Positive Illustration
Title: Cleanville
Size: 38cm x 25.5cm Medium: Colored Pencils & Graphite Date: November 2017 Exhibition Test: Cleanville is an illustration inspired by the Impressionistic artwork Starry Night over the Rhone by Vincent van Gogh. My goal was to show that not all big cities are dirty and large contributors to pollution and global warming. By using clean energy and including a lot of greenery in large structures, cities can contradict the ordinary polluted city. |
Critical Investigation & Inspiration
Cnbc. “Innovation Cities.” CNBC, CNBC, 6 Oct. 2014, www.cnbc.com/innovation-cities/.
Vincent van Gogh: The Paintings (Starry Night Over the Rhone), www.vggallery.com/painting/p_0474.htm.
“Forest City – A green city with more than 1 million trees and plants.” Ufunk.net, www.ufunk.net/en/design/liuzhou-forest-city/.
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My inspiration was Starry Night over the Rhone by Vincent van Gogh, and an image of an innovative city. I took the outline of the Starry Night over the Rhone but tweaked it to fit the characteristics of a green clean futuristic city. I plan to combine both of these images into a green city, placed in the setting of the Starry Night, with changing tones of light in the background and water. The goal of a clean city is to create an attractive, healthy habitat through the environment for the people of today and the future, and eradicate existing problems in big cities. These sustainable cities have green roofs and walls, green spaces, alternative energy use, and clean transportation. Green roofs and walls are basically buildings with greenery attached to the roof and sides. Green spaces are parks, public gardens, and allotments. Some forms of alternative energies are wind power, solar energy, geo thermal energy, and basically anything that doesn't harm the environment. Clean transportation is transportation that does not emit as much pollution and gases as normal transportation methods do. for examples, bike lanes, and clean diesel. Vincent van Gogh was an Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painter born in 1853 who greatly influenced Western art. Van Gogh painted the Starry Night and had posthumous fame after committing suicide. His artwork consisted of still life's, landscapes, self-portraits, and portraits. Impressionism is a art movement from the 19th century comprised of small, thin brush strokes, blended to hide the motion of the hand during painting. This movement had emphasis on the changing qualities of light and color. My artwork was based on impressionism, and the aspects of a clean sustainable city.
Impressionism -
Clean Sustainable Cities have -
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“Impressionism Movement, Artists and Major Works.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/movement-impressionism.htm.
“10 Essential Green Building and Sustainability Features For Modern Cities.” BuildDirect Blog Life at Home, www.builddirect.com/blog/green-building-sustainablity-features-modern-cities/.
“Vincent van Gogh.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 14 Aug. 2017, www.biography.com/people/vincent-van-gogh-9515695.
“10 Essential Green Building and Sustainability Features For Modern Cities.” BuildDirect Blog Life at Home, www.builddirect.com/blog/green-building-sustainablity-features-modern-cities/.
“Vincent van Gogh.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 14 Aug. 2017, www.biography.com/people/vincent-van-gogh-9515695.
Planning
My plan with these drawings are to keep the outline of waterfront and island in the foreground. I also want the keep the buildings but add green terraces on the sides and roofs. In order to relate to impressionism i want to put a color gradation in the form of a sunset in the background behind the high density buildings. Besides the color scheme i want everything to have a perspective of the city during the day so the greenery of the building can be visible.
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Process/Technique/Experimentation
Process
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TechniqueI used only one direction of pencil stroke whether it be diagonal, horizontal, or vertical to keep the coloring looking neat. I chose to only use colored pencil because with acrylic, it would outshine over the low saturation of the colored pencils.
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Reflection
My artwork has components from both inspirations. The outline came from the van Gogh inspiration, whereas the components came from an innovative green city. I used bright and vivid colors in gradation in the sky which relate to impressionism's infamous gradations and techniques on the backgrounds. The green on the sides and roofs of buildings represent the plant life needed in cities to become cleaner and give the city an attractive look. The blue and light blue of the water depict the cleanliness and clarity of clean water as a result of a clean pollution free city. If i could go back to improve the drawing i would add components of a clean city onto the water to emphasize that the city can run off of clean energy and reduce the space that is used on the water. With the space of the water being reduced i would've made the area that the buildings are drawn on bigger to fit more detail in because currently the buildings only take up 1/3rd of the board which drastically limits the amount of detail that can be put onto them. Before putting color on the board, i should've experimented more with gradation and manipulating the colored pencils to do what i plan to color with them because they don't work the same as acrylic and brushes. One thing that was challenging was completely coloring the edges on the body of water because the pencil tip would fall off the side. A success was the buildings and background sunset because it came out exactly how i envisioned it to be. Overall the colored pencils blended nicely for the sunset gradation.
ACT Questions
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
My inspiration has a impressionism city scenery and therefore i used the outline from Starry Night over the Rhone and some impressionism characteristics,
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Very informative with examples and thorough analysis of the examples that exemplify techniques from Impressionism and Van Gogh, and characteristics that make a city clean and sustainable.
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3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Artworks can tell stories about current issues like an article would.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspiration research?
Urbanization and Sustainability.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
Theres several extensions to the original Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh
My inspiration has a impressionism city scenery and therefore i used the outline from Starry Night over the Rhone and some impressionism characteristics,
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Very informative with examples and thorough analysis of the examples that exemplify techniques from Impressionism and Van Gogh, and characteristics that make a city clean and sustainable.
.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Artworks can tell stories about current issues like an article would.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspiration research?
Urbanization and Sustainability.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
Theres several extensions to the original Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh
Bibliography
“Impressionism Movement, Artists and Major Works.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/movement-impressionism.htm
Vincent van Gogh: The Paintings (Starry Night Over the Rhone), www.vggallery.com/painting/p_0474.htm
Cnbc. “Innovation Cities.” CNBC, CNBC, 6 Oct. 2014, www.cnbc.com/innovation-cities/
“Vincent van Gogh.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 14 Aug. 2017, www.biography.com/people/vincent-van-gogh-9515695.'
“10 Essential Green Building and Sustainability Features For Modern Cities.” BuildDirect Blog Life at Home, www.builddirect.com/blog/green-building-sustainablity-features-modern-cities/.
Vincent van Gogh: The Paintings (Starry Night Over the Rhone), www.vggallery.com/painting/p_0474.htm
Cnbc. “Innovation Cities.” CNBC, CNBC, 6 Oct. 2014, www.cnbc.com/innovation-cities/
“Vincent van Gogh.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 14 Aug. 2017, www.biography.com/people/vincent-van-gogh-9515695.'
“10 Essential Green Building and Sustainability Features For Modern Cities.” BuildDirect Blog Life at Home, www.builddirect.com/blog/green-building-sustainablity-features-modern-cities/.