My environment art and analysis (23/10/2012)

Before starting my drawing I spent time thinking of various ideas and then did some sketches of them as you can see below:

After completing these initial sketches I then analyzed them to see which one I wanted to pick for my final piece. This involved deciding which features I could take from the ideas and what I might possibly add:

• Maybe include the positioning of the cops as seen in the bottom left corner as their positioning seems the best.
• Include more sky in the background of the bottom right hand image.
• Include more steampunk aspects, cars, cops and robots. 
• Maybe add a blimp or plane?
• Or perhaps a river? 

The bottom right hand image ended up being my favorite and thus I decided to choose that one for my piece of environmental art.

When I did finally start my image I included a boat in the background. However, as I am still learning how to correctly use perspective I ended up not only making the boat too big, but also making the supposed ocean in the background at the wrong angle to the rest of the buildings as you can see below in the top right hand corner:

 
In the end I decided to cut out the images background instead of starting again as I had already put in a lot of work into the image and didn't want one mistake to ruin it. I'm glad that I made this decision because the image in the end accidentally ended up looking a lot better as not only did the cut around page look layered over the new piece of paper it was stuck on to, but it also gave the image a layer of depth. This is something that I could perhaps do more of in the future. 

You will have no doubt of also seen that special effects have been added to my image. These effects were created using Photoshop and include the the clouds, smoke and even the dark silhouettes which are actually me. I put myself into the image as I knew the piece of art was meant to be environment based and therefore didn't want to waste too much time on detailed characters. Plus I thought that dark silhouettes would add atmosphere to the scene. Adding myself was also quite simple. I just used some photos taken of me in a hat and trench coat in various poses (to match the drawn images) and then incorporated them onto Photoshop. Once on the program I then cut out the background and upped the contrast, thus creating dark and mysterious figures which I felt came out better than I expected.

I knew that I also wanted to add some colour to the scene but wasn't 100% sure both on how to do so and what colours to use; something that I originally didn't even think about, but in retrospect I probably should have done. After messing around with browns that would have suited a more steampunk aesthetic and failing to get it just right, I decided to use another bit of  inspiration for my scene instead, film noir as you can see below:

Now whereas it wasn't my intention to go for a film noir look I feel that its black and white misty filter really added to the overall atmosphere I was trying to create in the environmental scene.

Work Schedule:

Friday: 11:20 - 11:50, 12:20 - 14:00, 14:30 – 15:00

Saturday: 16:00 – 17:45, 19:45 – 21:20

Sunday: 18:40 – 20:25, 20:35 – 20:55, 21:00 – 21:20
Tuesday: 9:15 - 11:15