Category: Photo References

Digital sculpture on painting

  

Before doing any sketches I wanted to see what angle and size would work on the painting. These rough digital sketches are really helpful.

First edit. Sculpture legs aren’t long enough because height of trees is captured although space and depth is.

This second one works because the legs are longer so a great height doing upwards is there. But I liked how big the roof was in the first edit, the roof seems a bit too small here.

An in between scale of the two edits would be best.

Emma Kunz similar to cathedrals looking up

   

I was doing the sketches for my paper mache sculpture and was using the book The Cathedrals of England by Clifton-Taylor as well as images of Emma Kunz’s drawings for reference. As I was looking through images I found two that were SO similar!

!!!

The left image on my laptop is of a drawing by Emma Kunz and the right image is in the book, of the ‘Central tower vault’ in Lincoln Cathedral.
Similarities:
– Both have square shapes with the centre exactly in the middle, multiple square shapes in different sizes surrounding this middle point
– Both have lines all converging at the centre
– Both have four arrow shapes that converge at the four corners of the outermost square.
– Both have an ‘x’ shape that is the backbone of the rest of the shapes.

When I saw Kunz’s drawings in person and imagined them being transformed into 3D ceilings, I didn’t expect that to be found so exactly! I would love to go and visit some of these cathedrals to see how these shapes play out in real life..

I wonder if it is a coincidence that Kunz’s drawings are so similar to Cathedral architecture! I know her work was about the universe and spirituality? But I don’t know too much more than that. I think I need to do some research on her work.

Drawing on photographs

 

I wanted to try adding symmetrical shapes to this image of the woodland canopy looking directly up.

The first lines I added were digital, but I realised from this that digital lines, especially without a drawing pad are too controlled and slow going.

I then moved to using a ruler and white gel pen. This allowed me to be a lot freer with the shapes and add in curves. I did the drawings in order from left to right. I used images of baroque cathedral domes that I had taken in Europe last summer to inspire the shapes I chose to add to the photograph.
Turns out the cathedral I base my drawing on really affects the drawing I make! This suggests I should visit more cathedrals and churches in Lancaster to explore a variety of architecture, so far I have just been to the cathedral, but it would be interesting to see how the experience and drawing changes in different religious buildings.

The drawings were also inspired by Emma Kunz’s drawings, the concentric shapes to them and the linear shapes.

The most effective drawing is the centre-left one. This is because the design is simple and includes lots of white lines that move towards the centre. It really feels like there is depth to this drawing, and I am looking up at a building that is built underneath the trees.

I want to try these ideas on a bigger scale, and also play around with clay! Thinking about how I can translate these shapes into 3D.

One thing I’ve really learnt from this is that if I am thinking about shapes that reflect ceilings in a sculpture, I need to thinking about those shapes on a 2D surface and looking directly up and straight on to the designs. In the past when I have designed these structures I think about the shape from a side angle and looking up, but I never consider the design from standing directly underneath it.
Thinking about the shapes in this way will really improve these structures in my work, I’m excited to see where it takes me!

Photo References

 

First set of drawing done here in the woods outside of LICA. I’m really familiar with these woods, I do a lot of my painting and drawing here, and so space is familiar.

I also went to a woodland near my house – somewhere I’ve never been before! I found it refreshing to be in a new space, and I found these four trees that made a perfect canopy-dome shape. I want to return to that space again.

  • Me right underneath the ‘dome’ of these four trees.
  • Looking up directly underneath the middle of the ‘dome’ of four trees.
Video recordings are useful for re-visiting the space when I can’t be there in person.

I spun the camera around at the end of the video because I wondered what shapes and pattern would be made if I took an image of the trees on a long exposure so that the spinning blurred. I want to try this idea digitally, I might be able to find a pattern that I could use in a sculpture. Let’s see..!