Personal project, Report, “Creating an art book on the theme of mythology”

Personal Project
Creating an art book on the theme of
mythology
Saina Zhumagulova
10B
Word count: 3473 words
2018-2019
 Personal project, Report, “Creating an art book on the theme of mythology”

Table of contents
A. Investigation
1. Goal 2
2. Global Context 2
3. Prior learning 2
4. Research skills 3
5. Literally review 3
B. Planning
1. Criteria 4
2. Research plan 4
3. Self-management skills 5
C. Taking action
1. Creating the product 5
2. Thinking skills 6
3. Communication and social skills 7
D. Reflection
1. Evaluating product based on criteria 7
2. IB profile 7
3. My knowledge and understanding 8

Appendix 9

Bibliography 20

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 Personal project, Report, “Creating an art book on the theme of mythology”

Investigation
Goal
Make a research on different mythologies (Greek, Celtic and Japanese) and
improve my art skills to create an art book inspired by that thematic. The aim of the
project is to increase awareness and interest in mythology and present original vision
on the topic.
I have chosen this topic because I want to obtain a deeper knowledge of the
mythological background of different cultures. Currently drawing is one of my
interests that I am very passionate about, therefore I thought that this work would
give me opportunity to improve my drawing skills as well.
The final product of my project will be an art book with some drawings and sketches
regarding the topic and including the information about each creature that I have
included in the book.

Global Context
The global context identifies the direction in which the project is going to be
completed. The global context that I considered throughout my project is - personal
and cultural expression. The exploration of the global context I chose is “the ways in
which we reflect on and enjoy our creativity». Drawing is one of the main elements of
my project and it is my way of self-expression, and additionally, through making a
representation of the chosen mythologies I will consider the topic of cultural beliefs of
different ethnic groups and represent their uniqueness. Therefore, the chosen global
context is the most suitable for my project. The exploration was chosen based on my
thoughts about “what I want my project to be”, I did not want it to be just a
representation of the existing ideas about appearance and character of gods but my
own vision and interpretations based on their expertise and their personalities
characterized by their contribution into the development of nation according to
ancient folklore. I wanted to challenge my creativity and open up to new ideas.

Prior learning
My topic is connected to mythology and art.
I have some prior knowledge on both of the topics. The information that I have
learned already can be distinguished as “basic knowledge from school - subject
specific” and “out of school research”.
I have learned the basic information that includes the expertise and stories/myths
about different mythological creatures and gods in Greek mythology, mostly more
prevalent ones including the main 12 gods, and gods representing specific human
feelings, through literature both classic and fiction, encyclopedias about ancient
civilizations, movies and additional research on the internet. I was able to apply that
knowledge in reasoning my artistic choices, as I had some knowledge on the deities
I was able to connect it with art and explain why I have chosen the particular element
or color. (see in Appendix 6)

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 Personal project, Report, “Creating an art book on the theme of mythology”

I was interested in art from the early age but I started gaining some knowledge
mainly from online platforms for art like Deviantart, Tumblr, Instagram and more
serious art from videos of professional artists and art related books. I was able to
apply this knowledge in the sketching process as the way of gathering inspiration
from media. (see in Appendix 5 A.)
In terms of subject-specific knowledge, I have learned about mythology mainly from
MYP subject World history in 7th grade when we studied ancient Greece, I knew that
polytheism had an important role in ancient Greece because they used this belief to
explain different natural phenomenon like change of seasons, rain, rainbow and
other and human nature in form of feelings and needs. I was able to learn about the
relationships between Greek deities through the descriptions of the author, their
roles and their importance for society from Homer’s epic poem “Odyssey” that we
read on English subject in 9th grade.
I learned more “academic” art form the art subject in the school. I learned basic
analysis of pieces, basics of color and elements like line, shape, form and other and
practiced the use of different materials (like gouache, acrylics, watercolor). I was
able to apply that knowledge in the painting process of my project ( see in Appendix
5I)
I had very little knowledge and experience combining both fields, however, I was
very interested in doing so. At the beginning of my project I wanted to develop my
research and drawing skills and extend my knowledge on the topic of beliefs and
stories from ancient folklore.

Research skills
I had developed some research skills before the beginning of the project. I
was able to identify primary and secondary resources and collect and verify data.
Additionally, to that, I was able to access information, reference the resources and
organize the bibliography and to some extent utilize the collected information to
identify the solutions.
Throughout the project, I was able to improve the research skills that I already
had, through practicing and applying them while I was conducting my investigation.
I had developed new skills as well, I learned to evaluate, locate and organize
information from different sources (can be seen in Appendix 3 the “Evaluation of
sources” table), using the variety of sources including social media (I used the social
media platforms as the sources of inspiration for my work).
I may have shared my research skills to help my peers by helping to identify
different points of view, evaluate and select sources of information based on their
appropriateness to the needed task and to find connections in variety of sources.

