artgelicag

[artgelicag]

section one - art on rainy days.

Within this section, I have exposed you to my deep passion for fine art, expressing this passion in a variety of mediums such as graphite pencil, ball point pen and oil paints. Section two is split up into three sections that show you my interests and the perspectives I like to take when creating my artwork. 

photo by yours truly vsco: @ang-eee-lica​

one: portraiture

Getting my artwork to a realistic looking standard has been a lifelong pursuit of mine. I’ve had a strong interest in creating faces on paper and focusing on the minute details of a face. Here are some of my best pieces and sketches.

art account ig @artgelicag

One of my biggest inspirations for wanting to make films is the actor Timothée Chalamet. The majority of the stories I want to create for screen feature the Call me by your name star and having him as a so called muse is what motivates me to want to make films. The reason why I admire him as an actor is because of his love and passion for films as if he were a filmmaker himself. Hearing him talk about films in interviews gave me the permission to love films as well, whilst wanting to be an actor myself. It showed that in order to be a good actor, you have to be crazy about the work you do. I hope to work with him one day and witness the dedication and work ethic he has first hand, using my understanding of directing to bring out a memorable performance in him. He’s included in the majority of my artwork as he’s a face I’m used to drawing. The above reference image was taken from the December issue of Document Journal. Both reference images for these Chalamet portraits were originally taken by photography Hedi Slimane, and it’s cool to think that I’ve drawn two portraits from photos taken by the same photographer.

The original reference image for this portrait is of Chalamet at aged 18.

This is one of my best pieces and is of Zendaya, who I admire because of her spirit and personality. It’s one of the first pieces that I really took my time with, blending the skin in layers and learning properly to draw the hair so that it looks realistic. It’s included here because I’m truly proud of it.

This is a portrait of a new friend that I made over the summer whilst working on a film. It had been a while before completing this that I had drawn someone’s portrait. My friend and I connected pretty quickly, which is why I decided to gift him this portrait. 

two: the billie eilish edit

A series of ball point pen sketches of grammy award winning artist Billie Eilish, that have been inspired by her album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish is my favourite artist of all time and speaks for the current generation through her music, style, flare and confidence. All these ball point pen pieces are drawn from reference images which I added my own twist to them, such as the lettering. None of these were traced and the proportions were drawn from scratch.

This ball point portrait was inspired by her hit single “Bad Guy.”

This piece was inspired by the song “you should see me in the crown” and within the music video, Billie has several spiders crawling across her face, which is why I decided to include them in this. 

I find the song “when the party’s over” to be highly emotional and gripping so turning it into a piece of artwork was a must do for me. I remember listening to this song frequently when it came out and relating to it on a deeper level on each listen.

section three: strokes of genius.

This is a series dedicated to painting, focusing on the use of oil and watercolour paints. Painting scares me immensely, as I feel I have more control and confidence with graphite pencil. However, you never get anywhere in life without challenging yourself and when I do bring myself to paint, the result is usually quite satisfying.

Here is a watercolour portrait on cartridge paper, a portrait of actor Timothée Chalamet inspired by the work of Marion Bolognesi. Her work is colourful and bold, with her style being this drip watercolour affect on portraits. This didn’t take too long to do and yet still possesses the same detail as a pencil portrait.

This A5 oil piece took a total of 16 hours to complete and is a copy of piece by another artist who uses food as a stimulus. It’s one of the best oil painting’s I’ve done to date and showcases my ability to paint to a realistic level.

This last piece is a copy of an oil painting piece made by artist Hall Groat II. I too used oil paints for this piece and focused on accuracy and creating the similar, rough style that Groat possesses within his work.

[artgelicag]

section two - love poems & other thoughts.

For the last section, I have curated some of my best poems and thoughts for paper that have been written in times of deep thought and confusion. Each poem/thought expresses a moment in my life, person or place that had a profound affect on me, so much so that I’ve expressed them or it on paper.

