Title - To Love You So
Size - 29.63 x 16.93 cm Medium - Digital Completion - September 2022 Exhibition TextTo Love You So is a digital piece inspired by Alphonse Mucha's Summer. The theme of the piece revolves around love, and not just romantic, but also familial and platonic kinds of love. The flowers in the piece — roses, carnations, heliotropes, honeysuckle, and ivy — represent this theme as well, their meaning relating to love in some way. I wanted to convey this feeling through the use of warm tones and having cooler ones to contrast and balance the piece.
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Inspiration
Alphonse Mucha
As an art nouveau artist, Mucha mainly focused on drawing women, as well as making his art accessible to the general public. Some common elements in his art were borders and flowers to decorate the background, as well as long flowing dresses for the women he drew. His Spring and Summer is part of a series of work titled The Seasons, including all four. In Summer and Spring, the colors are soft, with the exception of the red flowers in the woman's hair in Summer. There's a solid dark outline on the edges of the elements, with the thin lines on the inside contrasting against the thicker ones. The lines themselves are organic, flowing rather than straight. This gives a sense of movement to the piece, and the works themselves feel more dynamic. The dresses are transparent at the ends. With the background, cool tones are used to contrast against the warm tones of the women. Overall, I want to incorporate some of these elements into my piece, mainly the line thickness contrasts and the contrasting of warm tones with cool ones. The use of organic lines gives the work a smooth, free-flowing feeling that I like. I think Mucha's ideas of having his art be accessible fits with my medium as it's digital. The use of softer colors would help express the theme I'm trying to go for better, and it would look more aesthetically pleasing to the viewer with the soft look. |
Spring
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Summer
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Planning
The theme I want to do is all kinds of love, whether it be familial, romantic, or platonic. I also wanted to include the use of mostly warm tones, and have cool tones used for contrast. Similar to Mucha's work, my piece would have more muted colors, and flowers to decorate the background. I was also thinking on a vertical orientation, with a simple border in the work. I had researched some flowers that symbolized love and decided on carnations, red and yellow roses, heliotropes, honeysuckle, and ivy. I drew the flowers to get a feel for the shape and to figure out how to draw them exactly. The carnation I noted should start with the base in the middle, and then add petals outwards. The rose was similar, using a spiral shape. The petals were larger and wavier at the ends, and smaller in the middle. Heliotropes have a star shaped center which made it easier for me to draw, since I could just start off with that and then draw the petals. They're more clustered together, and the stems have more of a branch-like shape. Drawing heliotropes, the petals were sort of long tear drops, and the open ones at the ends reminded me of an unhinged snake jaw. With the ivy, I noted that they had around five points, but I also want to simplify them for convenience and time.
On the second page, I drew out a general idea of the composition and where the elements would be placed. I was thinking of the woman looking at a wood and leaf-covered orb, with the flowers filling in some of the space. She would be sitting on the left side, and have flowers in her hair. The drawing of her was to get an idea of her hairstyle and features, and I decided on short blue black hair. She would also be Asian, and while this and the short hair is different from Mucha's way of drawing the women in his art, I decided I wanted more diversity. The dresses below were me thinking up the design, and the first one on the left would have a belt and a sash. The directions of the belt and sash would create some sort of movement. The one on the right had sleeves decorated with flowers, and the same belt as the other one. Both dresses had a general idea of being simple and flowing, as Mucha's Summer has a simple dress as well. I liked the one on the right more, as the flowers on the sleeves made the design better for me. The third sketch was mainly to see how the folds for the dress would work at the bottom. I noted that the cloth would gather down there, and bunch up. There's also a design for the orb, with the flowers, leaves and branches.
