Bringing Art to Life (4)

Now, before you get worried about this week, don't worry; I had my fair share of qualms too. It's been a month, and I think it's time to get cooking with gas.  This week is going to be an overwhelming mix of knowledge and painting, and let me start by saying, there are going to be bonus blog posts.  Let's discuss the title that I have, Bringing Art to Life.  No, this isn't some resurrection scheme I have, it is simply transferring life to paper.  And when I mean life, I mean moving, interactive life.  Not trees, but moving life, like animals... and people. That's right!  To go all out this week, and push myself to the limits, I have a self-portrait!!!  I was thinking about painting an animal, say, the cat, or a random bird, but a human, that is a test of skill.  Now, before you worry, I did a SELF-portrait, simply because if it looks bad, I'm not suing myself.    But without further ado, let's move on.  

Hello World!

There are several ways a painting such as a self-portrait can be observed, one obviously being an artistic focus.  As you all know, light can be different colors, and be bright or dim, affecting the way objects look, including source photographs.  This week, there is only going to be ONE light source, and all light is to be blocked, making mixing and .gifs less of an eye-strain.   Another focus is the more logical anatomical focus, which observes how the subject should be shaped.  Proportions and lighting both lead to areas where art and physics interact, and these will be pointed out along the way, for those who happen to be more intellectual and analytical.  

So, this time, we are definitely using a grid, no excuses.  If everything is proportional to the larger canvas, many anatomical requirements will be skipped, meaning less studying, and more painting.  Let's begin!

Day -1 (3/14)

Preparing the Canvas

As I said earlier, getting proportions down correctly will be essential for bypassing most of the physics and anatomy needed to paint a city scene self portrait.  What I learned from past experience was that I suck with tracing rulers, so I decided to trace over the source photo with graph paper, placing each shape, object, or speck into position.  

Graphing's odd purposes

Day 1 (3/15)
Beginning the Background
  

Now, using the magic of paint dryer, I can effectively paint the pitch black sky, and wait for it to dry the next day, preventing the annoying plague of horizon blending.  So let's talk about a few different subjects as the background dries, and maybe even work on a few other areas of the painting. 

So this blog post, we are going to talk about the nature of shapes and how our brains perceive them this week.  On paintings or even photographs, 3-D objects can start to look 2-D, and more flat and rectangular than thick and far.  This relates to how our eyes see things, bringing in science and psychology information into something as simple as a brushstroke.  The retina of an eye senses light, and therefore processes things as 2-D, as it doesn't know that the lighter hues of the paint might be different sides of the prism.  Luckily, when looking at tangible objects that are right in front of you, the brain's visual processing assumes the dimensions as 3-D, because it's right there.  One of the main theories behind this is that the surroundings around such objects can be combined as a whole scene, forming a greater whole, making it easy to pick out objects.  However, on a flat canvas or paper, adding depth might become considerably difficult.  This retinal recognition is called form perception.  So using this information, what can it do in painting tall buildings?  Well knowing that a constant, smooth surrounding helps pick out 3-D objects, contrast and bright surroundings can help bolden the prismatic buildings behind me.  

More blog posts are sure to come, and as I find it easier to make 50-frame gifs rather than 300-frame gifs, blog posts will become shorter, but will be more frequent.  Expect a bonus blogpost around Thursday, another around Sunday, and maybe another more after that. Anyway, goodnight (even though no one's reading this right now) !

Paintings Have Feelings Too (Part 2)

As you all know, last week I didn't finish my painting, and I left off on sort of an incomplete post.  But now, I have finished my painting, along with the process:

Whenever a painting is finished, critique it and ask questions.  Evaluation is one of the things that can help you a lot, especially as reflection will reveal the painting's purpose and nature.   There are four components that can be used when critiquing art, description, analysis, interpretation, and judgment.  Today, there are only three we will use, as description is mostly just tangible, objective information.  

Analysis: How is the work organized?

The work is rather blended and soft, with the jungle's canopy painted in overlapping strokes, and the sky's oranges to purples each dominating the sky.  Proportions seem about right, and the texture seems to be getting better.  The soft, but crowded, dense leaves are condensed into darkening pits, the sky blended and smooth compared to the earth.  Depth could be expressed better with the pyramid, and the pits of the forest that the branches make.  

Interpretation: What's going on?  What is it trying to show?

It's a hot day, and its almost over, and you're just touring.  It was a fun, relaxing day, and now it is time that it goes away, and the sun is setting down.  Looking at it holds you in awe, a nice touch on a fine day. The world's coming together at a small point for just minutes, releasing beautiful colors that would put a rainbow to shame, as oranges, purples and blues fill the air.  The painting has a calming effect, while being exciting and breathtaking at the same time.  The painting is to captivate the observer with its various colors, tones, and textures, and with its diverse range of painting techniques, pulls it off somewhat successfully.

Judgment: What do I think of the work?

As the creator of the work, I'm allowed to be as critical as I want to myself, at least in public. So it is time to deduce what the stylestyle of the painting is.  In art if there's a small error it's obvious that it was a mistake, but if you made a bigger, more provocative error, then benefit of the doubt will guess that it was on purpose.  So what can we judge the work on?  Imitationalism, which is basically how well it imitates the source photo.  The painting is more vibrant then it was in the photo, but frankly I find that less of a complaint, as the vibrancy gives more dramatic elements to the painting.  The jungle could be better constructed for photo realism however, but for what it is, it's okay.  You can also check a work on how well it embodies the principles of art, called formalism.  Ask, does it indoes it embody the principle elements of how art is made?  The perception of depth is okay, given that buildings are not exactly the easiest things to paint, but colors and light seem pretty spot on.  Finally, there's emotionalism.  When doing emotionalism, you can  lash out and make attacks that reflect your feelings, saying how much you have a deep hatred for pyramids, and therefore you hate the painting, or how you love beautiful sunsets, and how it produces a calming effect to the painting.  Positive or negative, when visiting an art gallery, this is definelty the most used way of criticism,  given that not everyone has art majors.  Use a mix of all three judgment systems, as one outlook and lens on the painting is very limiting to evaluation.  

After that long red's house to get art, you can try to leave criticism using these for purposes, asking for questions I've left next to the to the section.  Is a very general I'd criticism description, but asking these four questions to reveal a lot about how the work of art is viewed.  Need some criticism at the comments below using these four tips, if not that's okay, as long as you have a pair of eyes and brain, anyone can give criticism using these tips, and anyone with a pair of eyes and brain can provide valuable insight for the future, to improve hone , or master skills.  Sorry this bonus blog post took so late!