Literary review
Conducting a research was an important part of my Personal Project,
because I was able to extend my knowledge further to complete my project more
efficiently. My primary research was a small interview with the professional illustrator

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 Personal project, Report, “Creating an art book on the theme of mythology”

from Astana, Mirra from @mirrakot_art (Personal communication, 2018). I asked her
some questions regarding the illustration in person, her answers were general
however this helped me to start my research.
In the most part of the investigation I have used the secondary sources of
information. Mostly books on the topics of art and design, websites with the
information on individual deities in mythology and “ted - education” and “crash
course” videos on the topic of different mythologies.
The first art-themed book that I used is “Compendium of drawing techniques”
by Krizek, D. (2012). The book contains a lot of information on the topic of different
art materials like chalk, pastels, paint, pencils and other and different ways of
applying those materials. This book was very useful in the action part of the project
(see in Appendix 5 I), it helped me to include variety of art materials into my art and
make my drawings more interesting.
The second book that I used was “Keys to drawing” by Dodson, B. From this
book I was able to learn the fast sketching techniques that I applied in my first
sketches (see in Appendix 5 G) and the ways of applying volume to the drawings, it
was very helpful in my pencil drawing of Persephone.
The third main book that I used was “Color” by Edwards,B. (2004). I applied
the knowledge from this book in creating the design of my product (see in Appendix
5 K). It was very useful in creating the visual part of my book and arranging the
elements on the pages.
Planning
Criteria
Designing the criteria for the work is was highly relevant for assessing my work more
objectively. Additionally, they gave me opportunities of measuring the completeness
or success of the work. I had created and organized the criteria for my final product
based on the factors that I considered important for the project. To achieve a higher
quality of work I needed to formulate the exact outcome that I wanted to achieve with
my product. (Look in Appendix 1, “Criteria”). Since my main goal is creating new
ideas to make a fresh representation of old concepts, the criteria focus more on the
art, representation and design factors because those are the aspects that I
considered to be “high - priority”, and less focused on written content. This criterion
encouraged me to create a high quality product, because I was able to identify the
key points that I needed to focus on to increase the standards of my product.

Plan
Creating an efficient plan can be very useful in a long-term project because I
was able to identify on which stage of the work I was, and it gives a sense of time,
therefore improved my time management.
My plan is not very detailed, I would like to include some improvement in my plan
(see in Appendix 2) by dividing the goal and action into two separate sections,
adding the section on the value/importance of the planned action, and make more

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steps for the action part of the project that considers “creating art” part as that
section was also somewhat divided in the process but not mentioned in the plan (as
you can see in Appendix 5 G) however it efficiently reflects all the major steps of the
project from the start till the deadline. For me the plan was the most useful at the
“Action” phase of the project, since It gave me an understanding of how much time I
have for particular actions of creating the final product, therefore I was able to
organize my actions and schedule based on the amount of time that I have.
I have followed the plan till the winter season when I was falling behind the plan on a
week, base on the dates of my entries.
However, in my opinion I have reached somewhat better results than I was expecting
at the beginning of my project. I was able to create more artwork that I originally
planned (according to criteria maximum was 10 and the similar amount of page)
overall my book has about 40 pages, and I had really improved my creative thinking
and overall drawing skills (see in Appendix 5 I and 5 K)

Self-management skills
Self - management skills helped me with organizing, focusing and analyzing
my work, and my ability to allocate such resources as time and energy more
efficiently, while pursuing a goal.
I was aware of the self - management skills before the project, however, I rarely used
it formerly, therefore, I usually felt very stressful by deadlines and struggled with
organizing different projects efficiently. I am easily distracted and it is hard for me to
pay attention, thus, I had to work harder on this aspect. I practiced different
strategies (See appendix 5 C) to stay organized, I developed the aspect of planning
select and use applications effectively and productively. Therefore I was able to
make most part of the project on time, that shows that I still have a room for further
improvement.

Taking Action
Creating the product
I used the process journal to keep an account of the process of creating my
product. It helped me to organize my work properly and keep track of the process in
an efficient way. I was very helpful in the final stages of my work. First of all, I started
my action from making the basic descriptions and doing small sketches for the final
product (look up in Appendix 5A and 5G). After that, I started brainstorming the ideas
for the drawings and making the initial sketches for future pieces ( see in Appendix 5
H).

