Artist's Statement

Kaosi Okpalannaka

I have drawn a plethora of nuts, bolts, and gears that form into a dune buggy driving around in a desert landscape.
Question: How do I combine my passions for 2D art and automobile engineering, all of which have been inherited from my father?

History: My father was once a mechanic; he was also once an artist. He passed down his artistic knowledge to my oldest brother, who then taught my older brother, who then informed me. When I first received this project, I knew I had to do something involving automobiles. Still, I also didn't just want to do a standard traditional 2D drawing--I usually only did black and white illustrations as I didn't have any good coloring pencils or markers. Like how my dad continued to try new techniques, I will attempt to the same by doing the art piece via digital means.

Approach: At first, I was considering free alternatives like Medibang, Krita, GIMP, or Pixlr. But after finding out that UMD college students get Adobe Creative Studio for free, I thoroughly went with Adobe Photoshop for my drawing software. In terms of hardware, again, I was using the free Wacom tablets from the UMD library. But I eventually obtain a Kenting WakeArt Drawing Tablet from Amazon. To complete this task, I needed to learn the features of Photoshop. Consequently, I found a great tutorial by Youtuber, Alex Markarian. I also learned how to create both the background for the art piece, but also the smoke in it by another art Youtuber named Nemanja Sekulic.

Audience: Although everyone can appreciate this piece, people who have an interest in engineering, cars, and art can enjoy the art the most. However, considering this is the result of only a couple of months with photoshop, I'm hoping that people will be less critical about this piece.

Impact: As I said before: since this final piece is a result of a few months with Photoshop, I don't expect audiences to be in awe of my project. I do hope people will see my passion for art and automobiles, however.

References: "Adobe Photoshop Tutorial: The Basics for Beginners" Youtube, uploaded by Alec Markarian, 4 Aug 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFyOznL9UvA
"How to Create a Smoke in Photoshop" Youtube, uploaded by Nemanja Sekulic, 2 Feb 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIBXXglbYtQ&t=177s
"How to EASILY Draw 2D Landscapes in Photoshop" Youtube, uploaded by Nemanja Sekulic, 6 Dec 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBczOO5hOKc&t=1704s