Illustration
Overview
Title: A Place to Dine Size: 51cm x 38cm Medium: Color pencil Date of Completion: February 2023 Exhibition text: For this illustration, I was inspired by the works of Vincent Van Gogh and Halfdan Strøm. I wanted to have the theme of fellowship, and one way of fellowship is gathering to share a meal. The opposite ways of doing so are dining in a downtown area and picnic in the park. I used colored pencils as the medium of this piece to give it a clean, cohesive piece. |
Inspiration: Vincent van Gogh & Halfdan Strøm
The inspiration I used for my first illustration was Cafe Terrace at Night by dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh. This piece was an oil painting created in 1888. The overall theme I wanted to have for my piece was ways to fellowship with people, so I thought using this as my inspiration was good. For my plan I decided that I would keep the tables from the original since it was closer connected to my theme. I was inspired by how Van Gogh was able to make depict the light in the piece but I knew that part would be hard for me to do with the colored pencils, but I still wanted it to have the night time feel. In his piece you can really see the artistic abilities that Van Gogh had when making the piece, which was very inspiring to me. For my second piece, I used Picnic in the Forrest by Halfdan Strøm. Halfdan Strøm was a norwegian painter and his works resembled that of realism. I was super inspired by how accurate this painting is compared to many of the other paintings I had seen. I wanted to use this piece as inspiration because it is another form of fellowship. For both of these pieces I wanted to take the original and spin it in my own way and make it more modern. Therefore I plan on making the scenes seem more modern but also more realistic.
Planning
I began by planning out my first sketch. This was only a rough colorless sketch that got ideas flowing. I started by drawing two buildings on the right side of the page. The buildings are a more modern version. Next I layed down a building on the right side. This is to be considered the main building and focus point in the piece. Outside of this building I put a simple and basic sketch of the tables that I would use in my piece. This is the section that I somewhat carried over from the original. I mostly recreated the shape but made a few changes so I wasn't just copying. Once I had the sketch done, I planned out what colors I would use for which section. The grays and yellow would be for the building, blue, gray, and purple for the sky, and brown for the ground.
|
The sketch to the left is a very simple, if not too simple to start of with, sketch. There are trees in the background to bring in the natural factor and then we have the ground level that will be colored in many shades of green. Then in the front there is a picnic blankekt down with a basket. In the actual inspiration i want the blanket to be wither red checkered or blue checkered. The picnic basket is multiple shades of brown.
|
The last step in the planning phase was to figure out exactly which colors to use for the second illustration because there is more color options and blending. I wanted to pick out 5 shades of green, brown, and blue. Once I had the colors pickked out i awanted to see how they would blend in order to see if I needed to pick new colors.
|
Process
The first step in the first illustration was to begin laying down the sketch onto the illustration board. Lightly in pencil, I began putting the lines and shapes onto the board. I didn't exactly put everything in the beginning but as I kept going I began adding more layers and shapes. I used a ruler to make sure that my lines are straight. Once I wqas satisfied with the sketch that I had put down, I began to darken the lines slightly. Then it was time to start coloring.
|
The first thing I colored on the board was the sky. I layed down a layer of light blue. I followed that with a dark blue, making sure they are blending them together. Once I did that, I layed a thin layer of purple and then a thin layer of black. I wanted the colors to appear streaky because of how the night time sky looks sometimes, but I also wanted them to be blended. The i worked on one of the buildings. I used a medium shade of gray as the main color of the building and the base of the building is a lighter gray. I made the windows yellow to express the night time of the illustration.
|
The next thing to do was to work on the next building. I made this building a lighter gray. I used more neutral ccolors in order to make the piece feel more modernized. I used a very similar method as the first building as far as the style and the color selection. This was done to make the piece feel more consistant.
|
The las building was also done it gray with a hint of yellow to show the light. I outlined the tables using a black colored pencil and colored them in using gray. The canopy is done in black to contrast against the building it is on. I wanted to keep this piece very simple so it is easier to understand. I then outlined where the outline of the seating area would be.
