I earned an A in AP Art/Studio Art II because I completed all assignments and gave my best effort during every class. I struggled a bit in choosing between a 2-D Design Portfolio and a Drawing Portfolio, but in the end went with drawing. The work that I am most proud of completing is my AP Portfolio, which took me nearly the entire year. I’m so happy to finally have an organized portfolio of my best pieces. My concentration was portraits with different Halloween prosthetics and special effects. I have always enjoyed painting portraits, but I needed a focal point...I found this photography series that contained a lot of photos centered around gender and sexual identity and halloween prosthetics and I was so fascinated. The pictures weren’t necessarily “beautiful” to look at, but they were so intriguing and deep that I wanted to create something with that level of depth as well for my own portfolio to earn a 5. My summer work was a good jumpstarter for this class, even though I wasn’t completely satisfied with the way they turned out. The two pieces were excellent practice in using value with charcoal as the medium, which is a very important theme in a lot of my art. I love working with shadows and highlights and incorporating them into all my pieces. The assignments also forced me to think more about composition, which is something I never really think about. Composition is one of the most important components in a still life drawing, because they are all about the way things are laid out in a way that’s aesthetically pleasing and interesting to the looker. I also struggled with composition in the self-portrait because I had to work with such a huge piece of paper; which I was NOT used to at all. I spent forever trying to fill up the whole space in a way that was comprehensible and beautiful. I think I spent more time on trying to figure out how to utilize the entire space than on the drawing itself (which is something I really regret). Throughout the course of the entire year, however, I improved my skills in composition greatly, while also improving my drawing skills so that I never have to compromise the picture just to have it fit the paper again. Overall, I’ve developed my own art style as well as valuable skills, I have created original art that I’m proud of and communicated through it as well, I took chances that in the end worked in my favor (or taught me a valuable lesson if they didn’t work), I collaborated with other talented artists in my class, solved problems with my art, and reflected on how I solved those problems, or maybe how I didn’t solve those problems. Most importantly, I gained a more global awareness in artmaking, and found my own voice through what I wanted to communicate through my art work.