On the second page, I drew out a general idea of the composition and where the elements would be placed. I was thinking of the woman looking at a wood and leaf-covered orb, with the flowers filling in some of the space. She would be sitting on the left side, and have flowers in her hair. The drawing of her was to get an idea of her hairstyle and features, and I decided on short blue black hair. She would also be Asian, and while this and the short hair is different from Mucha's way of drawing the women in his art, I decided I wanted more diversity. The dresses below were me thinking up the design, and the first one on the left would have a belt and a sash. The directions of the belt and sash would create some sort of movement. The one on the right had sleeves decorated with flowers, and the same belt as the other one. Both dresses had a general idea of being simple and flowing, as Mucha's Summer has a simple dress as well. I liked the one on the right more, as the flowers on the sleeves made the design better for me. The third sketch was mainly to see how the folds for the dress would work at the bottom. I noted that the cloth would gather down there, and bunch up. There's also a design for the orb, with the flowers, leaves and branches.
Process & Experimentation
I started off with filling the background in a cream color, and then using the rectangle tool to make a dark brown border. After that, I began to sketch in the woman, starting out with shapes and then drawing the pose. I did several sketches, mostly to finalize everything and then to fix any mistakes. The dress was next, and I lowered the opacity of the body so I could see the clothing better. I drew the top half of the dress, then the sleeves and belt. I added the flowers to the sleeves, and after that I started with the bottom half. I looked up some images, and used them as a reference for some of the folds. When I finished the sketch, I was thinking about doing a final one which would be the lineart, but I decided on just cleaning up the sketch because I liked it. When everything for the lineart was finished, I began with the base colors, first with the skin. I adjusted the skin tone to make it warm and not too pale, and then went with a dark desaturated blue for the hair. The dress was colored in with a pale cream color, and the belt a desaturated red. Then I started shading in the face, and I used a softer brush and colors because I noticed that while Mucha's work did have shading, there wasn't a stark contrast between the values. There was more of an airbrush feel to the shading, so I took note of that. I shaded the rest of the skin and went for the dress next, using a pinkish color for a warmer tone. After shading the dress, I did the belt.
The next part was drawing the background elements. I started drawing the rock first, to get some idea of where to place the flowers and to put everything else. After doing so, I drew in the roses, then the carnations. The heliotrope came next after those two, and I decided to copy and paste some of them to save myself the tediousness of drawing each one. Then I finished with the honeysuckle, and erased any overlapping parts. I drew the bush, added some flowers and ivy to it, and then drew some flowers on the ground to make the background more filled in. I colored in all of the flowers plus the bush, and added minimal shading on the insides of the flowers. I added some texture to the bush by shading to emulate clusters of leaves, and to give some volume to the bottom. I colored in the flowers in the woman's hair, shaded it as well, and then went on with the background. I used a purple to pink gradient, and decided on a light pink for the clouds. To the border, I added a gold outline using the rectangle tool for more detail. To finish everything, I went with a gradient map to unite the colors and give more of a mood to the piece.
Experimentation
I wanted to add some detail to the woman's face, but at first I wasn't sure how to do so. I tried doing a dark desaturated red around the eyes, but I didn't like how it turned out. It didn't really convey that soft feeling I was going for, so I tried again with something else. With the image on the right, I tried doing pink around the eyes, making it subtler. I also added some blush and colored in the lips. I wasn't used to doing makeup and such, but it turned out well and I was able to achieve the look I was going for. Softer shading was something I also didn't do often. I tried to make sure that there was a visible contrast in values, but not too much. |
The gradient map was important to try and harmonize the colors better. I had a large amount of presets to choose from, so I went through them to figure out what I wanted to go for. The first one on the left had a light, soft quality to it that I liked, but I noticed that the colors were also too light. The shading on the bush didn't have that contrast of value, and the skin tone just didn't feel right to me after I thought about it. The one on the right was better than the first, considering that the shading on the bush was more visible and the skin looked slightly better to me. But once I began cycling through the gradient maps, I came across the one in the middle, which I liked. The colors looked warmer, and the shading on the bush was more visible. I compared the second and third ones to decide what to go with, and I chose the second. Overall, that particular gradient map brought out the colors the best, without making the skin tone paler than I intended and fitting with the background.
Critique
Similarities
Both pieces utilize a border and have the woman sitting at the left side. They both have darker hair, and are wearing a long white dress. The sky transitions from a cool color to a warmer tone, with the clouds going to the right at an angle. Both of the pieces have fragmented clouds, and there's greenery of some sort to decorate the piece. The cool tone of the sky contrasts against the warm tones of the skin and dress, and there's further contrast of cool and warm tones in the plants and the object the woman is sitting on. The orientations of the works are both vertical.
