to that stage of 20 time. As for my plans for next week, I'll try to start laying down base coats for the clothing in the mural since I have been reluctant to start that part since I have no experience painting folds in clothes with acrylic.
Day 23 Reflection
04/26/19
Guess who isn't going to be able to finish the mural on time, that's right, me. Even though the projects for 20-time don't have to completely be finished by the end of the year, I'm afraid I won't ever work on it again without a designated time frame to do so. That aside, I made decent progress today and was able to start working on some of the clothes, which are difficult to paint. Hopefully, I'll be at a good place to show the mural when we have to share our projects with the rest of the class. I don't have any plans for a background for the mural, and at this point, that's one of the last things to do, so I think It's just going to stay white.
Day 24 Reflection
03/03/19
So we are nearing the end of 20 time. I guess I'm proud of what I've accomplished during the project, but it still wish I could have done more. Part of me wants to continue to work on the mural over the course of the summer, and the other part of me knows I won't have the time. That leaves me with the option of leaving the project here at Lorbeer as it is now. I dont know if any of the future srudents would have any interest in continuing it. I'll have to decide what to do with it over the next few days. Regardless of what I end up doing later, for the few weeks I have left to work, I'll continue to try to make progress. I actually got a lot done today, mostly working on shading clothing and fabric. I don't know If even will be working on it again or if I'll be more occupied with preparing my final presentation. Whatever does happen, I can say that I'm content with what I accomplished.
Day 25 Reflection
03/10/19
Today was disappointing. I didn't get nearly as much done as I had wanted too. (also I don't even know if I'm still supposed to be making these updates since our blog entries were already graded). I might get one more 20 time day to work on my project, but other than that I think we've reached the end. In retrospect, I realize there was a very slim chance I was ever going to complete it by the end of the year in the first place. Between finding the board, cutting it, getting the first layers of paint on, transferring my picture to the board, and then moving everything to Mrs. Blair's classroom, there wasn't much time to actually paint. I think I am going to try to find alternative option than taking it home since I have no clue where I would store it, and the paints I used aren't waterproof so they wouldn't last outside.
Natalia - could you please put dates instead of week numbers so I can give you credit for you reflections. Just let me know when you have corrected them and I'll calculate the points you have earned.
ReplyDeleteThe 20% Time projects do not have a due date. If you don't finish it here at school you can take home to finish. There is no final grade/points given for actual completion of project.
ReplyDeleteMason King
ReplyDeleteNice job on making a mural! I would think that would be challenging! Nice job!