The Art of Despina: Final Crit. Presentation

Despina: Final Crit. Presentation

The Art of Despina: Long-Form Presentation

The Art of Despina

Despina: Final Three Concept Paintings - Progress Pt. 2

Exterior High Angle - Harbour City:

Exterior Low Angle - Fish Market:

Interior Angle - Cargo Warehouse:

Despina: Final Three Concept Paintings - Progress

Development of Exterior High Angle and Exterior Low Angle so far:

Quite immersed in polygon lasso tool almost by accident, though started to become interested in such graphic style

Collecting colours from colour reference as well as collections of JPEG images of textures - e.g. sand, steel, boardwalk, etc.:

Exterior High Angle - Harbour City:

Exterior Low Angle - Fish Market/Business Centre:

Photoshop - Perspective Exercises

One, Two & Three-Point Perspectives:
Understanding how to draw on Wacom tablet with Photoshop by creating perspective exercises - holding down Shift to draw horizontally and vertically, whilst clicking between two points, as holding shift, to draw straight lines in all directions possible:
Wanting to challenge myself with more complex shapes within these three perspective forms:

Despina: Colour Comps

Reusing components by tracing from Exterior Influence Map as well as those from previous thumbnail studies - able to capture shape and movements such as Favela composition, flapping sails, cruise line and pipe. Lassoing traced shape on top to fill in solid texture to be duplicated onto any empty canvas:

In preparation for colour comps, figuring out the most major colours needed for the three studies so produced colour references by eye-dropping inside kept picture collections - Phil's suggestions and both Influence Maps. Discovering idea of four major colours being off-shades of red, yellow and blue, with greyscale as often as possible - quite difficult to reduce to just two colours to create believable dusty factory-harbour environment:

Also getting colour inspiration from marine flags [not directly adding flags but converting into off-shades of common colours in those flags] and print screen of Google Image Search results - "Seaport" - understanding two dominant colours being, to an extent, blue and grey:

 

  

Exterior High Angle:

Using eye-drop tool to create convincing steel/wooden texture environment - e.g., yellow for cranes and wooden crates, maroon red for chimes and cranes, beige for entering from desert to harbour environment [crucial component without having to feature camel and passenger]:

When exploring blending tools in PS, eventually became only half-appropriate for environment I want to make, many options leading to translucence, off-colour, high brightness, etc., but was able to experiment such in top-left corner - already had made convincing choice for colours to create depth effect for concept art.

Explored other options available at bottom-right corner - gradient map really helped me create quick ground fog effect, plus using saturation and brightness to make environment not too colourful to remind myself of believable factory environment:

 

 

Composition and one-point perspective guidelines - rule of thirds and vanishing point roughly being short building at further centre:

 

 

Exterior Low Angle - ideal busy and exciting fish-market epicentre, therefore choosing bright primary colours as if fish buildings could have been converted from empty colourful steel containers. Colouring ideal boardwalk ground, plus removing distracting marine flags as buildings themselves can adapt these colours. Also toning down saturation and brightness, as well as gradient layer for fog effect, for believable realistic fish-market environment:

 

Composition and one-point perspective guidelines - vanishing point being fish stall at furthest centre, with layering factory buildings and cranes piling up behind short building:

 

Interior Angle - slightly changing atmosphere of inside cargo warehouse - experimenting with concentrating richest colours in one particular area whilst darker and muddier colours both behind and in foreground. Experimenting with toning down brightness and saturation here and creating perhaps convincing warehouse environment when nobody is working there, as if intruders can sneak in and explore such dark place [including entrance pipe and pathway designed for container drivers and inspectors], whilst improving brightness of porthole window at far-right to suggest daytime:

 

 

Composition guidelines - concentrating richest colours in centre of composition, perhaps to suggest what can be lively and what in real life isn't so lively, as well as curving lines to suggest each layer of cargo piling in front of each other, although need to figure out as soon as possible appropriate vanishing point for convincing one-point perspective:

 

Despina: Refined Three Angles

Improving composition and detail with three key angles of Despina - exploring layering and focus on rule of thirds:

 

Exterior High Angle Shot - entrance to harbour city:
Camel and passenger about to walk down high-rise zig-zag ramp leading to town hall and business centre/fish market of Despina, or choose to walk through pipe which then curls down right angle

Collection of hybrid funnel buildings and chimneys at right half, plus crane-like machines at furthest distance:

Exterior Low Angle Shot - business/fish market centre [based upon Brazil favela composition]:

Mix of office buildings, fish stores and restaurants, with factory chimneys, high-rise boardwalks, conveyor belts and crane-like machines in further distance. Propped on buildings are varying colourful marine flags, could perhaps showcase lighter side of dusty, smoky and slightly depressing factory-harbour city:

Interior High Angle Shot - mix between cargo warehouse, cargo town [e.g. NDSM] and fish market [based upon Leeds City Market composition]:

Boardwalk pathway leads from pipe entrance to cargo boxes and buildings, with control room and lifts in furthest distance, alongside porthole ceiling window, gradually being blocked up with coral-shaped bottles and boxes. Balcony for first floor at far-left, whilst crane operates boxes in middle of packed environment:

Despina: Three Key Angles

Reading OGR feedback from Phil Gomm and understanding main ideas from his comments: Despina is not necessarily light-hearted, colourful and family-friendly as I mistakenly quickly assumed, but really it's about capturing smoky, industrial and mucky seaport environment and ideally exaggerate its proportions - sense of modernity and massiveness, rather than village-like seaside resort town. Examples such as Art Deco, Bauhaus, Fernand Leger, Port of Shanghai, cruise line ships, London Docklands - remember: not working for yourself, but for the client mentioned in the project brief:

Images and artworks based upon Phil's comments - "ship-ness" and industrial power:

 

 

Examples of ship architecture in buildings - focus on exterior shells and not just surrounding pathways and alleyways:

 

 

Sydney Opera House [1973], Sydney - Jorn Utzon [1918-2008, Denmark]

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao [1997], Spain - Frank Gehry [b.1929, Canada]

Becoming really eager to set in stone the three key angles I want to advance into even more thumbnails - Exterior Establishing Shot, Exterior Low Angle Shot, and Interior Establishing Shot - note on interior, not simply small tavern room, but perhaps experiment with floors, levels and staircases.

Making use of B/W thumbnails showing developing skills of layering and shading. Wanted to lasso most important shapes I had created and recreate into ideal key three concept painting plans. Hoping to get feedback from others to make sure I am heading in appropriate direction, and that those plans properly reflect Calvino's Despina text:

Wanting to quickly visualise three key angles on sketchbook paper first - huge focus on energetic strokes to create  exciting exterior ship-like shells:

Left - Exterior Establishing Shot - passenger and camel at edge of boardwalk/pavement ramping downwards into centre of factory-ship town

Right - Passenger & Camel Shot [with focus on crane/cargo-like shapes, Low-Angle Brazil Favela shot [closer look at centre of town - e.g. town hall façade], and Interior Cargo Warehouse/Factory shot [large indoor area in able to play with space and composition:

 

Lassoing most interesting shapes and components made from previous B/W thumbnail exercises -e.g. funnels, crooked triangles, pipes, pathways and coral-like shapes - collecting altogether into one PS file - to use for all three key thumbnails:

 

 

Looking back to influence maps created and really influenced by not just the snapshot of the Brazilian city favela [multicolour wall paints, dangling wires and surrounding neighbourhood features], but exciting dynamic worm's eye view, experiencing collection of jolting cubes as if they are about to fall on you.