Meine Mutter is German for “my mother” and I believe this poem was written after a disagreement I had with my mother. We haven’t always seen eye to eye as she’s more grounded and specific whereas I have a tendency to be more spontaneous and frivolous with my actions. However, over time I have learnt to empathise with her and cater my actions towards her ideologies, creating a mutual respect and understanding between us, which is something I strive to do with everyone.

eternal love. 

unexplainable. or best explained through other feelings.

the feeling of sickness. all the time.

i can’t eat because sickness fills me.

love like heroin or really strong wine.

love like the sun ending on a summer’s day.

peachy skies and clouds so soft you can almost touch them.

love that’s painful. love that tears my chest in two. 

my stomach attacks itself as he lays eyes upon me.

and blinks several times to show me he’s alive.

love in the eyes when he looks at me 

and i can’t look back.

love to be scary, any time we touch i should feel hot

like a burn or feel my heart erupting the corners of my insides.

love to be silent in between work and life itself.

love to be slow and unsaid and if i can go a whole minute

without making a sound, i’ll know i’ve found the one.

love to be the one, no one else and nothing else

can draw or take or steal or borrow my attention

accept the way he tucks his hair behind his ears

and laughs because he’s nervous.

love to be nervous like a child on the first day of school.

and the comforting hug it gets from its mother after its all done.

love to be endless, so that time means nothing.

we’ll never run out of it not will we need it or have to buy it.

eternity.

eternal love.

These poems are inspired by brief connections I’ve had with people that were great in the moment, but fizzled out quite quickly. Looking back on these pieces makes me realise my self worth in comparison to how little of it I had back then and that moving forward, I should stay more grounded in relationships. It used to take me just over an hour and a half to get to school and in that time, inspiration for poems or pieces used to come quite easily whilst on my journeys. “Glass beads” was inspired by how the light hits the dew on the windows in the morning, mixed in with the feelings I had for somebody close to me. 

GHOST.

I walk about like a sheet with no bed.

Half dead. Maybe.

Maybe not.

I’m unsure.

But I feel it all. 

All the ignorance and irritable sensitivity.

Why does no one listen

When I shout?

When I’m in pain.

I get it right all the time

But there’s no appreciation 

For that kind of sorry.

You’ve left me alone for far too long.

The dust settles on the silk...

Like the skin of a ghost.

The photos used as backgrounds were taken on my iPhone 8 and edited in VSCO. Above is a conversation I once had with a friend and it’s a common occurrence for me to use conversations as prompts for scripts or poems. 

I find myself turning to paper more than people to express my thoughts. The way that I can manipulate words to make them sound the way I want is the reason why I’ve ventured into screenwriting and understanding how stories are written for screen. 

rained

I sit here in the thunder.

And wonder...

Whether my eyes are wet because of the rain.

I think I’m made of paper.

And crumple at the first opportunity.

Swim away in the gutter.

In a pool of my own blood.

Vines grow out from beneath my skin.

And become the root of my problems.

Cut the weeds...

And I’m left with nothing. 

[artgelicag]

section three - faces x places

Photograph taken in Tokyo, Japan.

This last section of the portfolio communicates my interest for photography. Taking photographs is a common occurrence in my household as my dad used to take photos for people’s weddings and my brother currently works as a photographer. I believe capturing images is a great way of translating emotions, events and beauty through the lens and having an interest in photography has made my visions clearer as a filmmaker. 

Photograph taken in Tokyo, Japan.

one: keeping it in the family

Here is a series of photos that show the people most important to me; my family. Besides landscapes, they tend to be my biggest subject as everyone in my family is relaxed and used to being in front of a camera.

This is a photo of my younger brother on his 15th birthday. I decided to include this in my portfolio as it speaks a lot for new beginnings and the process of growing older just in one photo. I like the contrast in the photo and the way the black and white hides the fact that this was taken during the day. It also showcases another interest of mine; baking. During my bronze Duke of Edinburgh award three years ago, I made cake decorating my chosen skill and from then have been creating culinary masterpieces for friends and family. 

I currently live in North West London, but before I used to live in a small town in Surrey. The thing I miss the most is the woodland area near my house and the long walks I used to take my little sister on. This photo captures this activity.

