This project taught me a lot and helped me sharpen many different skills overall. I learned mainly the block print process and how to make a block print. This process wasn't too difficult for me and I didn't have too many low points. One thing I had to go back and revise was my print itself. My scratched weren't deep enough and I had to go back and carve out bigger pieces so the ink would be more evident on the print. My carving was quite well done in the end and my piece looked very similar to my intended drawing.

     My intention with this block print was to show one's self-destruction and how one's biggest enemy is himself. After seeing Kathe Kollowitz's self-portrait with her hand on her face that gave me the idea of one hurting himself metaphorically. I wanted to show how nothing happens for no reason and tragedy is caused by one's own actions. This relates to students and people my age as they are growing and becoming adults. By learning to have responsibilities and take care of themselves they must also learn to make the right choices and that some choices may cause self-destruction. 

     To make my project similar to Kathe Kollowitz's work, I ensured that my project had a deep and dark aspect to it. I made the scratches surrounding the head of the main figure to show destruction that descending on the person and through the reaction of the figure seems to be inevitable. I made many scratched move onto the figure as well, seemingly crawling onto him like insects taking over him. I made the main figure without eyes and covered them with scratches showing his unawareness to his destruction. 

His hand is on his face and the shadow taking over his face shows how he hurts himself and the shadow is his actions taking over him, slowly consuming what remains of his figure. 

     My work overall was a success in presenting my intended idea. The darkness successfully represented my inspiration and my intention as well. My figure was well carved and well printed onto the sheet. The hand on the face was perfectly printed as well showing the destruction and covering the face just enough to show the shadow on the face as well. Some ways I could have improved in my piece was the placement of the hand, as I could have made it more comfortable for the figure. I also could have made his neck thicker to make him look more realistic. 

     The work of my inspiration was very well done, although it was a similar medium. She also used scratches to make the piece and make it come together better. She covered the piece well with shadow and made it visible as well as dark. It did well to represent her theme through the darkness of the piece. The character seems to be damaged as well as parts of the face are not visible or seem to be scratched away such as her left eye. 

     Originally I had the idea of isolation that I wanted to put into a piece. I was planning on making a piece set out on a stage. My inspiration was The last supper and I would use the same background set-up as the piece to display my stage, with a similar concept of distance perception. I would put a singular figure in the center of the piece with his arms laid out unmoving next to him and strings attached to his arms moving up into the top of the piece. His body would be laid out like a puppet or a dead body with its only consciousness being the strings connecting the figure to the stage. I wanted to also add a shepherd cane reaching for the puppet as well, ready to remove him from the stage, a classic theatrical gig popular in many old plays or projects. The piece wouldn't work out for many reasons. Mainly the carving technique used to make a block print wouldn't work with the very intricate and thin lines I would use in this piece. Secondly, this piece required more colors to convey the story more meaningfully and the black and white colors of the block print wouldn't have done too well in this cause. I decided to put the idea off to the side to be used in another project later on.