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“The most perfect guide is nature”
D5 is done!! And if I don't blog about this now - well...I know I won't be in the mood to write about it after I present tomorrow morning - because by then, it will be off the brain and into the books...and on to the next project.
6 weeks ago we visited our D5 project. 30 acres in Godalming, Surrey. As I wandered the site I spent time in the less-frequented areas, the raw areas. I posted a few photos from the visit in an earlier post - here they are again:
I've had these images simmering in the back of my mind for over a month now. I knew I wanted to use them to influence my design, but I wasn't sure how I was going to accomplish that exactly, just that it needed to happen.
During and after the Easter holiday ideas started to surface in an enthusiastic way. This is a very good thing since I had less than two weeks to come up with a pencil-rendered bird's eye view of my design for the entire site. And I didn't want to be a stress-case, clearly.
“The aesthetic basis of Chinese landscape painting is manifestation rather than reappearance. ”
I decided I would take an Eastern approach to my 3D drawing rather than the standard Western view which would have taken a literal perspective from one vantage point. Inspired by Chinese landscape paintings where the perspective may be flat and there could be a variety of perspectives in a single drawing, I felt I could present all aspects of my design without compromise, especially since the site was vast. "[Chinese] painters always embed their personal feelings and emotions into the image, rather than just depict the details and exact appearance of the object." I really liked this idea, of drawing emotion and not just fact.
“The Chinese artist does not paint his subject while observing it; he may walk in the woods, looking at the trees and mountains, and then return to his studio to paint what his mind’s eye remember. He sees with his spirit or, as the Chinese say, his ‘heart-mind’”
This is what I aimed for - this idea, philosophy and approach. And I thoroughly enjoyed every step of the process, including the results.
Below are several versions which will be printed in the morning. I found a really neat paper to print on - so I might have to do a follow-up post with pictures of the final product. But for now, here are JPEG images. See if you can understand how I incorporated the photographs I captured on-site into the design. It was a fun 'world' to create - and would be a fantastic landscape to experience in person.
This is the truest image to the original drawing.
This version maintains the grayscale while adding some contrast.
One of the tutors said my drawing reminded him of a Chinese plate - even before I told him what my inspiration was. I am printing a blue and white version at his suggestion.
A second blue version - couldn't decide which blue I liked best.
A bronze-ish tone to top it all off.
What color would you like to see it in? Really I would create endless versions, but I have got to stop somewhere and go to sleep.
While I am pleased with my results - I know there is more power to the pencil than I have demonstrated in my drawing. I am looking into taking some private lessons so that I can better understand how to work with tone and value more effectively. So we will see how that pans out.
Can you find the 5 little people?