About Me

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Indiana, United States
I have done pictures since I can remember. I took all the art classes in junior high and high school I could and naturally became an art major in college. I graduated with a BFA in art and writing and marry the two by writing and illustrating children's books.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Alone in the Topiary Garden Begins to Take Shape (pun intended)


I've finished the drawing for this illustration. I've tried to solve as many problems as possible at this stage rather than leaving it for the painting stage: light, perspective, objects in the background.
If this were going to become real published artwork, I see it as a full-page opposite a page of text. Probably not a cover, since I didn't leave any room for a title.
On to painting now. I'm going to try to project it onto my painting surface. We'll see....
Everything behind the girl (I'm calling her Cecelia) is actually a topiary form including the hedge wall with a scroll top and urn. Everything, except the Sinister Gardener (no offense JMH, the eternal mulcher), that is. I think I also want to add a real bird poking out of that pointy bush.

Before leaving this, I'll give you one of my problem-solving techniques: we are viewing this scene from below, which means a very low horizon line—like at Cecelia's waist. This makes us see the underneath side of the elements that are taller than she is and creates a sense of largeness and even foreboding. Also, the horizon is tipped, which seems to befuddle me while I'm drawing. So, I produced this guide which I taped behind my drawing to remind myself where the vanishing point for all these lines should be headed.

3 comments:

Joyce Moyer Hostetter said...

Hey I have one of those shears! Might I be a sinister gardener?

Fascinating process.

Nathan said...

I just like the idea of something as innocuous as gardening somehow becoming sinister.

Kevin Spear said...

I like how you've given the point of view some emotion. You've explained well how it can affect the picture's mood. Great insights.