Final Environment Pieces

These are my final pieces for the environment side of the project. In the first, I tried to get a swamp-like feel to it, to give it a desolate and stagnating sense, without having the structures collapsing.

In the second piece, based on Nigel's advice, I painted more roughly to begin with, adding details in layers, instead of trying to put all the detail in at once. I also decided to put my character in this piece as it seems more fitting for the witch to be praying in a spooky scene than in a stagnating, overgrown area.

Contextual Studies Research

The following is the list of quotes and ideas that I thought relevant for my essay. The primary bullet points are notes made during lectures or reading, and secondary bullet points are notes made with relevance to my essay.

The Witch Final Piece

My final piece for the character creation part of the project. I decided to have the witch holding her veil, so that you could see her face, instead of her wearing it and obscuring her. Additionally, I changed the scene slightly, bringing the scene further towards the witch, drawing more attention to her, and also changing the position of the cherry blossom tree in the background, so that the light shining on her has more context.

Environment Final Pieces: Sketch

The rough layout for my final pieces. I decided to change a few aspects of the second one, because I liked the general idea of the piece, but the background was very boring and it didn't really make sense to have the surrounding area be land when the bridge was the central part of the scene.

Life Drawing Sessions

The above three are from my first Life Drawing session, taking 15, 30, and 55 minutes respectively. In the second sketch, Will advised us to use cleaner, more confident lines to define the figure.

In the second session, we focused on drawing the figure and its main features quickly, and so each of the above sketches were done in under 2 minutes, before moving on to the 60, 45, 30 and 20 second sketches below.

 

Then, we worked on mid-tone paper, and using white chalk, drew the light, instead of drawing the shadow as you would on white paper. In the final piece, we also used graphite sticks to draw the darkest shadows and add more depth.

As part of one of Lothar's sessions, we went to the Castle Museum and were asked to draw something from the natural history section. I chose this lion, and tried to focus on the shape of the mouth and accurately drawing the textures of the fur.

Afterwards, we then drew non-animals, and so I decided to try and capture how the light fell on different plants and a stone.

Light and Composition

As part of our lecture on light, we were asked to look at some pieces of art and analyse the light sources and how it affects the rest of the piece. I chose these two pieces, bu Kekai Kotaki and Daniel Kamarudin

Bird Dome by Kekai Kotaki

Pallys by Daniel Kamarudin

As part of our composition lecture, we were also asked to do a similar task as before: choosing some artwork and showing what kinds of composition techniques they used, such as golden spiral, rule of thirds, etc.

Armory by Tomas Honz

In Honz's piece, the slope of the staircase clearly shows how the golden spiral was used, however there is also some elements of the "L", the scene being framed by the pillar and the dark stairs.

Ariadne by Julie Dillon

In Ariadne, the piece has a more clearly defined spiral, where the eye is guided towards the woman by her red string.

Environment Studies

For the second part of BA1, we need to produce two finished pieces, in full colour. Similarly to the last project, we develop our ideas through the stages of lineart, value studies, and colour studies, before starting the final pieces.

Lineart Pieces

 

Value Studies

 

Colour Studies

 

Research: Edo-Japan Environments

Image research for my environment studies.

Final Piece Sketch

Rough colours and layout of my final piece. I wanted a slightly dilapidated and overgrown appearance for the piece, given that my witch was exiled, so I decided on an old shrine, specifically a bridge nearby. Because the scene was quite big, I'm going to make use of strong light and contrast to highlight my character.

I narrowed down the image in my value study to put more focus on the witch's position.

Witch Character Sheets

The main thing that I wanted to portray with this character was her determination to rejoin her society, and so I decided to show her largely stone-faced, aside from when she is looking to the sky in the first full-body model.

Witch Model Sheet

I decided that instead of building my final character directly from my colour studies, I would combine elements from all of my ideas into a character that I felt best represented my interpretation of the witch.

Initial Lineart

I really liked the idea of the witch covering her face that was in my final colour study, however I felt that if she was covering her own face, it would be very difficult to be able to show any emotion from her, and that wouldn't give the impression of the determined, but ultimately broken character, determined to regain her family's honour.

Additionally, I made her kimono more damaged, ripped and torn in various places, showing how long she has been in the wilderness and away from society. In the same vein, some of her hair is in a traditional bun, held together with kanzashi pins, however strands of hair have fallen out of place and trail behind her.

I also added a version of her face without the veil, seeing as she wouldn't always be able to wear it.

Final Colours

Witch Colour Studies

Colour studies and variations, based off of the value studies I did previously. I initially went for bright colour schemes, as most kimonos feature bright patterns, however in my later colour studies I decided against this, as being a witch living in the wilderness outside the town, it is unlikely that her clothes would still be pristine. Instead, they would be sun-bleached, dirty, and possibly even torn, and so I decided on a much more muted colour scheme in the later designs.