After finishing at least 4-5 small works, I created the digital file for the book in the
publishing software ( see in Appendix 5 J). I set the borders to and sizing of 25*20cm
of the pages and organized the pages based on their function in the final product
(cover, introduction and other). I scanned the pages of the sketchbook and put them
on the pages of the file. After that, I typed in the factual information about the

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mythological entities and organized them the way that creatures classified in one
mythology are placed separately from the other ones. As I finished the “frame” or
draft of the book I added some elements like font, colors, backgrounds, patterns and
decorative details.

My product can be considered a response to my goal and the global context. In

regard to my goal the product includes the elements of research about the
mythologies, represents informational and understandable content for the audience
that is unfamiliar with the mythology to catch their interest, it also includes the
original artwork that showcases my representation of old concepts of mythological
deities. In regard to my global context it connects to the culture through beliefs of the
ethnicities whose mythology was used as the base of the project, and my creative
expression through the art that was the product of my creative thinking. (look up
Appendix 6)

Thinking skills
Thinking skills were very important in working on a project. They contributed
into solving the problems, decision-making process and overall coming up with any
ideas.
Of course, I had used the thinking skills before; even simple action requires
thinking and reasoning. In the process of creating my product, I had acquired and
developed three different aspects of thinking skills. First one is “utilizing old ideas in
new ways”, shortly the main idea of my project is reimagining the old mythological
figures from my own vision, some of them were already visually portrayed by artists
of the past, and therefore, I tried to present those old concepts in a my personal way,
for the sake of creative exploration, I wanted to make drawings those do not
represent the anatomy and appearance of the creature but somewhat gave
expression on the personality and character of the deities. The next skill is “decision
making”, it may be a very basic one, however, in some occasions I find it hard to
make some focused decisions because I do not want to lose the opportunities of the
other options, however, throughout my project, I was able to develop this skill and
the process of making choices became easier for me as I considered my personal
preference and abilities as one of the deciding factors (Appendix 5A and 5J). The
third skill is “create projects and products using knowledge and skills gained across
different subject areas”; my project is closely connected with the subjects of arts and
world history therefore throughout my project I used knowledge gained from those
subjects as the base of the research and on the action part I mostly applied factual
knowledge and skills gained from art classes in form of more theory, like lines, colors
and shapes those were the part of my prior knowledge (see Appendix 5 G). I think
connecting those two subjects was a very important decision for my project. In the
beginning of the project the idea of connecting art and mythology sounded ridiculous,
however as I deepened into the research and the action, I found out that those two
areas are actually very close, in all the time artists portrayed the belief and culture of
their times, and mythology is not an exception as it is a belief too, there are a lot of

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artworks that represent the mythological deities, on the other hand all art has some
historical background or context that inspires the artist and helps the viewer to
understand the point of view of the creator, without it the artwork cannot be
meaningful.

Communication and social skills

Through everyday interaction- with people and a lot of group works at school I
already developed some aspects of communication and collaborative skills. I was
able to respect and accept sociocultural differences, consider respect and analyze
different opinions, points of view ideas and preferences, use active listening
techniques to understand others, give and receive appropriate feedback, make
effective notes in class and others. In the period of time that I was doing my project, I
was able to improve some of those aspects and develop new ones. For example
since I was working with a big amount of information in my research, I had to
organize it logically and appropriately to be able to use it on the other stages of the
work (Appendix 3), later in the action part of the project I had to summarize and
transform that information to make factual descriptions of mythological creatures
therefore improving my communication skills or organizing the information.
Additionally, to that I was able to develop the aspect of “negotiating ideas with
others” and give and receive feedback from peer assessment (look up at appendix 5
F) and communication with my supervisor (Look up at appendix 5 B)

Reflection

Evaluating product based on criterions

(see in Appendix 7)

IB profile
Throughout the project I was able to develop as a learner. Reflecting my
improvement through ten qualities of the IB learner profile I was able to improve all
the qualities those are presented by International Baccalaureate ( see in Appendix
4). I developed as a Risk taker because I was able to research a topic that is
considered unusual and push my limits and explore new ideas from creative thinking.
I improved as an inquirer, as I had small knowledge on the topic of mythology and
had to question and research each creature that I find. I developed my reflecting
skills through analyzing and evaluating my actions and keeping the process journal. I
had to write important and detailed explanations of my action, and how I developed
as a learner throughout the project. I improved as a communicator, because I was
able to efficiently receive and apply feedback and give feedback to others. I
developed as a thinker, because coming up with new ideas and creative thinking
were essential for completing my project. I developed as a knowledgeable student
because I learned more information on mythology and art.