|
To start the second piece I lightly outlined where I would place certain shapes. I then began by laying a thick layer of light blue over the sky. I blended in a darker shade towards the bottom of the sky layer and a lighter shade towards the top of the sky layer. I blended it together to make it look cohesive. I made sure that the color pencil didn't look super streaky. I used an eraser to erase wherever I had colored outside the line.
|
I used 5 shades of brown colored pencils to color the trees. I wanted all of the trees to look different because in real life the trees look different. I used a blending stick to blend the colors of the trees because i wanted them to have multiple shades in one tree stump. This was what I had carrried over from the original.
|
The final steps were to color the grass using multiple shades of green and to create the picnic area. I used a thick layer of light green over the whole ground and then darkened the area around the stumps of the tree. Then I lightened up some areas to create a coonstrast and so that the ground was not just one shade. For the picnic area I created a checkered blanket because I felt it would make the piece more modern.
|
Experimentation
For my experimentation, it came in the planning phase. I experimented by testing out the colored pencils and seeing how well they c=would blend together. If some colors didnt blend well together then I would substitute them out for ones that did. This experimentation helped me when it came to deciding which colors I would place where and which ones to not use.
|
Critique
There are many similarities and many differences between my piece and the inspirations I used. The first difference is the medium of the piece. The inspirations are both paintings, whereas mine is done in colored pencils. The subject matter is somewhat similar, as far as the seating area and the picnic area. The theme of my piece revolves around this. The background of both pieces are somewhat similar and somewhat different. I didn't want everything to look the same, so I switched some parts up. There is a repetition of the building shapes between my piece and the piece of Van Gogh, which gives it the downtown vibe. The focal point of my piece on the right is the picnic blanket. I feel like this is also the focal point of the piece by Halfdan Strøm. Then your eyes glance away to the background scenery. The differences range from the lack of personal figures and the color pallettes that were used. I used more toned down colors on the left and the bright colors on the right to create the opposite contrasts. Although I did carry over some elements from the inspirations, you can see a clear difference.
Reflection
This project was fairly easy for me. This was probably one of the easier projects for me to complete. However the planning of the project was definitely one of the hardest to come up with. I did struggle with coming up with ideas on what to do because I was confused on what to do for the project at first. Once I came up with the theme and found the inspiration for my piece, everything went well after that. I think this project did help me to expand my techniques a lot more. I became more familiar with using color pencils in a more advanced way. I found new techniques and strategies to working with the color pencils as far as color matching and blending. At first, when it came to blending, it was kind of difficult, but after a while it became easier for me.
ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
- I am able to identify the cause and effect relationship between my work and my inspiration through the visual look of the pieces. There is a clear distinction between my work and the inspirations but there is still an obvious similarity between the works. Some of the shapes that I carried over from the original make the cause and effect relationship more obvious.
- The author seems to have the topic of community and coming together for fellowship. This is seen through the people and subjects that the author has put into the work. However, I did nit include that in my personal piece.
- The generalization that I made was that people are often happier when they are in a community setting. I concluded this from how the subjects were portrayed in some of the works that involved people and a community. I am sure that this is not true for everyone but it seems to be the case for most people in society.
- The central theme or idea around my research was community and fellowship.
- I made the inference that the creators of the inspiration pieces had a very deep connection to the theme. I initially thought that Van Gogh had a personal connection to the location that he portrayed.
Citations
Richman-Abdou, Kelly. “8 Real-Life Locations of Famous Paintings You Can Visit Today.” My Modern Met, 4 Sept. 2018, mymodernmet.com/settings-of-famous-paintings/.
Strøm, Halfdan. “Halfdan Strøm, Picnic in the Forest – Nasjonalmuseet – Collection.” Nasjonalmuseet, 1 Jan. 1970, www.nasjonalmuseet.no/en/collection/object/NG.M.00727.
Strøm, Halfdan. “Halfdan Strøm, Picnic in the Forest – Nasjonalmuseet – Collection.” Nasjonalmuseet, 1 Jan. 1970, www.nasjonalmuseet.no/en/collection/object/NG.M.00727.