Art class: describing my woodcut(art), wood carving work - Essay Example

For my representation I chose to carve and reproduce the image of a sea lion. I think that these are beautiful and majestic animals so I wanted to render a worthy piece of artwork. The advantages of each process became clear immediately. The digital image was much quicker to create and manipulate. The carving took a very long time to do. It also required manual dexterity that I had not developed because I have not had a lot of experience carving with wood. The digital image required more mental skills such as knowledge about computer software and how the applications could alter the image.

There wasn’t much manual skill required for this image. The carving required lots of manual labor. A disadvantage of the digital imaging soon became apparent. Even though it was easier, I felt that the image produced was clear and crisp but lacked interest. It appeared to be one-dimensional. On the other hand, the carving was full of interest. Even when I made a mistake, the piece grew more interesting because it added new movement to piece. In my opinion, the manual process of carving the image was more difficult, but I liked the results better.

Another difference between processes is how they required me to interact with the object. In creating the digital image, I focused on creating a bold outline of the figure. I really wanted to capture the profile of one of these huge creatures to give an idea of the animal’s proportions and prominent features. I found that digitizing this helped me appreciate the sleek shape of this animal. At first glance, it appears to be a very blubbery animal, but when I focused on the outline of the profile, I could imagine the animal sliding sleekly through the waters of the ocean.

The bold outline detailing is what made the greatest visual impact for the digital version. The converse is true of the carving. This process allowed me to indulge in highlighting the characteristics of the sea lion that give it such a strong personality. I used the roll of blubber and the muscular neckline to give a sense of playfulness and also power. I found that carving in three dimensions allowed me to highlight the dual nature of the sea lion. I could see how this animal is both a bit of a clown, with the flippers and rolls of belly fat, but that it is also a serious predator.

I feel that employing both processes allowed me to see my subject from many different angles. I think that the digital process would have an advantage over the carving if time was of the essence and if the clarity of the image is most important. I can see the digital image being used more frequently for educational and instructional purposes. On the other hand, if you were trying to get people to make some sort of emotional connection with the animal, then a carving would be best because it would show the most personality.

Catering the process to the intended audience to achieve the desired effect is something you can only do if you are willing to try your hand at many different styles of creating art. Printing contributed to social changes from the middle ages to the enlightenment by making text available to the masses. Literacy began to once again move beyond the walls of the monastery out into the general population. The invention of printing lessened the hold the Church held over learning and philosophy.

Readily available printed texts of the Aristotle, Plato and Virgil brought classical learning back into vogue, leading many to reexamine their beliefs about the place God and the church should hold in governments and society. Printing affected other visual arts by bringing the age of illuminated scripts to a close while opening a new age of readily reproducible images. Print making literally changed the world one book and one image at a time.