Matt Wenger - Post#3
Hello there, so this is masterpiece (in progress) of drawing. It's King Tut, in case you don't recognize. I've drawn it on sand paper and i'm considered laying some glossy gold over top of the sand paper, but just for the face of the mummy tomb side. I've been throwing that idea around and the only concern is that it would distract to much from the rest of the drawing. Unless, the hands seem to be to much of a distraction, in which case, the gold coloring would help liven up the king tut figure. Any thoughts on that?
The hands symbolize the ancient Egyptian religion, which King Tut played a hand in in bringing that religion back to the Egypt. Well, actually, the hands symbolize diversity, since the ancient Egyptian religion involves adopting a wide array of ideas and adapting various thoughts and beliefs into their particular line of existing religion. This sort of outlook made me think of diversity and hands coming together is a pretty well established symbol of accepting and celebrating diversity. I'm not sure if i like the hands as you see now, or if they would look better with some detail, even just fingernails? maybe? Then another decision i have to make is whether to expand the hand design into the entire background or to keep them just behind the boyhood image of King Tut....? Hieroglyphics are an interest for the rest of the background if not the hands. Oh, and one more thing, What would coloring in the negative space around the hands do to the piece? good idea or bad idea?
Comments
Hi Matt,
Sandpaper, huh! Looks cool, was it hard to draw on?
I think the glossy gold could be a nice accent for the light areas on the coffin. It could even be the fill of the negative space on the right side...
The hands are a nice way to demonstrate coming together and diversity. I agree that simple fingernails would give them a little more presence. Some could be colored in and some left as sandpaper, with the gold fill behind.
Good job!
Posted by: Alison Sigafoos | February 11, 2008 06:13 AM
What I think is strong about the hands right now is that they function not only as a metaphor but also as a pattern that mimics the patterning of the left side of the drawing. I don't know about fingernails...it is pretty clear they are hands, fingernails might be too suggestive. The dichotomy of the figure is working well in depicting the different historical narratives of king tut. Coloring the negative space would give the drawing depth...it depends on what you are after, the design in the background itself is flat so you may want to stick with that aesthetic. What is your reasoning behind the gold? Both the gold and the hieroglyphs are common within ancient egyptian drawings, they seem like an obvious choice and i would therefore stay away from that. Your current depiction nicely counteracts the stereotypical symbols of ancient egypt.
Posted by: Heba | February 11, 2008 09:38 PM