Digital Art; Master Studies.

Lesson 4, Term 2 of Concept art. 

Taking a break from our main project of adapting the opera 'Bluebeard's Castle,' we began concentrating on master studies; analysing the work of master artists. In this case, John Singer Sargent, William Merritt and Rembrandt. 

Through different pieces, we were challenged in a variety of ways to explore colour and composition, either through taking away usage of the colour picker tool or solely focusing on working in black and white. 

The piece pictured here is a self portrait by William Merritt, (top left) that I chose to study for both the colour and the consistency of the brushstrokes; a sketchy/ impressionistic style I really liked. 

The techniques I learnt in this lesson that helped me to attain a good interpretation where:

1) Flipping the image vertically. This took focus away from what the piece was supposed to look like, (a portrait) and made me look at form and placement instead. This was very effective for me, as I no longer viewed it as a face but as shapes to concentrate on. When re-flipped, I could then adjust and neaten, then flip back to the upside down position and carry on. 

2) Black and white filter. This took concentration away from tone and meant I was able to focus on shading, whether something needed to be lighter or darker, and again drew more attention to shape and composition than drawing in colour would have done. 

The finished piece; I'm really pleased with how the tones came out seeing as I didn't use the colour picker for this piece. The only thing I would change is the angle of the head, and maybe thinning the face out a bit too. Overall, I'm happy with this outcome as it's also one of the first portrait pieces I've copied rather than drawn over/ traced a base shape from, so in practise of composition I feel this exercise was very valuable.

Digital Art; Drawing from Photos

As a change from drawing still life objects, we were challenged in class to draw a still form a film or movie. I chose an image from one of my favourite TV shows, 'Hannibal' as I liked the shapes seen here, and wanted to concentrate on form and composition. Because of this I think choosing a scenery to draw instead of a face worked better for what I wanted to practise.  

 I began my sketch by planning out the basic shapes, and using the colour picker to select key tones. At the beginning, I wanted to include the specific shapes of the horns and further in I realised how many beams there are! However, as I drew more of the picture I realised how difficult and time consuming adding all these little details in would be, especially for a simple sketch.

 Finished drawing: I found out that by concentrating on the shapes instead of counting the details, I was able to create a much more effective sketch a lot quicker. Even though the antlers aren't obviously antlers, it's the form; sharp, spiky, spread out fingers across the image. This created a much more stylised piece, but still conveyed the space and dark mood of the room.

As my first scenery styled drawing, I'm happy with the outcome, and I learnt a new way of drawing to create the scope of space.

Visual Narrative; Makeup Edits.

1920'S Doll: I was inspired by the 20's flapper's when I designed this makeup look. I wanted the small, cupid's bow lips and emphasis on wide, innocent looking eyes. When we were deciding on the wig, we wanted something choppy and youthful, so chose this red bob. This created a cross between flapper/ doll/ clown which I really liked, and thought was appropriate for the gothic toy shop theme myself and our group are currently focussing on.
I edited in the puppet strings and also made the eyes bigger, and the corners of the mouth smaller. 

Ventriloquist Doll: This is one of my favourite edits, as I love how the face looks like it's emerging from a wall of the characters own hair. Again, I wanted a doll-like expression, so focussed on making the eyes bigger, mouth smaller, and creating an overall wistful and innocent expression. Androgyny was also a large aspect of this look, as I used a male model to base a very feminine character on. By playing with gender/ swapping gender roles, there is room for a more open interpretation within the characterisations. 

Female Bluebeard: Overall a powerful and dark look. I really wanted to create an evil and twisted character, so edited in sharp, edgy facial features like the cheekbones and concentrated on making the mouth larger and pointier. I think the mouth is a very central feature within the 'baddies' of films, as they are often large or sharp. I think a big grin in the villains of stories can portray hunger, greed, or a misleading seductive expression. I wanted to add the tentacles as they matched the aesthetic of the character really well, and also metaphorically represented the long, slippery, manipulative arms of the character.

Forest Faun: A beautiful but dangerous look is what I wanted to create with this makeup design, as previously I wanted to emphasise the innocence, rather than perhaps the inner strength of a character. The makeup and colour palette convey a natural, earthy vibe but the dark eyes and strong body language present a more dominant and compelling character. 

Forest Faun 2: For the same previously presiding character, I wanted to see if I could create a opposite more submissive feel using the same makeup and model. This was achieved through lighting and using the liquify tool on the face to create a more forlorn and dejected mood. The silhouettes of hands where also edited in, as this would add to the controlling vibe being held over the figure. 

Visual Narrative; Character Interpretation Make Up.

For the visual interpretation part of this terms uni project, we are studying Bartok's opera, 'Bluebeard's Castle.' To look into the personalities behind both main and side characters, my group and I decided to turn our interpretations into real life characterisations through makeup. Each different makeup style was either based on an alteration of the original character, e.g. gender swap, or  fashioned around one of the themes we're contemplating to base our future collaborative set piece on; in this case, the themes I concentrated on where 1920's Toy Shop and Fantasy Woodland.

This image shows me glueing eyebrows down so I can powder over them, then re-draw new ones in. For this character, I wanted to create a doll like appearance so a wistful and exaggerated eye is want I wanted to achieve. This was based around one of the dead wives that appear in the opera, and I wanted to style it in the theme of the Toy Shop. By using a male to create a feminine character, I also played with aspects of androgyny. 

This character was also another female from the play, that I based around the Fantasy Woodland theme. I wanted to recreate a fantasy creature, therefore introducing ideas of rare and beautiful animals. Bluebeard could be collecting and mounting these imaginary beasts for their value and aesthetic. I mostly used eyeshadow and face paint for both the contouring and the coloration's. 

For my own makeup I wanted to experiment with what a female version of Bluebeard's character. I feel that she would be very intelligent and have a slightly intimidating aesthetic. As a modern version, she could be a high ranking business woman, seductive and smart. However, I feel that if she didn't get her own way through flattery or mind games, she could turn nasty and emotionally manipulative, or even abusive. To create this look I used dark colours, reminiscent of the namesake 'Bluebeard'. I also used sharp pointed shapes for the cheekbones and eye area to create 'evil' looking facial features. 

Digital Art; Life Drawing, Pears.

In order to get a better understanding of digital art, we had a class on life drawing. This helped with both getting to grips with different elements of Photoshop, and also allowed me to look into techniques of shadows and highlights. Above is the original image I started from.

 By switching into a black and white filter, I was able to pick out shadows and different tones through the image a lot more accurately than when it was colour.

Finished drawing: As a first piece of life drawing I'm pleased with how it came out. I think the shapes and colouring where the aspects that turned out best, but I should have looked deeper into the composition of the original photo, as the pears don't quite line up in the same way. Overall though, I'm happy with the drawing, and  I can see where I need to improve in the future.

Props; Titanic Sign.

Process from beginning to end of a 'Titanic Sign' made at university; Part of our props term that focusses on a different project each week.



- Designed to suit one of the Titanic's life boats.




- Made to look like rusting bronze and iron. 




- Originally made in MDF, then cast in rubber silicone.




- Final prop made of fast cast resin, then painted. 





 - Painting techniques used where dry brushing, sponging, and using wire wool to wear through different layers of colour.



- The images show, (in order:) 1. Body filler being applied to the MDF base to fill in the gaps between lettering and back board. 
2. Resin cast after just being removed from silicone mould.
3. Bronze spray paint and black emulsion paint dried and weathered.
4. Final painted piece. 



- Overall I'm really happy with this sample. I wanted to make a piece that looked as it if was made of metal that had been naturally weathered by salt water, and I feel I achieved this.