I may have saved the best fro last – adding people into scenes is always tricky. They can so easily end up in wrong place – even when they’re on your reference. And should you be adding folks from other sources the problem compounds! There’s an easy principle here – perspective!  With this under our belt – it’s time to have some fun!

Placing people in scenes

A very common concern is placing people into compositions in a realistic way – so that they look like they are meant to be there, in their environment. So often something looks “not quite right”, size, position look awkward. The result looking somewhat folk art-ish. Not that there is anything wrong with Folk Art and you may like the effect. Should you want your work to follow a realistic thread, continue!

In the following video I cover some principles that can guide us:

The key is where figures are in comparison with the horizon. Let me walk though a little perspective. Your viewpoint defines the picture space, that’s what viewer will see – the world as you define it from the perspective of your eyes. They will literally view your world through your eyes. So now take a journey with me into your picture space. Pretend a horizontal walkway stretches in front of you into the distance, through walls, forests, mountains, across rivers, lakes and seas. You’d now where would you be? You’d be just a little spec ….on the horizon. This is key, your eyes are on the horizon, your viewpoint stretches onward to the horizon. Anything below the horizon is therefore shorter than you, anything above taller.

Therefore on level ground a crowd of people have heads all grouped around the horizon, children in walkers below, stilt walkers higher. Placing people into the scene is now easier, just place the head around the horizon, for adults around your height anyway. Walking into the picture it’s the feet that move…not the heads….let the feet do the moving and you’ll be placing figures in natural positions.

I took the following picture, notice my camera view is at head height for average adult male:

In this next image, with France handling camera duties,  my head is above the viewpoint, however the figures at the left and in the distance are all around horizon height:

It gets more complicated with hills and other viewpoints however keeping this fundamental principle in mind invariably helps. Going uphill of course you’d be walking up from your initial viewpoint. Descending into a valley you’d end up below your horizon, soar up into the air like a bird and everything is below you as your horizon climbs to the top of your picture space.

 

 

Atmospheric perspective

In traditional landscapes, such as the demonstration from week 5, the effects of atmosphere invariably enhances the illusion of perspective. With distance, colours fade because of what might be referred to as and “atmospheric veil”: This is the effect of moisture, pollution, dust, pollen – you name it, it’s all between you and the subject. The further away, the more pronounced the effect. The two related effects are:

1. Reducing  the degree of colour will fade out a subject, making it look like it is lost in the mist and hence, further away. Lack of colour, fading to a blue-grey gives the impression of distance!
2. A second effect of atmosphere is that the veil “greying out” the forms has the effect of losing contrast between lights and darks.

These principles can be applied to any subject to add an impression of perspective, with greens getting less intense, and lighter the further away – with the sky lighter and greying into the distance as well.

Examples

Manhattan Street scene

In this quick gestural painting, perspective is implied throughout with no direct reference to a vanishing point – although you can see a mark on the top left driving to a vanishing point, and I recall being careful that the crosswalk stripes all point the right way.

Cars and people fit into the scene, overlapping and receding quickly. All the heads are around horizon-height, denoting a level street view. Far buildings, both brown and blue, fade into the swirl of the sky compared with the darker, (relatively) more defined and brushy foreground.

A watercolour study

In this video painting session, I draw and paint a cottage in watercolour. This shows the approach that makes sense when perspective is a factor and not a driving feature. I get the receding building plausible without specifically constructing to vanishing points – my favorite approach – plausible is often preferable to perfect. In this way, the image resolves nicely with out being too “correct”.

I follow the three zones approach from week 2 with the building forming a clear mid-ground focus. Some atmospheric effects are also included with the backdrop greyed out to meet the sky.

Exercise

1. Take a previous study and review how you would add figures into the scene. Assuming that you do not intend to modify your work, this can easily be achieved with some collage – I told you this would be fun didn’t I!
2. Develop a drawing or painting that includes figures and/or perspective in your composition. Perhaps combine elements from two references. Without formal reference to vanishing points, keeping the flow of perspective in your imaginary and place figures based on the principles described.
3. Should you be unsure about your perspective, by all means send me your layout for comments prior to developing the painting.

 

We’ve still a full month of summer ahead of us. There’s no timetable for completing the material and the course will remain available on the website for the foreseeable future!.

Time’s flown by these last 5 weeks! I’ve enjoyed working with you all and reviewing some of your wonderful art.

Break-a-Brush!

David