Chaotic

[Balaji]

It is nearly two months since I touched a paintbrush. This, unfortunately, has been a constant theme ever since I took up art as a serious hobby in 2002.

This is a watercolour sketch on A4 size 270 gsm Chitrapat watercolour paper (matt). I used the picture on the cover of a book that I'm reading as my reference.

I noticed a conflict in what seems to be the source of light and some of the cast shadows, but I decided to follow the reference picture with regard to the general lighting and shadows. I did make some changes to the background and several of the details.

I did this without doing any pencil lines ( directly with brush and paint), working from dark to light to preserve the paper as my white. In the process I got some proportions wrong, but I kept pressing on without trying to correct them.

 

[Jo Castillo]

This is gorgeous. I don't see any problems that affect the overall scene. Love it.

 

[Terri]

I love this scene. Yes, the light in this is back-lit, so the shadows come towards the foreground and call for the bit of halo around subjects that are almost silhouettes. It's challenging in photography, too. You did a great job!

 

[Rich53]

I see what you mean about the shadows. The other shadows are mid-day shadows (underneath the object) but the central character's shadow is mid-morning, stretching away from him.
Covering the shadow with my finger makes the central character less emphasized, and in my opinion, making the other shadows match the main one would make the scene more chaotic.
Still, I wonder why the art director agreed to this. Does it have anything to do with the content of the book?

 

[Balaji]

Jo, Terri, and Rich...Thank you.

 

[Balaji]

I see what you mean about the shadows. The other shadows are mid-day shadows (underneath the object) but the central character's shadow is mid-morning, stretching away from him.
Covering the shadow with my finger makes the central character less emphasized, and in my opinion, making the other shadows match the main one would make the scene more chaotic.
Still, I wonder why the art director agreed to this. Does it have anything to do with the content of the book?

Rich...The book is "Side Effects" by Michael Palmer. It is a medical thriller. I too feel that the shadow cast by the main character is important to the composition and effect of the scene. Perhaps it was photoshopped into the picture which had mid-day shadows. It could also be that the shadows are cast by high-mast lighting which could result in the shadows as in the picture, without any manipulation.

 

[snoball]

We are always our own worst critics. I like this quite a lot.

 

[Balaji]

Thank you Margaret.

 

[gbritnell]

I like the composition but I have to ask, was it your intention to create the cars and people out proportion?

 

[Balaji]

I like the composition but I have to ask, was it your intention to create the cars and people out proportion?

No, it wasn't. I was concentrating on preserving my whites in appropriate locations without the help of pencil marks, and in that process I got the scale of the cars wrong.

 

[joe1It]

Is Formidable

 

[john]

Wowsers! Love it.

 

[Balaji]

Joe, John... Thank you.

 

[Artyczar]

I really love this one! Excellent.

 

[Balaji]

Thank you Ayin

 

[KreativeK]

Me too! It’s so impressive.

 

[Balaji]

Thank you Kay.