I'm Samantha Mlosthwa from class 9A and this is my portfolio for my final art project witch was done during my final course of secondary school. We had full control over what we wanted to do for our project and we had 27 classes to finish the project. At the start of the course I really didn't know what to do so I just decided to make what first came to mind: my original characters or OCs. I wanted to make a consistent picture set of all of my original characters and I also wanted the characters to look as close to what I imagined them in my head as possible. I also wanted the paintings to show each characters personality. I have seven original characters: Rajni, Clementine, Jake, Xavier, Spencer Misery and Chouko. They're all children and they are a group of friends who all go to the same Tennis Club. The kids met at the tennis club even if none of them can really play tennis and none of them actually even play, they just hang around the court.

Looking back at this project, I regret making paintings of my originals characters. It was too much of a task. Seven paintings is a lot, plus this portfolio, but my art teacher said I could make it so I just did it. At the start I had planned out a schedule and all but I very quicly gave up on it. At least two classes went to waste because I didn't have the right paper so  I needed to go out and buy it I also tried using some water colors from school that turned out to be really bad and didn't co-operate with the paper I was using. And since time was running out it was a struggle to try to finish all the paintings. In the end I kind of had to do some of the paintings half heartedly. I had chosen watercolors in particular because they dry fast and also because I enjoy using them.
Although I had a tight schedule I feel like I still managed to make decent paintings even though I couldn't get the faces of the characters right except for Clementine and Jake. And I also really hated how Misery tuned out. I had to do a lot of this project at home too but I think I worked well home.
The materials I used were 300g semi textured watercolors paper, a Windsor and Newton mini watercolors pallet that consisted of 12 colors, some of my own colored pencils for shading and such and also a lot or random nick knacks that I glued to the paintings.

If you were to ask me what the meanings behind my paintings are, I really wouldn't b sure what to tell you. Most of the time I don't like giving explanations for my art because I feel like explanations kind of kill art. When I make art something I want is to get a bit of a "WTF?" reaction. And it's not like you can really get that reaction by explaining every aspect of your art piece. But I do understand why we do need to explain our art for educational purposes. So maybe if anything, my original characters are just a way for me to be a kid again. I don't really know how to explain it, but I do share some qualities with my characters and so I'm invested in them. When I imagine them having fun it kind of brings me back good memories from when I was younger. Damn, I talk as if I'm 30 years old.
All in all I think I did okay on this project, its not the worlds best, but I definitely didn't think its really bad either. I I were to grade myself I would give myself a strong 8.

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Anyway now that you've read this you are free too look around this website that is my portfolio by simply clicking the painting you want to read more about. You can always get back to the front page by either clicking the "back" button or the websites title "the tennis club". I hope you have a fun time reading about my OCs.