Outcome

Simplicity

For simplicity, I decided to only outline the most essential parts of the eye. The only thing I made sure to vary was the thickness of my lines. I noticed that the top eyelid should be thicker than the bottom eyelid. I made sure that the eyelashes were drawn using the thinnest lines. I also thickened the outline of the iris, to represent that the iris should be colored in. In addition to varying the line thickness, I also gave this composition a few key touches. The white spot in the pupil, for example, is crucial because without it the eye looks extremely dull and unrealistic. I also added a line above the eye that represents the fold of the eyelid. Without this line, the eye would look too detached and not part of an undrawn face.

All of those decisions, and the fact that this composition is devoid of color and texture, makes this composition seem simple while including all the fundamental parts of the eye. One challenge I definitely faced was making this composition more abstract. I come from a very representational background, so abstract art does not come naturally for me. For me, it is already a big step to be able to represent my subject without including all the details, and so that to me is a step in the direction of abstract art.

Complexity

Here is a complex representation of the eye. I have used a series of straight lines to "shade" in the iris. I tried to give the iris some blue color, but the black overshadows it too much. I also "shaded" the corners of the eye using dots. Finally, I darkened the lashes and gave them a bit more volume.

One of the biggest challenges for this composition was getting used to using software to create art. I am used to more traditional mediums of art, and so I really struggled to get the iris to look the way I imagined (making many straight lines is much faster and easier with pen and paper as opposed to software). I also had a hard time controlling how much color to put in the iris. I really wanted to use dots to represent the color, but the dots did not seem to show up enough against the black lines. And of course, I again had trouble making this composition more abstract. I guess I subconsciously associated "complex" with "detailed and accurate", and so I had a hard time making a complex representation also be abstract. That is definitely something I can work on.