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Creative Computer Tools for Artists |
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An article featured in: " Creative Computer Tools for Artists". Published by Watson Guptill. The book demonstrates the process of 40 nationally respected artists in the use of the
computer as a tool to compose and design paintings.
Available from: amazon.com
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Creating Movement through Color
"Jack London Vineyard" by Manette Fairmont
watermedia, 24" x 24" (61 x 61cm) |
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| Manette Fairmont likes to paint "conceptual landscapes," an approach that lies between realism and abstraction. She carries her sketch pad everywhere to record important shapes and values with graphite or colored pencils, which she might supplement with photos. |
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Fairmont photographed this scene of the beautiful vineyards surounded by rolling hills in the Napa valley . She noticed a variety of values and shapes that would help make this painting a success. She enjoys selecting and abstracting these shapes and then placing them into new surroundings. (Image A)
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A. The existing values and contrast in this Napa Valley scene needed to be enhanced |
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1. First, she zoomed in and cropped the original photo into a square format for closer detail of the vineyard. (Image B)
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B. The photo was cropped into a square format to isolate important details. |
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2. Fairmont studied the shapes and then began to abstract them by breaking them up into simple, flat shapes. For instance she selected the shape of the oak tree and placed it onto a separate layer. Then she experimented with the value, saturation , and color of this single shape. (Image C) |
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| C. The dominant shape of the oak tree was the first that Manette fairmont chose for her design. |
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3. She broke down other areas into strong shapes and began to build her design. As with the oak tree, each of these shapes was placed onto a separate layer. This allowed her to experiment separately with the value, saturation and color of each shape. (Image D) |
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D. Other shapes were identified and placed into separate layers, where Fairmont couls freely manipulate them for the creation of her design. |
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4. On the bottom right of the design, she cloned one of the vines, placed them in a row, and applied a red color. Each vine was scaled slightly smaller to give the feeling of perspective in a contemporary manner. the foreground textures were added to create a foreground space. (Image E) |
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E. The tree red vines were cloned and moved into a row. |
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5. In the end, Fairmont had sixteen separate layers. She moved elements around, rotated them, and played with their color and size. In the Transform command, you can scale, rotate, skew, distort, or change perspective. (Image F) |
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F. In total, there were sixteen separate layers involved in pulling the design together. |
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6. Fairmont chose to fill the spaces in between the shapes with black to make them recede. (Image G) |
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G. The final computer sketch was unified with three strong black shapes |
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Fairmont enjoys playing with color and shapes in an abstract/realistic manner. The computer allowed her to move the shapes and colors around until she arrived at a combination that pleased her. It also influenced the end product with vibrant color relationships she would not have normally used.
(Image H) |
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H. Manette Fairmonts vibrant, dynamic painting has been changed considerably from the original photo, but the shapes can still be found. |
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