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I consider the learning process that I came through by doing my project to be

efficient and partially successful. Partially because I still struggle or not able to apply
some of the learning profiles in the working process. I think I still need to improve as
reflective as I had struggles identifying and explaining the skill, and overall making
reflection without description of events, and I need to develop the profile of caring
since I hardly improved it throughout my project.

My knowledge and understanding

The personal project was very interesting and convenient experience for me. I
had a lot of problems and was under the constant pressure to work, however it
helped me to develop new skills and habits, evolve and come up with the solutions to
different situations. (Appendix 5B and 5J)
I developed some aspects of all the ATL skills, and applied them in my work process.
I was able to gain more knowledge on the topic of my project and be more
conversant on the subject. From my prior knowledge I only had some subject-
specific knowledge of the topic and additional information gathered from reading and
searching, however after the few months of working on my project I was able to
drastically expand my knowledge on material directly related to mythology and art.
For example, initially I was pretty knowledgeable about the Greek mythology,
because I was interested in it for quite a long period of time, however my product
needed more diversity therefore I added both Japanese and Celtic mythologies
those I had absolutely no knowledge about. After the project I am able to classify the
creature in both of this mythologies (ghosts, fairies and other) and know several
legends from the folklore of those ethnicities. The second subject of my project is art,
I have drawn from a very early age, however I rarely used any materials other than
pencils, and therefore the project was some way of challenging and motivating
myself. At this point, after completing the product I am able to paint with gouache,
acrylics and watercolor more conveniently (see Appendix 5 I ), choosing color
combinations and mixing color more confidently (Appendix J), use markers, liners
and brush pen to some extent and combining different materials together.
I was able to understand that everything can be looked at from a new perspective,
even old stories, beliefs and fairytales can be changed and reimagined, everything
depends from the perspective of the creator/artist. I understood that even the topics
those may sound strange or unfitting with each other can be very harmonizing and
come out as a very interesting project to work on. Even if I started this project with no
specific message, as it evolved I understood that it carries very interesting and
important cultural theme and idea of unlimited personal expression.
To improve my project, I would work more on the reflection of my actions, since I
consider my process to be not fully effective as it included more narration than
analyzing, to improve the communication skills organize the information more
conveniently, to add improvements into the action plan by adding more sections on
value/contribution of the action to the project and the goal of the actions.

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Appendix 1
Criteria
mark Amount The written content of the Design - aesthetics of A diversity of art
of book the book materials/techniq
artwork (The writing is the secondary (the overall ues used in the
present factor since art is the main appearance of the book
in the point of the book, therefore it book regarding the
book has to contain mainly design choices like
informative descriptions about font, colors and other)
the mythology and
explanations of my ideas)
1-2 1-3 states the names of the no additional details all the works
creatures but does not give or colors used in the are unfinished
any other content. design of the product sketches with
(plain black and the pencil of the
white) same softness.
3-4 4-5 states the names and origins used small amount of pencils of the
of a mythological creature colors and uses different softness
and outline their role in simple details, or one additional
mythology - culture elements do not material (other
match with each other than a pencil) are
applied.
5-6 6-8 fully describes the origin, Proper usage of pencils of
name, purpose, role of a colors and suitable different softness
mythological figure from color palette, some and 2 different
historical - cultural context design details match mediums are
properly. used.
7-8 9-10 or fully describes the All the colors are pencils of
more mythological figure from visually appealing different softness
historical and cultural context and the color palette and 3 other
and describes a personal is complementary, mediums are
vision of the figure. design details are applied to making
used effectively and the artwork.
make input into the
overall appearance of
the book.

Appendix 2
Plan (backward)
Goal + Action date

present/ submit my project and get accessed 1.02

find the proper typography and print out the final book. 20.01 - 27.01

complete the final strokes and changes of the product (digital version) 13.01 - 18.01

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customize the book (font, backgrounds, image and text placement) 05.01 - 11.01

collect all the artwork and written content in one holistic component 04.01

scan the sketchbook pages (transfer everything into digital format) 03.01

write down explanations of the ideas and descriptions 26.12 - 03.01

do the actual art - draw (more detailed) 02.12 - 30.12

distinguish all the ideas and create final sketches 18.11 - 09.12

brainstorming 11.11 - 25.11

create criterions for the project + make a plan for the further actions 01.11.18

make the final choice on the product that you are willing to make 12.10.18

finish the research 10.10.18

do the research on the topic:

- mythologies: Celtic, Greek, Japanese
- take art technique books from the library
- Mythologies in folklore and literature 10.06 - 01.10
- artists
- the way the mythological deities are usually portrayed
- and other

identify the field of research - some planning 24.05.18

choose the topic (goals, final outcome, product) of the project 20.05.18

Appendix 3
Organizing information and evaluating resources
Source Notes Author Credibility Currency Aspect of the
details Summarize the Is the author Is the When was project addressed
Record information that reliable? Is it possible to
information the what aspect of your
important is relevant to confirm the correct? Can it information project this sources
details the project qualifications of the be proven and shared? Is it helps with?
that will author? verified through up-to-date?
help you other sources
find the or works cited?
source Is it objective?
again. Is it based on
facts or
somebody’s
opinion?
Hall’s Dictionary that kenneth clark is art the book uses Book was It will be relevant
dictionary explains professional /specialist a references from published in with interpretation
subjects & different details very famous author in ancient greek 1974 however of particular objects
symbols in in old art pieces the field of art relate and latin this type of in the art and will
art. and explains books and especially art transcripts and materials do help me to deepen
Kenneth their meanings history. He had his own is verified by not lose my understanding
Clark and role in the broadcast on BBC historians credibility over of mythological
art piece. channel Between 1979- time figure
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 Personal project, Report, “Creating an art book on the theme of mythology”

1980.

compendi Modern Donna krizek is one of Book uses Book was It will be relevant in
um of drawing the modern artists, references from Published in the
drawing techniques scholarship aluma of more than 20 2012 therefore practical/drawing
technique those involve national academy of art artists all over contain all the part of my work
s 200 tips, big variety of in Chicago, her works the world and main art since I do not
technique materials are collected at national mainly works techniques of practice different art
s and agricultural museum of and techniques modern time. techniques (my
trade Us, hall of fame and of author main materials are
secrets. other. she’s been doing herself. pencils) therefore it
Donna art professionally for 30 will be relevant for
Krizek.201 years the project and for
2 development of my
drawing skills
iIiad and ancient greek Homer is first of all book Book is book contains the
odyssey, stories/poem s Ancient greek poet, was written at published in descriptions of
homer about writer storyteller and the period 1997 ancient greek gods
written in heroes and most of the ancient when religion however it and sometimes
8th their writings were pieces of (in our case was written portrays their
century, adventures + his works. polytheism) decades ago interaction with
published greek gods was very humans and
in 1997. participating in relevant in the demigods.
the actions of daily life of it is relevant for my
the books people, project as the
therefore it can source of
be considered information about
first hand the myths + help to
information. understand
the nature of the
creatures.
Keys to cover s basic Bert Dodson received The book is Art book - relevant for the
drawing techniques his BS in Graphic Arts credible published in art part of my
Bert like shading, in Arizona State because 1990 product
Dodson. drawing from University (1960). After 1.authores however, the - using shading
first life, serving as a naval professional in art technique and redrawing from
published techniques of officer aboard the USS the field that the author life
in 1990 famous artists Constellation (1961- the book is tells about
1964) he covering (art) did not
joined the staff of the change.
Famous Artist's School
in Westport Ct. (1965-
1970)
where he helped
develop The Artist's
Course for Talented
Young People. to this
day he already
published
60 children illustration
books + art and
anatomy
books as well.

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Appendix 4
Profile Achieved
Inquirer I developed the attribute of inquirer through the ‘Research’ phase of the project. The topic
of the research was my personal interest, therefore, part of the process was done out of
my personal curiosity and passion for the subject of my project. In the process of my
independent research, I was able to develop research skills required for effective learning
such as collecting and verifying data, evaluating and organizing resources and using a
variety of sources.
Thinker In the process of completing my personal project, I was able to develop, adapt and apply
some aspects of critical and creative thinking to make proper decisions for further
development of my product and finding solutions for difficult situations through the time of
creating my product. For example, decision making was crucial in the process of choosing
the theme of the project, and design decisions, the first one defined the direction of the
work in the long term project and the other one was important in the overall appearance
and “feeling” of the final product.
Open - minded In my opinion, I was open minded primary to my project, because even then the initial idea
of the project was
connected with my interest in beliefs of different cultures, which represent my personal
acceptance of them.
However, on the other hand, I had improved the other attributes of the IB profile which is
accepting and evaluating different perspectives and suggestions. I had a lot of difficulties
with these aspects because I accepted suggestions as criticism and other perspectives as
the wrongness of my own, however, I was able to improve the situation by understanding
the value of different opinions for my own inspiration and progress of the work.
Knowledgeable I was able to expand my knowledge in different disciplines and use that information to
generate and evolve my product. For example, I was able to expand my knowledge
about art by learning more about materials and art techniques through searching from
information and learning form the sources.
Risk - taker The whole project was a bit uncertain for me because mythology is not exact and factual
information but broad concepts and more closer to religion, and making something related
to religious beliefs can be misjudged or considered respectful regarding someone's beliefs.
On the other hand my skills in art are not on proper level to be put together a book and I
have never displayed my works on public therefore it was a risky step for me.

Balanced I was able to balance the intellectual and emotional sides of my life in the process of
completing the project, I continued the intellectual development by learning more about the
subject in the “research” part of the project(look up at), and was emotionally involved
throughout the project because I was doing something very enjoyable for myself.
Communicative I had a lot of communication with my peers and my supervisor, I was able to express my
plans and ideas about the project and get a response or feedback form them. Creating a
book can also be considered as communication, because I am expressing and sharing my
ideas by visualizing them on the paper.
Principled I have used the mythological concepts as a base of my works and therefore I added the
information from folklore as well as my art so people will know the mythology the way I see
it and the way it is culturally accepted to be portrayed as well.
Caring I wanted to do the project connected to mythology and different beliefs, because I wanted
to raise the interest of people in the subjects of beliefs, discuss them in the positive context
and be more accepting of different beliefs other than their own
Reflective I was analyzing my actions in the process journal and identifying the value, the strong
and weak aspects of my work.

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Appendix 5
Journal entries
A.
12.07.18
Today I wanted to practice the art component of the work and tried to make
some sketches on the topics that I enjoyed the most during my research on the
personal project. Firstly, I made some try out sketches to make my hand ready for
drawing. I wanted to draw Greek night goddess Nyx since she is one of my personal
favorites and she is not very famous god so it will be useful to spread information
about her and make people interested. I am an associative person so I try to imply
this part of my personality into my project and improve my creative thinking skills
through metaphorical thinking, visualizing and applying the sources of inspiration.
Nyx gave me really interesting emotions and I found some images those I associated
with her and used as a reference to draw her. She has very glowy and interesting
atmosphere, that for me is associated with roaring 20th glam so I started searching
on this topic. I collected the folder of images dedicated to this thematic to use as an
inspiration for the Nyx, therefore boost my creative process. I was able to work on
nature so I did not have any distractions during my “brainstorming” process and do
not have any pressure during the work. Both maintaining my health and working,
therefore, developing the aspect of self-management skills that consider “making
informed choices about balance and relaxation”.

B.
17.09
today I had a follow up meeting with my personal project supervisor
on the meeting we mainly discussed the investigation phase of the project + things I
need to complete till the end of the investigation and deadlines. Through
communication skills of active listening and receiving feedback I gained more
information on the areas of improvement and further work process.
The main points of the meeting :
- connecting our personal project with particular subjects (in my case art and
world history)
- create a table of resources evaluation
- define parts of the project : topic, skills, global context
- add skills into project (myp)
- add more description and inspiration process rather than explanation of the
historical/religious concepts
- I can use tables and flowcharts to explain the ideas to make them more easy
and understandable in the other phases of the project.
Additionally I have to decide on the global context of my project it either will be : “the
ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature , culture, beliefs and
values ” or “the ways in which we reflect on and enjoy our creativity”

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 Personal project, Report, “Creating an art book on the theme of mythology”

notes from the meeting:

C.
Today I decided to organize my time the way that I will work on my personal
project at least once a week. This way I will develop my organization skills and make
a habit of working frequently and productively, rather than procrastinating and
working once and on a big amount of work. Firstly I used the functions on my phone
to receive notifications about the actions I need to do, my phone is with me all the
time therefore it will be the most easy and effective decision. Also I created a
schedule on an app “my study life app” to organize some time to work on my project
on a weekly basis.

