Annie Sawers
Drawings, Paintings, Doodles.
Why Doodles?
The assignment was simple: create a hyper-realistic drawing of a candy bag. Yet, I dreaded completing it. Where would my voice be in a literal depiction of gummy bears? What was the point of capturing reality without commenting on it? How could I style my still life in a unique way? Frustrated, I began to translate the ordinary contours of the bag onto paper, until I made eye contact with a bear. He begged me to tell his story. Immediately, my imagination took control, creating a bizarre backstory for my new friend. Gummy bears are bears. Bears live in the forest. Their forest is this bag. Opening this bag is destroying their forest. And, thus, my piece would be titled “Deforestation.” I ripped open the bag, and a few, brave martyrs fell onto my desk. I placed two terrified bears, huddling for warmth, under the protection of the wrapper. With a new pack of colored pencils by my side, I helped gummy bear refugees recover in the wake of a fictional catastrophe...
College Work
From my Intermediate Drawing class and anything just for fun!
Senior Portfolio
AP Studio Art: Drawing (2019 Submission)
Acrylic - 8 ft x 10 ft - Left: Installation View; Right: Detail. After seeing my work, a local gallery offered me the opportunity to create a mural for their pop-up exhibit, Psychedelic Robot. I asked my AP art class to join me, and, in this piece, I sought to illustrate the unique artistic styles and perspectives of the six of us and to communicate an “explanation” behind everyone’s featured work.
Colored Pencil - 8 x 8 - AP Drawing Breadth. I was instructed to depict an interesting interior, so I decided to take a picture of my tonsils and draw the inside of my mouth. I thought this was very funny. I wanted to both shock my audience with the honesty of the drawing (saliva bubbles and all) and make them laugh with the title. This piece took me over 40 hours to create but was well worth it. It helped me develop my eye for highlights and shadows and increased my confidence in realistic drawing.
Colored Pencil, Pen, Watercolor - 18 x 24 - AP Drawing Breadth. My class was challenged to illustrate a self-portrait that captured a specific emotion, and I chose “anxiety.” After producing two contorted versions of my face, I began to draw my hair. The actual act of drawing my hair gave me so much anxiety that I stopped working on the piece for weeks. I finally decided to highlight this fear by leaving the hair incomplete and doodling everything that gives me anxiety. In this piece, I sought to communicate my problem with overthinking and how it sometimes prevents me from taking risks.
Marker - 24 x 18 - AP Drawing Breadth. The assignment was to illustrate a scene from multiple vantage points, and I chose to depict a herd of elephants. Restricted both by color option and the limited blending abilities of my markers, I decided to suggest at the shadows of the scene and use a color blocking style. This piece taught me the power of simple color change.
Acrylic, Collage, Digital Overlay - 24 x 18 - AP Drawing Concentration "What Lies Behind." In this piece, a metaphor for my friend’s struggle with depression, I explored the idea of revealing someone’s deepest secret through art while preventing the audience from actually being able to uncover it. The background is a collage of her “truth,” covered with gesso to represent a shield around those secrets. Molly is pictured smiling on top of these truths, attempting to conceal them with her happy disposition. The bizarre illustrations on top further represent her struggle and family hardships.
Colored Pencil - 14 x 11
Charcoal, Conte - 40 x 32
Colored Pencil - 12 x 10
Pen - 25 x 15
Colored Pencil, Marker - 11 x 14
Marker, Pen - 11 x 14
Colored Pencil, Encaustic - 14 x 10
Colored Pencil, Digital Drawing - 14 x 11
China Marker, Digital Background - 15 x 15
Marker, Digital Background - 20 x 16
Concentration
AP Studio Art: 2-D Design (2018) - AP Score: 5
A student's "Concentration" consists of 12 pieces of thematic work that the student develops. My Concentration was: My Mind Throughout the School Day. I am an avid doodler and struggle with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). These works express some of the challenges and emotions my brain experiences at different times in the day. Click on any image for more details.
Digital Collage, Pen, Pencil - 14 x 11 - Collection of various doodles from class
Colored Pencil - 12 x 11- Notecards featuring my friends and our inside jokes, representing my distraction while studying
Colored Pencil - 14 x 11 - Donald Trump and the Paris Agreement
Colored Pencil, Pen - 11 x 14 - Depiction of "Picasso," who could do what his peers are doing if he only knew what they were talking about
Digital Text, Marker - 25 x 19 - Metaphor to express the frustration I feel in my math class
Digital Background, Pen, Colored Pencil - 14 x 11
Colored Pencil - 6 x 4 - The process of eating lunch at Hopdoddy's, my favorite restaurant, illustrated in metaphors of vacation (lunch is the vacation of the school day)
Colored Pencil, Pen - 11 x 14 - Two posters in my English room depict young Einstein and Shakespeare (ADD causes me to look at posters). Doodles get in the way of my notes; I spend time painting in his eyes rather than taking notes
Digital Text, Marker - 11 x 14 - My favorite class. I feel "forced" to get a 100 on every test due to self-expectations
Watercolor, Pen - 5 x 14 - The time is a blur, and I get to briefly see my friends
Pen, Marker - 11 x 14 - Behind the "perfect" façade, I am often "running behind" and all over the place
Colored Pencil - 11 x 14 - Mind map that illustrates the distractions that my ADD causes
Breadth
AP Studio Art: 2-D Design (2018) - AP Score: 5
A student's "Breadth" section consists of 12 pieces of teacher-assigned work intended to develop technical skills. In this section, a student can explore different techniques, media, and subject matter. Click on any image for more details.
Colored Pencil - 25 x 19
Colored Pencil - 12 x 13
Colored Pencil, Watercolor - 14 x 11
Colored Pencil - 9 x 12
Watercolor, Pen - 11 x 14
Colored Pencil - 7 x 12
Digital Image - 11 x 14
Colored Pencil - 16 x 20
Colored Pencil, Watercolor - 11 x 14
Marker, Digital Edit and Collage - 14 x 11
Watercolor - 16 x 20
Colored Pencil - 25 x 19
Graphic Design
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |