When first coming up with a self portrait, especially on Illustrator, I decided to take a very straight forward approach to creating a self portrait. I first got a picture of myself, with clothing I like. I also chose my red top hat as I first it stood out really well. It is stated by Michael Kuniecki, Joanna Pilarczyk, Szymon Wichary (2015), three experts in the field of psychology, that the colour red can influence both positive and negative psychological functioning.
I didn’t change much from the original picture, as I didn’t feel the need too. I feel the colours used and the amount of detail covered enough for me not to change much. However, I did change the glasses to shades as I think they represent me more.
I included the spotlights in the back to showcase how I can be a show-off and like to have a bit of grandeur to me at times.
When coming up with a second Self Portrait, I decided to take a more unique approach to creating a portrait. I decided to try a more cartoony way, along with picking clothing I like more. To do this, I turned the top hat, previously on my head, into the head itself. Along with this, I changed the normal shirt into a suit to represent my love for fancy stuff more.
I picked the colour green, as not only is it my favourite colour, but it can also represent health and kindness. I kept the colour red as it blends well with the red and attracts attention well, as stated previously.
The choice to make it cartoony and goofy was to show in my art how I can be quite friendly and nice, while keeping my fancy flair and how I’m a showman. This is also why I included the stage curtains in the back, to showcase that showman side of me.
The Process of the First Self Portrait Illustrator
The Process of the Second Self Portrait Illustrator
References
Kuniecki, M, Pilarczyk, J, Wichary, S (2015), The color red attracts attention in an emotional context. An ERP study, Available online: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4413730/, (accessed on 07/12/23)