New Art: "Peaceful Spaces" (30 Days of Creativity 2012, Day 8)

Peaceful Spaces

watercolor pencil, colored pencil, copic pen

© 2012 by A. Dameron 

30 Days of Creativity 2012, Day 8

New Art: "Shinwai Temple" (final), art from e-book series "Five Elemental Dragons, Cycles One and Two"

Shinwai Temple (final)

art from my e-book series "Five Elemental Dragons, Cycle One and Two"

oil

© 2012 by A. Dameron 

 

A Chinese-style temple in the mountains, one of the settings in my e-book series (link above).

Cycle One is now available for download, Cycle Two will be available April 2012.

Fantasy Architecture and Then Some...

I bought this book today: How To Draw and Paint Fantasy Architecture by Rob Alexander. I'm a fan of his books, having Drawing and Painting Landscapes and Cityscapes (with Martin McKenna) and Otherworlds: How to Imagine, Paint and Create Epic Scenes of Fantasy. His artwork is breathtaking both in the colors and the depth. In each book, Alexander covers art techniques like the pros/cons of various media (oil, acrylic, pastel, digital), perspective, color theory, and composition. 

The Fantasy Architecture book also includes a chapter on "Introduction to Architecture". It includes the trademark features of buildings from various cultures:

• Middle Eastern buildings use domed roofs, tall minarets (towers) and precise, mathematical decorations that repeat over and over. An example of that is the Hagia Sophia mosque.  
• Romanesque buildings usually have rounded arches, thick wall and small windows. The doorways are usually squat and heavy, since the shape and the height of the buildings are fixed ratios. Churches in Rome use arcading, which are rows of columns with archways in between them. These formed walkways (such as in monasteries) or architects set them flush against a wall (those are called blind arcades).
• Gothic cathedrals have the high arches, flying buttresses, ribbed vaults and wall mouldings (think Notre Dame in Paris). Those high arches, buttresses and vaults helped expand the interior space and allowed plenty of light through stained-glass windows. These buildings stretched gracefully towards the sky, the complete opposite of the Romanesque design.
• Mesoamerican temples (Aztec, Mayan or Incan) are low and wide, instead of tall and high. They have highly decorated walls and lintels; the carvings tell important stories about the people's history.  Each major temple, stelae (stone markers) and the ball court were geometrically placed to reflect Heaven and the Underworld.   
• Viking architecture used stave posts and wooden wall beams with low, sloping roofs. 
• Asian buildings also have distinctive sloping roofs, and were mostly constructed out of wood instead of stone. Many doors were circular instead of square (those are called moon portals). Round-arched bridges symbolized the path between Heaven and Earth. Both Asian and Viking styles emphasized an integration with nature, instead of replacing or destroying it.

The book has plenty of examples of each type of architecture, which can inspire artists (and writers) to imagine their own based on them.

One helpful chapter of the book talks about the details and textures of various building materials. How can an artist portray a well-worn wooden chest?  A carved wooden lintel? A rugged stone wall? A brick arch that's falling apart and overgrown with weeds? A thatched roof? A plaster ceiling? A marble column? What about a Roman mosaic or tiled floor? What if the building's been gutted by fire and it's been damaged by smoke and soot? Alexander describes how an artist can convey their imaginary world through realistic art techniques.

A word of caution: this book is excellent for reference, but I wouldn't recommend this for complete beginners. It assumes at least a working knowledge of basic concepts like the values of lights, shadow and tone. If you're interested in how to convey your fantasy world in a realistic style, pick up this book. 

 

From my sketchbook...a snapshot of my creative process

Countryside (Draft)

rough draft of future painting

 

I don't normally post sketches or rough drafts because they rarely look anything like the finished product. This time, I'd like to share some aspects of my creative process when I draw or paint. It shares some similarities with my writing process, with a few differences.

"Countryside" will be a painting, either oil or acrylic (haven't decided yet). A river runs through a small settlement in the mountains. The landscape highlights the daily life of the inhabitants and their simple, yet mystical architecture. This is connected with a new fantasy novel series that's in the planning stages right now. The first book takes place mostly in a land similar to Ancient China, with some touches of ancient Persia.

Here's another page from my sketchbook, this time dealing with some architecture:

 

Architecture1 (Draft)

I've always been fascinated by the structure of buildings, gardens and fountains. In fact, I had serious considered becoming an architect/graphic designer type while in college (I was at the right place for it: Virginia Tech). For this project, I've consulted books and internet sites about East Asian temples (like the Vietnamese and Thai pagodas, the sketch on the left), Chinese and Japanese Buddhist temples, and Roman temples. The small pyramid on the bottom right was borrowed from the Egyptian. History has given us plenty of skilled and innovative architects, from Imhotep to Frank Lloyd Wright. 

When I imagine a fantasy culture, I make a list of important Things To Keep in Mind (capital letters). Setting is an important component, as well as character (what does he/she/it do for a living? What kind of personality do they have? How do they interact with other characters?). Language plays a role and social structure, like a class system, influences the characters and the plot. Painting and writing have to convey this through visual means, either on the canvas or on the page.

I'll post updates on this process as they happen. :-D