Title - Promotion
Size - 60.85 x 52.91 cm Medium - Digital Completion - October 2022 Exhibition TextPromotion is a piece focusing on envy, the style inspired by the works of Aleksander Rostov. I decided to represent this through the use of greens, with bright red to contrast. The story of the work is a man named Lee who murders his boss, seeing him as a symbol of something he wants: happiness. As someone who's worked hard and not achieved what he's wanted most, yet finding that in his cruel and affluent boss, Lee takes his frustrations out on him. There's a sense of victory in his boss' death.
|
Inspiration
Aleksander Rostov
Aleksander Rostov is known for his work on the game Disco Elysium. His work is partially inspired by Russian realism, and the style of the game is reminiscent of expressionism. The artist also uses contemporary artists as another element of inspiration. Rostov's work has less focus on making his brushwork neat, but rather to add a rougher quality to his work. That technique conveys more dynamic movement, and his work is given more of an intense mood. His way of painting and how the textures emphasized this feeling fascinated me, and so I want to try that technique as I usually prefer smooth blending in my works. Them uses mostly cool tones, and this faded darker blue is the most prominent color. The bright red face contrasts against the black clothes, and this draws the viewer's eye to it. The brushstrokes for the backgrounds in the Archetypes make the pieces much more dynamic, like an explosion of color. There's a main color reflected in the lighting, and this was the most notable to me. When looking at Rostov's work, this piece was the one I thought about the most, and the one I want to draw my inspiration from. The backgrounds really add a lot to the piece, and you can get a sense of the emotion through the specific color used. Overall, with the lack of focus on the neatness of the detail, this itself harmonizes the works as things overlap or meld with the background. The figure and the background build on each other, and for the piece on the left, you can see the blue highlighting the shadow of the character. There's also a face you can see to the right of the man's head, and I thought this was a nice detail that I didn't notice at first. |
Them
Archetypes
|
Planning
For my third project, I wanted to focus on doing a theme of envy. The story I thought about was a man who kills his boss out of jealousy. The boss is affluent, cruel, and I want to contrast the two characters a bit. Envy is often associated with green, and green lighting would help to convey that. Green is also associated with growth and money, and those concepts fit as well. Dramatic lighting with strong contrasts, as well with a messier way of painting would better portray emotions and the intensity of the scenario. I would have green as the main color in the piece, but include contrasting colors for effect like red blood. For the character design, the general traits I decided on were having shadows under the eyes, an angular face with more prominent cheekbones, and perhaps messier hair. The one on the left was cleaner in general, to be more professional and to sort of follow his boss' image of being neat. The one on the right is messy, more unkempt to show how tired work has made him.
The expression I was thinking about could be erratic, with exaggeration for dramatic effect. The face would be the most detailed part, since it would require more care put into painting it. Rostov's backgrounds are usually dark and use a main color like purple or blue. It ties the piece together as a whole, and for the Archetypes piece there's a prime color that you can visibly see. The color also reflects in the lighting, and I was thinking of incorporating that as well as the dynamic feel the background gives to the work. I want the background to emphasize the figures in the piece and to further portray that erratic emotion. Rostov's brushstrokes are messy, using textured brushes. For the layers in the painting, I would block out the shapes, and then perhaps combine them once I was done painting. Sensitive Archetype has a more dynamic feel with the rougher look of the brushstrokes, and there's not a lot of smooth blending.
For the character himself, I wanted to write down some things to figure out how to portray him. In general Lee -- the worker -- is an accomplished worker, but feels like this doesn't matter in comparison to his boss, who always seems to be above him. His feelings towards him are mostly jealousy and hatred as his boss is cruel, living the happy life that Lee wants. Lee himself is a distant person, always working in the hopes that he can find some semblance of happiness in his effort. I drew some head angles to get a sense of what I was going for, with one turned up and one turned down. The one looking downwards follows my inspiration better, and conveys that idea of looking down at his boss. The angle looking up has a more intense feel, and there's more anger conveyed there, but in the end I thought the first one was best. With the pose on the third sketchpage, he would be holding his boss' hand, taking the rings off. I drew out the hand holding the knife several times to get an idea of how it could be positioned.
The expression I was thinking about could be erratic, with exaggeration for dramatic effect. The face would be the most detailed part, since it would require more care put into painting it. Rostov's backgrounds are usually dark and use a main color like purple or blue. It ties the piece together as a whole, and for the Archetypes piece there's a prime color that you can visibly see. The color also reflects in the lighting, and I was thinking of incorporating that as well as the dynamic feel the background gives to the work. I want the background to emphasize the figures in the piece and to further portray that erratic emotion. Rostov's brushstrokes are messy, using textured brushes. For the layers in the painting, I would block out the shapes, and then perhaps combine them once I was done painting. Sensitive Archetype has a more dynamic feel with the rougher look of the brushstrokes, and there's not a lot of smooth blending.
