As Complex as Black and White

11′ x 17″

Adobe Illustrator

the idea of a portrait has been passed through era after era. This fact did change however, in the 1960’s, and changed to a whole new type of style; black and white. The first was seen by the revolutionary band The Beatles,  who took a simple photograph with heavy, dark shadows, and changed it to black and white. Since then, the black and white portrait has became very popular, both to be taken as a photograph, drawn and even “selfie-d.”

The purpose of this assignment was to create a black and white, 60’s inspired portrait, using both photography and lighting skills and Adobe Illustrator. After exploring different lighting techniques, one set up the lights strictly to one side of the body, in this case the left, to allow very dark shadows to be created onto one side of the body. Shots were taken, and the image with the best contrast and successful shadows was used. This picture was then redrawn in many steps; first, with tracing paper using pencil to block out areas and details, then redrawn with marker, then scanned into the computer and redrawn in Illustrator. During this stage, lines were thickened, darkened and implied, all creating a successful portrait.

The final piece itself was created on Adobe Illustrator using the simple pen tool; by adjusting the stroke of the brush, I could change the thickness it created to add unity in the lines and make it stand out more. The piece itself is very simple design wise, but complex in the same way. Simple in the way that its only one dark shade, black, against the bright contrast of the white background. This simplicity is contrasted by the complexity of the subject itself; me, a person. I am, although here only told in two simple colours, a detailed and complex person that these two colours only begin to show; thus the tittle was created from this meaning as this piece is As Complex as Black and White.

During the creation and completion process of this piece, a variety of both elements and principles of design can be seen to make the piece more successful. The elements seen are line and value, while the principles seen are emphasis, unity, rhythm and balance. Firstly, line can strongly be seen here. There are outlines of various strokes in the whole piece, making it up itself. These outlines show the edge where the positive meets the negative space. These lines help show detail and emphasis in the piece. The values seen here and the two contrasting lightness and darkness of white and black; the lightness of the white allows it to seem open and clear against the mysteriousness of the black. The main principle of design seen is emphasis; it is the strongest principle because it is the overall area that attracts attention first. The viewer’s eyes are immediately pulled in because of the contrasting of the black and white, making it stick out. The piece itself overall is unified as all the pieces work together and none standout as different. All lines are thick rather than thin, and the white and black colour choice connects it.  With this in mind, rhythm can be seen as all the elements of the piece are repeated throughout regularly. Lastly, balance. This is seen as asymmetrical balance because both sides are not the same; the starkness and clarity of the bright white on the right hand side of the face balances the heavy darkness of the shadowing in the left hand side of the portrait.

Looking at the completed piece, I feel it turned out very successful. All of the lines are very bold and dark and all aspects of it fit as a whole together. One challenge I did face however was during the drawing process on the computer using the tablet. It was difficult to create curved lines that end, and as a result, I painted white over the pointed ends to round them. This turned out to be a challenge when I had to later edit some of the lines and thickening them, as I had to redraw most the lines over and over, verses just simply changing the thickness of the stroke. With this in mind, if I could do the piece over again, this would not be the thing that I would change. I would, if given the opportunity, change the angle of the picture or perhaps change my shirt if that created the process, so that the dark shadow on the left didn’t end so abruptly in a dark straight edge. I would change it so that it ends in line segment chunks, like that of the shadows on the outlining of the right hand side of my shirt. By doing this, I feel that the piece could become more practical and could be transferred to different sources and sizes. Overall however, I am very pleased with how the piece turned out and the overall success and look of it.