Decided to choose this snapshot to build basis for Low-Angle Shot for Despina - lassoing key components of cul-de-sac, then digital painting on top to create building blocks for thumbnail - fascinated with cramped factory town atmosphere, creating many alleyways:

 

Left - Exterior Establishing Shot - entrance to town:

Right - Exterior Low Angle Shot - town centre:

Massive improvement on cutting, layering and brushing, eventually will develop on perspective and more detailed components - not necessarily flat tapestry with only some sense of depth

 

For Interior Shot, looked up to recent architectural place I experienced when visiting Leeds earlier this year - Leeds City Market. This place can ultimately prove that interior design need not be single low-ceiling room with furniture and other components, but clash between exterior and interior design. Exploring multiple floors held up by metal pipes and glass window ceilings, seeing buildings inside buildings, multiple archways and pathways - seriously great inspiration for building up Interior Shot:

 

 

Interior Shot thumbnail - square tool, collection of cargo boxes inside one of warehouse buildings seen in Exterior Shot with two holes for conveyor belt to travel through in and out again:

 

Interior Shot thumbnail - square tool, cargo boxes build up so much they eventually create cargo city (e.g. NDSM, Amsterdam), slowly progressing to idea of crossover between fish-market and cargo warehouse - large window porthole seen in far distance, alongside indoor cranes - mist and fog slightly builds up on ground:

  

 

Established interior angle - crossover of fish-market, cargo warehouse and building-up cargo city - conveyor belts sliding through boxes, some boxes develop into shops as part of fish-market, coral-like shapes build up in far distance, vertical lifts and stairwells at far-distance, man on cargo vehicle in foreground, conveyor belt connects to funnel-shaped pipe, large glass window porthole in far distance (either on wall or on ceiling):

Photoshop: B/W Composition Exercises - Thumbnails 47-48

Despina [Harbour City] - though main focus is composition exploration (following pathways, rule of thirds, symmetry, perspective, etc.), really wanted to improve on PS lassoing, shading and layering skills just as much - made great improvement on this, though perhaps need to move on from simple 2D platform multi-plane view and see perspective opportunities:
Playing with platforms on multiple levels, plus effects for white clouds and smoke. Exciting outcome reminding me of B/W textures and shades from The Numberlys [picture book/short], though reminding myself of harbour city theme!

 

 

Photoshop: B/W Composition Exercises - Thumbnails 45-46

Drawing components suggesting chosen city of Despina [Harbour City] - windsock, ship funnels, pipes, stilts, waves and flags among other associated harbour objects in mind. Drawing objects separately to copy, duplicate and transform to explore composition possibilities:

Help from tutor in using features such as Lasso Tool, and large shade brushstrokes to create more believable three-dimensional objects, instead of putting dominance on lines in order to create objects [less painting and drawing, more shading and constructing]:

Thumbnails 45-46 - originally lassoing and duplicating to explore perspective and depth, then help/ideas from tutor to duplicate, transform and resize same featured building, plus shading, soft brushstrokes at different layers, and polygon lasso tool for pathway, all to help create more convincing 3D concept art [e.g. Pixar-level]:

Photoshop Class: Abstract Response/Gestalt - Esmeralda

Picking most striking and energetic thumbnails from all of four PS files, and experimenting with layering techniques - playing with dissolve, hue, saturation, luminosity, darkness, etc. Stretching squares horizontally, vertically and in more complex ways manually [distorting dimensions and seeing perspective opportunities], before using Magic Wand tool to carve out any shapes spilling out of each of four squares:
Really enjoyed creating overall distorting yet exciting and energetic environment through stretching and playing with colour; capturing spirit of Esmeralda's streaming water canals and probable surrounding sunny beach/exotic environment. Need to use such technique more often in thumbnail exercises [up to first 100 for OGR!]

Photoshop Class: Abstract Response/Gestalt - Esmeralda

Discovering another way in developing energetic and striking concept art, through idea of simplification - Gestalt: "The whole (picture/car) carries different and altogether greater meaning than its individual components (paint/canvas/brush, or tire/paint/metal)." After discovering concept art examples from architects today [Atelier Olschinsky, Zaha Hadid, Mary Blair, etc.], recently realised that I have been probably focusing slightly too much on interiors and components making up architecture in my Calvino-Invisible Cities sketchbook and digital thumbnails, and not enough on striking building shape itself - e.g. seashells, expo pavilions, staircases and pathways, etc. [need to balance between the two properly].

Abstract 1

Adapting from phrase-writing exercise, using Photoshop and various brushes to draw quick and energetic colour-shape formations reflecting the kind of themes I want to further enhance in later sketches. Making sure to colour-fill in negative space, and not to draw obvious narrative scenes - instead, capturing movement of blue waves, slides and chutes, and surrounding bricked and cobblestone walls [influence from simplified Mary Blair], gathering together suggested theme of Esmeralda. Later realising great power of pictogram-style creations within tight squares - e.g. Otl Aicher [Munich 1972].

 Abstract 2, 3 & 4

Ongoing capturing spirit [keyword] of splashing waves, sliding chutes with lampposts, sun rays, flower petals and plants, and surrounding beach-like environments [blue squiggles, zig-zag sun rays, curling circles, etc.]. Really enjoying bright, multi-colour approach [leading influence from Hundertwasser], drawing out quickly and energetically, so that I am able to further progress chosen colours and shapes. Therefore, probably just as influential drawing thumbnail exercises as plainly visualising buildings and surrounding scenery - remember: you're mainly shading colours, not drawing lines first.
New PS tools introduced in Abstract 4 - lasso tool and polygon lasso tool, creating effective contrasts in sharpness and solidity. At one point, accidentally drawing too confusing polygon lasso [Abstract 4, bottom-left], yet leading to quite successful perspective of ideal boat/log flume crashing into sea [adding lighter blue splashes and colourful plants in foreground]. Other squares created in Abstract 4 already reminds me of ideas - e.g. postmodern graphic design, design for sporting outfits and gyms, Javier Mariscal, tribal patterns, etc.

Photoshop Class: Word Stacks (Ideation) - Esmeralda

Writing exercise - Small sketchbook:

Suggested exercise from artist-illustrator Sterling-Hundley, in order never to come up with most obvious and common concepts from analysing texts, concepts, etc. - similar exercise to continuing writing without letting go on paper, letting all your ideas no matter how relevant straight onto surface (be honest and display them!):
Re-analysing Esmeralda text from Calvino's Invisible Cities and picking key phrases in order to start throwing down phrases to conjure up new ideas to develop into future thumbnail sketches, often adding reminders of previous encounters [artworks, films, architecture, etc.]. Even going so far into throwing down my past dreams [REM] - e.g. new modern steel railway station with 13 platforms in middle of wheat field in Kazakhstan. Most importantly, trying to be as exaggerated as possible, and not necessarily having to link to real-life examples in the past.

Photoshop Class: Master Study Warm-Up

 

Old Masters:

• Joseph Wright - 1734-97, UK
• Frederic Edwin Church -1826-1900, USA
• William Stanley Haseltine - 1835-1900, USA

Studying paintings and other wall artworks from Old Masters [pre-1800/Europe], analysing colour, shape, contrast, tone and composition carefully. Recommended by tutor as most efficient way to warm up digital painting each time before starting:

Layering negative space first [e.g. sky], before adding background, then foreground. Continuing to use eye drop tool to mimic colours from original paintings, whilst continuing to be aware of pressure of brush and composition. 'Seeing forest for trees' by often zooming out to see where my outcome is going [simple shaded blobs, before finer detail], recognizing always more complex colours in materials and objects than simple assumption - e.g. purple rocks, brown sea and teal cliff. Also often confirming proper tonal range match by layering in black-and-white, looking at correct contrast, etc.

Noticed in particular that I accidently continued to brushstroke in particular zig-zag direction for second-to-bottom painting [Iceberg], therefore blurry composition up close, but colour locations start to bind together once seen from far distance. Really enjoyed exercise that I should try such exercises with searched paintings from museum and gallery websites - National Gallery, Tate Britain, etc.