For the character himself, I wanted to write down some things to figure out how to portray him. In general Lee -- the worker -- is an accomplished worker, but feels like this doesn't matter in comparison to his boss, who always seems to be above him. His feelings towards him are mostly jealousy and hatred as his boss is cruel, living the happy life that Lee wants. Lee himself is a distant person, always working in the hopes that he can find some semblance of happiness in his effort. I drew some head angles to get a sense of what I was going for, with one turned up and one turned down. The one looking downwards follows my inspiration better, and conveys that idea of looking down at his boss. The angle looking up has a more intense feel, and there's more anger conveyed there, but in the end I thought the first one was best. With the pose on the third sketchpage, he would be holding his boss' hand, taking the rings off. I drew out the hand holding the knife several times to get an idea of how it could be positioned.
Process
I started out with a sketch, using the one from my process journal as a reference along with my inspiration. I redid the sketch several times to fix things, and then started with the base colors. After that, I began to render the face, using a dark green for the shadows. Next was the hands, and I changed the knife to a ring. I thought the pose looked better that way, and I didn't end up liking how the hand holding a knife looked. The eyes were next, and since they would just be black, I added some green to reflect the lighting and did the eye whites afterwards. With the shirt, I shaded and erased some parts as I went, so I wouldn't add too many folds to it. The jacket was more difficult to do with the lighting in mind, but I did my best to follow the lighting. I went over the jacket with a brighter color to add stronger contrast, defining the folds more and fixing parts of the jacket. I used a textured brush to follow Rostov's way of painting, and tried not to focus too much on making things neat.
The tie was relatively simple, and it didn't need much shading. For the hair, I used a bright green to define the strands and give it more of a shape. After that, I started on the rings and the arm of the boss, which I liked doing. I initially thought about making the rings more of a green color, but I found that I didn't like how they looked and went with a dark brown instead. I added some sparkles to the rings and afterwards, adjusted the color of the skin and the contrast. I wanted the contrast to be stronger, and I changed the skin color to be more of a cool toned green. The background started off with black, and then I painted the center green. I eventually began to define a shape, and used a brush to add texture and better follow my inspiration. After thinking a bit, I painted a jagged red line across the background. I wanted to see if that contrast would look good and it did, so I adjusted the shape before finishing the background. The last part was the bloodstains, and I used the same vibrant red for contrast.
Experimentation
With the blood splatters, I had some prior experience with drawing them, so it wasn't too hard. I experimented with the shapes and the placement, adjusting them until I thought they looked right. I chose to have the blood go in a certain direction to make it more realistic, and drew them going to the left. I decided I didn't want too much red, as it would detract from the green, so I went for smaller details. I thought adding the blood on the collar and smudges on the glasses would be fun elements to include, something to build up the story more. With the pose, the change from the knife to the ring in the hand fixed the problem I felt with the sketch. The knife in hand felt awkward, and the ring came off more natural for the piece. I initially wasn't sure about how to convey the story effectively, but in the end I thought that the blood stains would do that better than the knife. For the background, I used my inspiration as a starting point and tried out different shades of green. The entire process was largely experimental, but once I defined the shapes I had a better idea of what to edit. I liked the use of the textured brush on the edges of the background, adding some faint green and black to it.
I had gradually adjusted the shades of green over the course of adding the flats. The skin had been a warmer tone of green at first, but as I did the rest of the body, it didn't match up with the other tones. The tones were cooler, and so I added a correction layer to change the skin. For the contrast, I used another correction layer as I found it wouldn't look right against the dark background. I wanted the values to match, and it turned out nice.
I had gradually adjusted the shades of green over the course of adding the flats. The skin had been a warmer tone of green at first, but as I did the rest of the body, it didn't match up with the other tones. The tones were cooler, and so I added a correction layer to change the skin. For the contrast, I used another correction layer as I found it wouldn't look right against the dark background. I wanted the values to match, and it turned out nice.
Critique
Similarities
Both works have the use of texture and messier brushstrokes, and the way the background is painted gives the piece a dynamic feeling. The two also portray a certain emotion, which is emphasized by the lighting. The lighting is a certain color that's used around the work, and the color motif can be picked out. The poses are similar, the head tilted upwards and looking down at something. The left hand is held upwards, in the center, with a ring on them. Both attires are alike, too, with both men wearing a suit and tie.
