Work Based Learning

Finally addressed the centre picture. A portrait of the Queen. Got this from google and thought it would fit the Nuevo theme. Drew her in pencil, then pen then put her on a light box and traced her into the picture. I don't think this has been the best decision I've made for the picture as a whole. While I think it's a nice picture in itself, I think (especially with it being central) it detracts from the mysterious, eerie feel of the room. This is why I done the black in pointillism, to soften it a bit and make her stand out less. I wanted this pic to be her portrait to better translate the narrative but I shoulda went for something more intriguing. + her knee is too high up and she's looks a bit too She-Ra I've decided not to do the silhouette of the cat as it's getting to the stage where there is nearly too much going on. Same with the pattern in his robes, I'm gonna do it moons and suns but fairly minimal. So it's pretty close to being wrapped ...

To get a marble effect on the fire place I first traced over it, cut it out then used it and used this as a stencil. I mixed two tones of diluted ink, dipped in a brush, flicked off the excess and stroked the bristles to spray it over the stencil. On tests (in sketchbook) some ink managed to seep under the acetate so when applying this text I used paper weight/ anything that was lying around to keep it pressed firmly down. I dived in with the vase thinking that it should be bold to keep the balance in check with the boldness of the window section and the table cloth. Though reflecting I think for the composition the vase would've worked better being white with black spots. For the cushion, after finding reference imagery and doing a test I dived in again without pre-drawing hence this could've worked out better. Afterwards I used acetate to work out how best to include more flow then continued to work into it. It could probably do with a bit more contrast but I feel it...

I began trying out a texture on the cat but felt it was needless and would lack the impact of a jet black cat. I tried out seeing how the magic tape would work on this paper and when its removed it takes off the top layer, same with the masking fluid The curtains were done by first over laying border adhesive and drawing over the shape before cutting out and sticking down parts were finicky When doing the carpet, to keep the pattern in sync I found it helpful to draw the guide lines in the lizards. I was struggling to get the curvature of the pattern to match the perspective so I tried to use Photoshop but the perspective looks too deep back into the room like the floors massive. I tried enlarging it but it made it too pixelated to use as a guide. So continued mapping out the pattern. When doing the pointillism it's sometimes its tricky to get a consistent gradient so I've been doing it in drips and drabs. Rubbing out the pencil underneath as with the tape is taking a ...

The curtains stand out too much and are out of place. Using wet medium has added a grey scale element to the picture which doesn't fit with the monochrome. I loved how it was shaping n up regret not sticking to what I know works. The two complex patterns don't work side by side either, just looks cluttered. Anyway in future as with previous works, I should just adapt to how the piece shapes up rather than forcefully sticking to my guns. Bearing in mind this will probably be altered digitally to deliver it monochrome, I'll continue from this point to balance out the grey scale in the composition. There are a few ways I could fuck this up more. since the curtains are directing the flow to the higher mid range I could incorporate wet media to the pictures. Or/and the vase. Maybe the cloche the frogs wearing or/ the cushion she's lying on. I'd consider adding a water based texture to the bottom right of the pic to balance it off but. that areas already designated to th...

I've done the wall paper and since my hand needs a rest, thought I'd get around to doing the water based textures. I'd previously tried out textures on this paper but not how to maintain them as some ideally needs to stay within strict borders so not to seep into the lizards tongue etc. Bearing in mind the magic tape proved unsuitable I wanted to do the curtain like kinda like this but a lighter tone so tested to see how the adhesive border roll would work on this paper. on the left side, it was applied pressed down hard and stripped off so that's like the worse case scenario where as the right side it hadn't been pressed quite so hard and taken off carefully.. though I'm not 100% sure if its wasn't pressed down firmly, how well it would abide by the pattern within the adhesive? Ultimately the adhesive will be in minimal contact with any line work, probably mostly around the vase. Masking fluid is far from ideal with this paper So masking tape doen't...

Since applying the wall paper I'm finding the pattern is so intricate it's become more prominent and takes the focus away from the foreground I don't imagine it's gonna prove too much of an issue. The carpet will balance out the contrast.. But I don't want the reptiles to become the secondary element. I'm just gonna have to see how it develops from here guide it the best I can. I was also worried that the adjoining where the two walls meet was becoming confused so I've made it slightly more pronounced buy highlighting the separating line though it's hard to make out here. I'm happy with the progress, defo slow but I'm on track with my timeline. I've still another 16 days to complete this. Just I'll have to knock up my sketchbook aswell. I'm still planning to add the water based textures to the curtains, cushion and now the vase as this will even out this texture in the overall composition like each couple will be next to a water b...