D.
02.10.18
Today I was evaluating on my idea of the final product. The idea is to create an art
book about different mythologies, that represents my personal vision, includes some
modern elements (questionable), the cover will be either hard or soft, it will contain
about 10 pages. Brainstorming:
+ 1-2 page draft design of costumes
+ each new mythology type = new opening page
+ small description
+ categories of gods , creatures , oni and stuff (write with bigger letters and on
the bottom small description)
+ can compare how I see it verses how mythology portrays them
examples
Through brainstorming and analyzing I was able to develop my creative thinking that
will be very efficient in my action of creating the product, and improved planning the
further work process.
Additionally I have decided that I want to focus on the context of : “the ways in which
we reflect and enjoy our creativity”, because instead of offering old ideas I want to
make my project more risky and interesting by focusing on creative ideas and
creative thinking instead. This way I will not have specific boundaries and it will
prevent me from copying the old concepts.
E.
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 Personal project, Report, “Creating an art book on the theme of mythology”

15.10.18
Today I decided to dedicate 2 hours to work on my personal project
I finished the evaluation of resources from the research stage and properly
organized the data in my table, that shows my communication skills through
organizing the information logically. Later on I would make proper APA citation to
add them up to the table. Additionally, to that I made some small notes regarding the
criteria for my final product and started creating/formulating the backwards action
plan for my project, since that will help me with forming the sense of time to be more
aware of the work time, deadlines and manage my time in the most efficient way.
This action also represents the way my organization skills improved throughout the
project since at this point I am planning strategies to guide my project and planning
and managing activities.
F.
18.10.18
Today I spend one hour on the “whole school meeting of students and supervisors”.
I presented the current level of my project to the other students and teachers, to
identify the stage and level of my project at this moment. It was an opportunity for me
to develop different sides of my communication skills. The main descriptors (on the
meeting) were focused on 3 main points:
Goal of project Prior learning Research skills
Based on this criterions I identified my level as “Progress” since I did not fulfil the
criterions of outlining and discussing the research skills that I developed throughout
the research stage of the project.
according to the peer evaluation of my presentation and process journal:
I have good start + a lot of details and I am confident at presenting my project which
shows how involved in the topic I am
however, I need to improve the parts regarding the skill evaluation, develop strands
+ explanation, pay more attention to command terms.
I consider this meeting very valuable to further development of my project since I
realized the parts that I still need to work on and in what direction to move on the
proposed headings/rubrics, additionally to that I found out about the stages of work
of other students and used communication skills through giving and receiving
feedback about my project and works of other students, presenting my ideas and
stage of work appropriately and in summary to people who are not familiar with my
work, and using listening techniques to understand and evaluate on ideas and
suggestions of my peers and teachers, and reflection skills through seeking out
constructive criticism of my personal project presentation to make evaluation based
on the commentary and improve the project.
+ my supervisor gave me the document with data on different skills therefore I
will understand them more and will include them into my evaluation.
scans of the evaluation paper:

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 Personal project, Report, “Creating an art book on the theme of mythology”

G.
14.12.18
Today I started the action part of the project. Firstly organized the contents of
the book by priority.
1. original drawings
a. brainstorming
b. Sketches
c. painting, coloring and other
2. written text
a. organizing
b. typing
3. design
a. finding a software for creating a book
b. organizing the pages
c. backgrounds, fonts, placements of objects, colors, details.
By applying my organization skills of planning and time management, I will be able to
arrange my time efficiently based on the importance and how time consuming the
action is. Before that I did all the work simultaneously and it turned out to be
unproductive, therefore by arranging things by priority and creating general steps of
action I will be able to manage my time and work effectively.
In my investigation phase I learned useful sketches techniques from the book “Keys
to drawing” by Dodson, B.(1985). based on knowledge that I gained from reading
that book I started to make small scribbles into my notebook to think of ideas for
drawings:

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 Personal project, Report, “Creating an art book on the theme of mythology”

all of them were inspired by the mythological creatures that I studied in the
investigation phase of the project, I observe the development of my creative thinking
skills of generating ideas as I already made some small personal inputs into the
visual and made the creatures different from the original folklore descriptions.
H.
22.12.18
Today I made some more clear and finished sketches for the drawings, they
contain more of my personal creativity and perspective compared to the initial
drawings. I think at this point my creative thinking skills developed, because I was
able to learn more and extended my boundaries through practicing and previous
research on art in the investigation phase.
I will make the final pieces based on more finished sketches, however I still
need to make color choices.

sketches of Nyx and Changeling.

I.
28.12.18
I already finished 6 works for the project. They are the ones with Greek mythology
and some japanese mythology drawings. I organized my action process based on
the order of the topics in the research stage, so it would be easier to organize the
information. Today I used more gouache and watercolors, and it was my first time of
using acrylics in a long period of time. My thinking skills are improving as I applied
the gained knowledge in unfamiliar situation to create an original product, I was
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 Personal project, Report, “Creating an art book on the theme of mythology”

never very skilled in using acrylic paint, however I was able to manage acrylics with
some knowledge from drawing techniques book by Krizek.D. (2012). that I studied in
the investigation phase of the project.

