Your first interim review - time flies! Okay, so it's clear that, through chance, your creative partner, Katy, is ALSO locked into these same set of spaces; not ideal, I guess, but I see no reason why you shouldn't take a look at some of the additional references I've included as part of Katy's comments. Largely, I'd offer similar feedback in regard to your choices of scene. In the context of this particular project, I just don't rate the corridor as potent enough in terms of flexing your concept artist muscles. The problem with corridors is that they can encourage a less-than-interesting composition. As I did with Katy, I'm going to suggest that you resolve another composition, even if it's another view from within the Red Room, or the spiral staircase.
I can see from your thumbnails that you're still developing your drawing muscles and that there's some hesitancy there - and some nervousness in regard to perspective etc. All of this will no doubt improve in time, but in common with the advice I gave Katy, I suspect that you're getting trapped into 'seeing' these spaces as a series of corners and boxes, as opposed to 'representations of space'. Take a look at Gustave Dore's engravings for a second - really look at them - and note how he builds them up, not as empty boxes with stuff in them, but rather from layers of foreground, midground and background:
http://www.danshort.com/pl/
My point is that maybe you need to approach the build up of your scenes by thinking in terms of layers, before you think about the technical aspects of perspective. So - if you hoping to make someone really 'feel' the content and clutter of that magic shop, why not position the viewer behind an object or shelf, so we're looking past it/through it/over it into the next 'layer' of the space, and then you ensure you construct that middle layer so that the viewer is encouraged to look through/past/over that section and into the next. This is known as occlusion - that when you put another flat image partially behind another flat image, the eye instantly reads it as nearer or further away. For an example of occlusion as a technique to create the illusion of space, check out this painting by Rene Magritte:
I think you should try and construct your spaces through layers, as opposed to perspective in the first instance, as you try and create more dynamic compositions. You begin to do it in the red room interior thumbnail - with the candle, and it's instantly more able to describe that drawing as being 'about space'. Try thinking about using more occlusion in your compositions, and not only will things get more interesting more quickly, but I think you'll start to create more satisfying spatial effects.
Again, in common with some of Katy's feedback (and also previous comments), what both stories have in common is their ATMOSPHERE! In theatre, it's possible to evoke an entire room by, for example, shining a red spotlight on a single black chair, while another light projects a shadow of a chandelier on the back wall. Remember, Anass - this is concept art for an animation - and animation can be minimalist and graphical, as well as photorealistic. Your job is to evoke a space for an animated world (a world of magic and horror), so loosen up still further perhaps?
OGR 11/10/2012
ReplyDeleteHey Anass,
Your first interim review - time flies! Okay, so it's clear that, through chance, your creative partner, Katy, is ALSO locked into these same set of spaces; not ideal, I guess, but I see no reason why you shouldn't take a look at some of the additional references I've included as part of Katy's comments. Largely, I'd offer similar feedback in regard to your choices of scene. In the context of this particular project, I just don't rate the corridor as potent enough in terms of flexing your concept artist muscles. The problem with corridors is that they can encourage a less-than-interesting composition. As I did with Katy, I'm going to suggest that you resolve another composition, even if it's another view from within the Red Room, or the spiral staircase.
I can see from your thumbnails that you're still developing your drawing muscles and that there's some hesitancy there - and some nervousness in regard to perspective etc. All of this will no doubt improve in time, but in common with the advice I gave Katy, I suspect that you're getting trapped into 'seeing' these spaces as a series of corners and boxes, as opposed to 'representations of space'. Take a look at Gustave Dore's engravings for a second - really look at them - and note how he builds them up, not as empty boxes with stuff in them, but rather from layers of foreground, midground and background:
http://www.danshort.com/pl/
My point is that maybe you need to approach the build up of your scenes by thinking in terms of layers, before you think about the technical aspects of perspective. So - if you hoping to make someone really 'feel' the content and clutter of that magic shop, why not position the viewer behind an object or shelf, so we're looking past it/through it/over it into the next 'layer' of the space, and then you ensure you construct that middle layer so that the viewer is encouraged to look through/past/over that section and into the next. This is known as occlusion - that when you put another flat image partially behind another flat image, the eye instantly reads it as nearer or further away. For an example of occlusion as a technique to create the illusion of space, check out this painting by Rene Magritte:
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb283/sequentialscott/Magritte.jpg
I think you should try and construct your spaces through layers, as opposed to perspective in the first instance, as you try and create more dynamic compositions. You begin to do it in the red room interior thumbnail - with the candle, and it's instantly more able to describe that drawing as being 'about space'. Try thinking about using more occlusion in your compositions, and not only will things get more interesting more quickly, but I think you'll start to create more satisfying spatial effects.
Again, in common with some of Katy's feedback (and also previous comments), what both stories have in common is their ATMOSPHERE! In theatre, it's possible to evoke an entire room by, for example, shining a red spotlight on a single black chair, while another light projects a shadow of a chandelier on the back wall. Remember, Anass - this is concept art for an animation - and animation can be minimalist and graphical, as well as photorealistic. Your job is to evoke a space for an animated world (a world of magic and horror), so loosen up still further perhaps?
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