The Use of Composition

Idling on P3

By Jennifer McChristian

This photo shows a clear use of the Rule of thirds by having the car one third into the picture as well as the roof and tires of the car being one third into the picture it makes that vehicle a clear focal point and draws our eyes straight to it.

Icy Forest Encounter

By John Brian Casacop

This image uses the 'L' to create a frame within a frame. The tree on the right acts as the start of the frame and then it continues under the characters on the left, making them the key focal point of the image

The Use of Light

Jane Eyre

Ross Dearsely:

This digital painting uses light in a very interesting way by having two different light sources it segments the room into two half's, one side illuminated by the orange hue of the fire and the other half illuminated by the blue hue of the moon and night sky creating quite a radiant contrast.

The Dentist

Gerard Van Honthorst:

This traditional painting shows how light reacts in a very realistic and realised way with subsurface scattering on the man with the candle fingers and also on the cheek of the man who is getting his tooth pulled out. there is also bounce light which allows some of the background to be light up such as in the top right corner.

Army General Drawing

This is my first full drawing using only Photoshop, I have normally used traditional methods and then scanned them in for refinement, but this drawing is entirely done on Photoshop:

Concept Visualisation

Our task is to transpose Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Tinderbox' and adapt one of the characters into a specific time and place which we were randomly given. the time period i was given was; Edo Period Japan.

This is a painting from that time period which gives an idea of clothing and hairstyles in that period

The Tinderbox - A Short Synopsis:

A Solider is walking home from war and encounters a Witch who tells him if he goes down this tree he will become very rich from chests filled with copper, silver and gold which are guarded by 3 different dogs. All the Solider has to do is bring back a tinderbox for the Witch. The Solider questions what the tinderbox does but the Witch doesn't tell him, so he cuts off her head. He then goes on to live life in luxury until he runs out of gold and is forced to live in a dark attic where he strikes the tinderbox for light and discovers it summons the dogs and orders them to bring money and he is able to live in luxury again. he recalls the story of the princess in the tower and desires to see her, so he orders one of the dogs to acquire her, the Solider is then caught doing this and is sentenced to death, just before his execution he asks a boy to fetch the tinderbox and asks to have one last smoke where he strikes the tinderbox and 3 monstrous dogs appear and kill the King, Queen, Executioner and Judge. The Princess and Solider are reunited and live happily ever after.

The End.

The Character i am going to adapt is the Solider as i feel he fits the look of a lone Ronin or Samurai

Edo Period Japan (1603 - 1867):

These are some classical paintings of what Samurai's and Ronin warriors might have looked like in the Edo period.

This is a standard Katana sword, which is one of the main weaponry used with Ronins, with its iconic curved blade and square or circular handle, it is also renowned for its sharpness and strength. The sheath for Katana's are quite simplistic and practical but somehow quite stylish.

This is a Naginata which is one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese made swords. In the form of a pole weapon, Naginata was used by the Samurai class of feudal Japan, the spear itself is quite simplistic but the sheath is very intricate and has some elegant patterns and designs on them. The blades of these weapons also vary some quite a standard shape whereas some look far more fearsome.

This is a Nagamaki which is a type of traditionally made Japanese sword, with its extra long handle primarily used by the Samurai class. The weapon was designed for large sweeping and slicing strokes.

My Character - The Ronin Warrior:

Seeing as Ronin's are Samurai's with no master, I wanted my character to be a lone wolf, who works best alone, very battle hardened and has seen a lot of war. I want his personality to be reminiscence of "The Man With No Name" from the Dollars Trilogy starring Clint Eastwood. Which is similar to that of the Solider from "The Tinderbox" as you never find out what his name really is.

"The man with no name" or "Blondie" is actually based off a Japanese movie called Yojimbo which is about a Ronin warrior set in the Edo Period.

I want my character to have a similar personality and demeanor as these two characters. As they just emit this aura which encapsulates you as well as being quite empowering, yet they're silentness adds mystery to they're character.

The Silhouettes:

We were given the task to draw a minimum of 50 silhouettes as this would enable us to come up with varied and original poses also helps us not go in designing our character generically

Here are my first 16 silhouettes of my character:

These are my next 15 silhouettes of my character:

15 more done only 4 left.

The Final Four:

Value Studies:

These are my first 3 attempts at adding value to a selection of my silhouettes:

Second set of value studies:

Colour Variations :

Red and Cream

Green and Grey

Brown and Beige:

Brown and Blood Red:

After some feedback and advice from my tutors, I have redone the Brown and Beige colour variant to make it look more in proportion and look better all round:

Character's Weapons:

Variants of the Katana sword my character will use:

2nd Variant:

Character Sheets:

First Character Sheet:

Second Character Sheet:

I decided to choose the 4th character design on the 2nd sheet as i felt the design was quite bold and unique and also suited the time period.

Character Expressions:

Model Sheet:

Final Piece:

Research into the Environment and Architecture:

Quick Thumbnails:
These are all quick 5 minute sketches to get an understanding of layout
and what the area could look like

Thumbnail One:

Thumbnail Two:

Thumbnail Three:

Thumbnail Four:

Values of Thumbnails:

 

Colour Thumbnails:
Here I just added basic colours to get an idea of what colours I would use in the final piece

Final Landscape Pieces: