Visualisation research.

I haven't looked at my visualisation project for the past couple of weeks due to cancelled lesson and being ill last week, so have decided to get back to grips with it before my seminar tomorrow, so I can make a decision on what to do over the Christmas break before the hand-in.

I have firstly looked at a few traditional still life artists, and here are some that I particularly liked:

Firstly, I really liked the still life work os American artist Kevin Frank, especially 'Moon Rock'; the piece I have inserted below. I think the pale colours compared to the contrasting bold red book in the centre is particularly striking.  I also really like the composition in this image, where I think the main, larger objects obey the rule of thirds, leading the audience's eye to these parts first. I think the objects within the piece all link together well too, which is an aspect I would like to bring to my work, rather than just being randomly placed or a typical 'fruit bowl' still life piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Moon Rock' by Kevin Frank

I have also looked briefly at the work of William Michael Harnett, and Irish-American painter from the 19th century. I particularly find the composition of his work the most inspiring, as many of them are placed on tables (like a lot of still life paintings) but also feature objects stacked on top of each other, often not very neatly.  The piece I have featured here is called 'Music and Literature' which also sticks to a strict theme, a lot like Kevin Franks image. When this is combined with the interesting use of composition, I feel this is an effective way of telling a story through still life imagery, rather than painting objects that have been placed purposely just to be painted.

'Music and Literature' by William M Harnett

I have also looked at this website which shows examples 3D still life work which I found pretty interesting: http://www.templates.com/blog/still-life-art-impressive-masterpieces-3d/  Although a lot of this work is created within 3ds max, as well as Maya. I would like to see myself produce work anywhere near this standard, as I think some of them are extremely good in terms of photo-realism/visualisation skills. I especially liked this piece by Cheyne Hessler, due to the strong contrast and the impact of the realism in both objects and background:

'Still Life' by Cheyne Hessler (CG society member)

When thinking about possible themes for my own work, in response to these influences, I am thinking of using things inside my room to show my interests and give an impression of a story behind the items. Below are a few objects I have quickly photographed to help with possible ideas for my compositions.