Differences
Rostov's work includes the color purple as a reoccurring choice throughout the work, but the lighting isn't too strong and doesn't affect the rest of the colors. The green lighting in my piece is strong, almost all the colors a shade of green, and the light source is coming from below. Rostov's light source is coming from above, and the shadows aren't quite as strong. There's less contrast between the values. The color motifs are different, and this is because green represented Lee better. The green is meant to symbolize envy, along with growth and money. The intents of the pieces are different, too, seeing as Rostov's work was for a game and my work is meant to explore envy. My work has more of a self contained story while Sensitive Archetype is part of a larger story.
Both works have the use of texture and messier brushstrokes, and the way the background is painted gives the piece a dynamic feeling. The two also portray a certain emotion, which is emphasized by the lighting. The lighting is a certain color that's used around the work, and the color motif can be picked out. The poses are similar, the head tilted upwards and looking down at something. The left hand is held upwards, in the center, with a ring on them. Both attires are alike, too, with both men wearing a suit and tie.
Differences
Rostov's work includes the color purple as a reoccurring choice throughout the work, but the lighting isn't too strong and doesn't affect the rest of the colors. The green lighting in my piece is strong, almost all the colors a shade of green, and the light source is coming from below. Rostov's light source is coming from above, and the shadows aren't quite as strong. There's less contrast between the values. The color motifs are different, and this is because green represented Lee better. The green is meant to symbolize envy, along with growth and money. The intents of the pieces are different, too, seeing as Rostov's work was for a game and my work is meant to explore envy. My work has more of a self contained story while Sensitive Archetype is part of a larger story.
Reflection
This project was new in trying more dynamic lighting and stark contrast. I don't usually use that much in my pieces, so I wanted to at least try my hand at it. I had problems at first with the shade of green on the skin and the contrast, but I was able to adjust those and fix it to my liking. I've wanted to try something inspired by Rostov's artwork for a while, and I believe I was able to follow that inspiration with the way of painting and the use of a reoccurring color. My favorite part while doing this piece was the blood splatters, because the bright red makes the work more interesting and adds necessary contrast to it. I also like the smudges on the glasses and the rings because while they're smaller details, the smudges contribute more to that messy look and the rings add some contrast with the gold color. Painting in green was more difficult, since I hadn't done that type of lighting before and it was hard to figure out what the colors should be. Looking at some references helped with the lighting, but I partially guessed on some parts.
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 Rostov's way of painting and utilization of textures, as well as the color motif influencing the lighting. The color is most prevalent in the background, and the background itself adds a dynamic element to the piece.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Aleksander Rostov uses messier brushstrokes to convey emotions and how they aren't neat.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Rostov wanted to stray away from photo realism in his style, and focus more on the subjective side to better reflect the game. I thought this choice was interesting, and he showed me how the choice in art style can portray the human condition more effectively.
4. What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea was envy.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
There's different ways to portray something through presentation, and Rostov puts a lot of thought into how he uses techniques and the way he applies brushstrokes.
I followed Rostov's way of painting and utilization of textures, as well as the color motif influencing the lighting. The color is most prevalent in the background, and the background itself adds a dynamic element to the piece.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Aleksander Rostov uses messier brushstrokes to convey emotions and how they aren't neat.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Rostov wanted to stray away from photo realism in his style, and focus more on the subjective side to better reflect the game. I thought this choice was interesting, and he showed me how the choice in art style can portray the human condition more effectively.
4. What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea was envy.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
There's different ways to portray something through presentation, and Rostov puts a lot of thought into how he uses techniques and the way he applies brushstrokes.
Citations
“Kouryer Podcast EP.191 (Aleksander Rostov).” YouTube, YouTube, 12 Sept. 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az_T1-LgRIk. Accessed 7 Nov. 2022.
Rostov, Aleksander. “Disco Elysium Archetypes.” Artstation, 2020, https://www.artstation.com/artwork/6aAL8x. Accessed 2 Nov. 2022.
“Them by Kinnas on Deviantart.” DeviantArt, 2 July 2011, https://www.deviantart.com/kinnas/art/Them-216289034.
Rostov, Aleksander. “Disco Elysium Archetypes.” Artstation, 2020, https://www.artstation.com/artwork/6aAL8x. Accessed 2 Nov. 2022.
“Them by Kinnas on Deviantart.” DeviantArt, 2 July 2011, https://www.deviantart.com/kinnas/art/Them-216289034.