Concept Art - Digital painting

After watching speedpaints of concept landscapes on youtube, I wanted to try it myself (although my skills in Photoshop are quite limited) so I looked for an artist who makes more simple paintings. I found Badr Douah, a Moroccan artist who paints with bright colours and likes to experiment with shapes. [1] [2]

Taking inspiration from him, I chose a painting I had made previously and used it as a starting point for a digital painting.

I liked the primary colours I used in this piece and the unnatural landscape but wanted to give it more depth (as I had seen in the speedpaints [3] which depict a scene in a very 3-D way, suitable for a film or game). Elements I wanted to keep were the colours, the rider (a human figure is often used to show scale), and the shape of the rocks.

(screenshot of work) I altered the colours of the rocks as they went into the distance to give depth and used a more interesting angle which shows the shadows of the rocks and rider clearly.

(finished image) I am pleased with my image and found it useful for learning techniques used in digital painting, it is a vast improvement in my attempts from last year. The colours are much richer when working digitally compared to the original watercolour and pencil drawing, it makes it much easier to show depth and shadows.

References

[1] Douah 2015

[2] Douah 2012

[3] Molnar 2012

Bibliography

badr douah blog: ios android game art . 2016. badr douah blog: ios android game art . [ONLINE] Available at: http://douahbadr.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/ios-android-game-art.html. [Accessed 27 November 2016].

DeviantArt. 2016. landscape concept by cstlmode on DeviantArt. [ONLINE] Available at: http://cstlmode.deviantart.com/art/landscape-concept-311461950. [Accessed 27 November 2016].

YouTube. 2016. Desert Base - Concept Art Speedpainting - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzmFFzXneK0. [Accessed 27 November 2016].

Editorial - Illustrating for an article

Aude van Ryn [1] creates images which are a mix of collage and painting and often display an abstract environment which incorporates realistic elements too. She uses texture in an understated way which is effective. I particularly like her use of flowing lines and variety of characters. 

We learned about common symbols used in editorial illustration such as handshakes, ladders, puppetry and office buildings, which are all present in van Ryn's work and are often the prominent feature.

Task: Using the given article, create a simple illustration to accompany it.

This was the article I chose (of the three): 'I Lost my Voice for Three and a half Years' [2] and from looking at the common symbol of replacing the figure's head with an object. I chose a tv because we associate it with a constant noise, and then I added the 'mute' symbol to show that this ability has been removed. Also the pose (sat and hunched over) shows a sadness that he cannot communicate with others, which was talked about in the article.

References

[1] van Ryn 

[2] Neff 2015

Bibliography

Heart Artist’s Agents - Artists - Aude Van Ryn - Galleries - Aude Van Ryn 1 . 2016. Heart Artist’s Agents - Artists - Aude Van Ryn - Galleries - Aude Van Ryn 1 . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.heartagency.com/artist/AudeVanRyn/gallery/1/image/3538. [Accessed 6 November 2016].

The Guardian. 2016. Experience: I lost my voice for three and a half years | Life and style | The Guardian. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/nov/27/experience-i-lost-my-voice-for-three-and-a-half-years. [Accessed 6 November 2016].