Apollo watercolor painting

J.
05.01.19
I was struggling to find the software to edit the book, mainly because most of
the are either require a payment, too complicated or even not designed for making a
book but rather a product like a booklet.
Today I found the software where I will be able to edit the art book. It is one of the
Microsoft software, it is called publisher. In my opinion it is more simple and
understandable for the beginner users, and for me it is more comfortable than
Photoshop, canva, ppt and other options, mainly because it has more simplified tools
and was specifically created for making a book compared to other software that I
found. Additionally, it has an option of saving the product in the pdf format, that
function is very important for my personal use, because I need to be able to send the
digital version of the final product to my supervisor.

K.
12.01.19
Today I finished the design part of the product. Throughout the project I really
improved my thinking skills, and I can observe it through my current actions of
creating the product, in my design I was able to apply my knowledge from the design
book “color” by Edwards B.(2004), by using it I was able to use more complementary
colors and allocate the elements on the pages, for example: from the examples in
the book I learned that light and soft colors can be complemented by more bold and
bright shades of the same color, on this page it is applied very efficiently, soft pink
pattern is complemented by bright red geometrical figure.

also I have learned that textured and varied backgrounds make design more
interesting, therefore I created all the backgrounds of the pages myself on the
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 Personal project, Report, “Creating an art book on the theme of mythology”

illustration software called “Krita”. I used different brushes and functions and made
backgrounds like this:

Appendix 6
examples form the product

Appendix 7
(See the criterions in Appendix 1 )
7-8 6 6 7
because counting the I have used the My design has a very Overall to create my
main and finished factual descriptions bright color palette book I have used
works they are about of the mythological however it is restricted about 8-9 different art
10- 11 and with deities, right next to in the amount of colors mediums, and some
sketches it will be the visual image therefore I used the of them are the
exceeding the given and explained my various shades of the material that I have
number. However, in ideas clearly and in colors to make them never used or rarely
my opinion this simple language. complementary to each used before, so that
criterion could be The strength that I other. Some of the can be a positive
improved by presented was that pages are made in factor since it did not
considering not the most of the more simple manner only gave me an
quantity of works by terminology had the which can be opportunity for
rather the quality of description in the considered a weakness improving my
the product. For brackets next to it. since it breaks the technical art skills but
example making an and that the text resemblance or unity of also make the content
assessment involving was utilized form the pages. I limited my more varied and
other people about the information that work with 3 maximum 4 interesting therefore
the overall I god from the fonts which is a good suitable for the wider
appearance of the research part of the side, since it makes the audience.
work, and how project. The content more organized
appealing it is, this weakness is that I and again gives feeling
way I will get was not able to of unity to the work.
subjective opinions of give the full Improvement would be
group of people but reasoning of my to follow more simple
by generalizing it and drawings but but collected style that
making statistic I described the can be applied to
would make it more general idea under different artworks and
subjective it. considers various
amounts of text.
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 Personal project, Report, “Creating an art book on the theme of mythology”

Bibliography :

Clark,K.(1974).Halls dictionary of subjects and symbols in art.(2nd ed.).

London, UK: John Murray.

Crash course editors, [Crash Course].(2017, february 24) What Is Myth? Crash

Course World Mythology #1. [video file]. Retrieved from:

https://youtu.be/HeX6CX5LEj0

Dodson, B.(1985).Keys to drawing.Cincinnati,OH: North Light Press.

Edwards, B. (2004).Color.New York,NY: Penguin group

Gillespie, I. ]and Krawczyk, L.(2017, november 14). The myth of

Prometheus - Iseult Gillespie. [video file]. Retrieved from:

https://youtu.be/U_u91SjrEOE

Greek Mythology.com Editors. (2018, January 11).Apollo. Retrieved from:

https://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Apollo/apollo.html

History.com Editors (2018, august 21). Greek Mythology. Retrieved from:

https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/greek-mythology

Homer.(2009). The Odyssey. London, UK: Penguin Classics.

Krizek, D.(2012).Compendium of Drawing Techniques: 200 Tips and Techniques

and trade secrets. Wellwood, UK: Search Press Ltd.

Meyer M. (2016). Akateko. Retrieved from:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://yokai.com/aka

teko/

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Meyer M. (2016). Tengu-daoshi. Retrieved from:

http://yokai.com/tengudaoshi/

Meyer M. (2016). Oni. Retrieved from:

http://yokai.com/oni/

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