Differences
The differences between the two is that my border is dark brown, while Mucha uses a more rounded white border. The sky in his piece transitions from light blue to yellow, while my piece goes from purple to pink. The medium differs as well, and my work is digital and his is a lithograph. The dress is draped differently, with the woman in Summer having hers draped against the object she's sitting on. The woman in my work has the dress to her feet. The race of the woman is another difference, and while Mucha draws a White woman, I chose to draw an Asian woman. The hair is also different, since Mucha tends to draw his women with longer hair and I drew the hair short.
Both pieces utilize a border and have the woman sitting at the left side. They both have darker hair, and are wearing a long white dress. The sky transitions from a cool color to a warmer tone, with the clouds going to the right at an angle. Both of the pieces have fragmented clouds, and there's greenery of some sort to decorate the piece. The cool tone of the sky contrasts against the warm tones of the skin and dress, and there's further contrast of cool and warm tones in the plants and the object the woman is sitting on. The orientations of the works are both vertical.
Differences
The differences between the two is that my border is dark brown, while Mucha uses a more rounded white border. The sky in his piece transitions from light blue to yellow, while my piece goes from purple to pink. The medium differs as well, and my work is digital and his is a lithograph. The dress is draped differently, with the woman in Summer having hers draped against the object she's sitting on. The woman in my work has the dress to her feet. The race of the woman is another difference, and while Mucha draws a White woman, I chose to draw an Asian woman. The hair is also different, since Mucha tends to draw his women with longer hair and I drew the hair short.
Reflection
I've always wanted to try my hand at doing a piece inspired by the art nouveau movement, and specifically Alphonse Mucha. Overall the piece went well, and I liked how it turned out. Trying the contrast of thick and thin lines really helped the piece pop out more, and the border does as well. It was fun to draw the folds of the dress, and try to figure out how it worked using references and some guesswork. Drawing the flowers was my least favorite part, as well as coloring them in since it was tedious. The flowers did turn out better than I expected though, and I think drawing them in my planning sketches helped me with the general shapes. Mucha's Summer helped me decide the elements to place into my work, and how I wanted the colors to look. I hope, though, that the theme of my piece can be inferred from the flowers and the mood, since I decided not to make it overt.
ACT
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
I followed Mucha's way of contrasting thick and thin lines, and used less saturated colors. I also included a border, and flowers to decorate the piece.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Mucha wanted to create art that was accessible and featured femininity.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Art nouveau wanted to focus on natural form and reject the idea of mass production. The artists wanted their work to be unique, or to be ornamented and avoid the lifelessness of factory-produced art.
4. What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my research was forms of love, and using symbolism through flowers to do so.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
The use of organic lines and geometric ones creates an interesting contrast, and organic lines gives the art a softer feel.
I followed Mucha's way of contrasting thick and thin lines, and used less saturated colors. I also included a border, and flowers to decorate the piece.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Mucha wanted to create art that was accessible and featured femininity.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Art nouveau wanted to focus on natural form and reject the idea of mass production. The artists wanted their work to be unique, or to be ornamented and avoid the lifelessness of factory-produced art.
4. What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my research was forms of love, and using symbolism through flowers to do so.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
The use of organic lines and geometric ones creates an interesting contrast, and organic lines gives the art a softer feel.
Citations
Farren, Jen. “Alphonse Mucha Paintings, Bio, Ideas.” The Art Story, 6 Feb. 2016, https://www.theartstory.org/artist/mucha-alphonse/.
“The Seasons: Spring.” Mucha Foundation, http://www.muchafoundation.org/en/gallery/browse-works/object/81.
“The Seasons: Summer.” Mucha Foundation, http://www.muchafoundation.org/en/gallery/browse-works/object/82.
“The Seasons: Spring.” Mucha Foundation, http://www.muchafoundation.org/en/gallery/browse-works/object/81.
“The Seasons: Summer.” Mucha Foundation, http://www.muchafoundation.org/en/gallery/browse-works/object/82.