This is my dad in our local world foods supermarket that we call the “lollipop shop”. When my siblings and I were kids, we used to go here and get free lollipops from the owner of the shop and have christened it the lollipop shop ever since. I like the perspective in this photo and the bright colours of the supermarket shelf. 

In 2016, I had the fortune of going to New York on holiday and have dreamt of going back there ever since. The people, the food, the buildings, the art; everything about New York appealed to me during that summer. We stayed in Brownsville, Brooklyn but would spend everyday in Manhattan exploring the sights. This is a photo I took of my older brother beneath Manhattan Bridge, across from which you can see the New York sky line and Brooklyn Bridge. This photo captures the essence and scale of Manhattan bridge whilst featuring my brother being the photographer that he is. 

two: the motherland

Two years ago, I went on holiday to Jamaica which is where my grandparents were born. It had been over a decade since I went their and experienced the beautiful landscapes and culture the country had to to offer. Here at just a few of the wondrous sights.

This first photo was taken outside our house in St.Elizabeth. It’s a silhouette of my dad sat on a wall and I upped the contrast on VSCO to get a detailed and vivid outline of him and a tree against the background of the sea and sunset. Jamaica truly is a beautiful country with so much to offer and this photograph is one of the best I took on this vacation.

We also visited a crocodile sanctuary and had a boat trip down Black River. Jamaica is home to a lot of exotic wildlife such as hummingbirds, mongooses, crabs and of course, crocodiles.

This photo was taken on the beach beside our house in St. Elizabeth. 

This photo was the view from my bedroom window on the the morning after we arrived in Jamaica.

One of my favourite things about this holiday was the wildlife. Beside our accommodation were two beaches that were home to a multitude of hermit crabs, that I would pick up and take into our house. 

three: through my eyes

Lastly, these are some of my best photographs taken from my perspective. All of these were taken on an iPhone 8 and edited using the app VSCO.

This photo was taken in a place called Bell House, which was the location of my first short film that I made with the British Film Institute. The academy course ran from September till December and during that time, I had the opportunity to make a short film with nine other young people from around London. This experience certainly gave me the confidence to make my own short film and sparked my interest in filmmaking even further. The house itself was beautiful and had some much character to it, giving a lot of aesthetically pleasing photo opportunities.

I did dance for GCSE and whilst waiting for an exam, I captured this image of my friend in our school gym. This was taken during the day, using only sunlight to illuminate my friend’s face. The way this turned out in comparison to the actual environment blows my mind and the simplicity of the photo is satisfying for the viewer. 

This photo is of my friend’s eye and was taken on an iPhone 8. Again, natural light has been used to illuminate my friend’s face, whilst capturing the details of her eye. I’m proud of the quality of this photo and feel it’s hard to believe that it was taken on a phone camera. 

As an electrician, my dad used to do a lot of work for coffee shops, including this one; Prufrock Coffee on Leather Lane. The contrast of colours in this is highly satisfying and I felt this photo could be found on Instagram or Pinterest. 

Despite the simplicity of this photo, I felt obliged to include it in my portfolio because of the stark detail shown within it. The shadow of the glass to the dew coating the cold exterior of it, everything about this photo reminds me of something that could be found in film noir. The lighting used in this was a simple table lamp and again, my smartphone was also used to take this photograph.

The thing I enjoy most about photography is the way I can manipulate images to look how I want, turning them from a basic photo into something that has depth and emotion. This was taken in my mum’s kitchen and is of a bunch of lilies. I believe the light source was day light, but could easily be a spotlight from the kitchen. The juxtaposition between the complexity of the image and the reality of the setting is what makes it worthy to put into this portfolio. 

Finding interesting, cohesive shapes and angles is something that draws me towards photography. A simple council flat can look like a skyscraper with the right angle and retaining the sky’s colour is the main focus of this photo, as the windows also reflect a rich blue tone to them. Originally, this was black and white, however I decided that having it in colour adds more depth to the photo.