Artist Research

Artist Critique

Name of Artist - Shaddy Safadi

Description – 

The artist’s work is very dark and uses a lot of earth tones to help create the atmosphere of the environment. The reason why I chose this artist is because he made a lot of the objects that are seen in The Last of Us environments. Because of The Last of Us having a lot of glass bottles that are seen throughout the game that can be picked up and thrown as weapons, I felt that it was appropriate to include this artist, as The Last of Us is a game that uses the object in a practical sense. This helps, because it is just as important to find out where your object would realistically be in a game as it is to design it.

Analysis – 

These concept pictures were first illustrated to get the base of the environment down. This allows you do add everything else that you want in later because you’ll have the detail and structure down in order for you to add the smaller objects in afterwards. These pictures are quite different depending on the type of setting that is being displayed. The first category of the artists drawings are “realistic drawings”. These often have a much higher attention to detail and have a darker colour palette. The second category that is displayed is the stylized drawings

Interpretation – 

In this artist’s piece, the image wants you to focus on the centre of the pic that is the “raised” area of the picture. In this case it is the bus that is contrasting with the rest of the picture due to the bright colours that are shown alongside the earth tones. A car is present near the front of the future in a bright green. This is to catch the viewer’s attention, as we are more likely to notice things that are at the front of the image. This looks like it could be set in a post-apocalyptic world where people are just trying to survive. In the picture a man is seen crouching underneath behind the rubble and bus, which implies that he has a reason to hide. With this, I can gather that the world isn’t very safe to the point that he feels that he needs to be cautious.

Judgement –

Name one thing that you like about the work?

I like the realistic, yet barren setting of the world. I feel that the colours complement each other very well, with the objects that are from before the apocalypse being brighter, yet damaged.

How does it relate to your project?

The picture is a realistic environment that showcases the kind of setting that would be in a game where a bottle would be lying on the floor. Because of the type of objects that would randomly be placed in an environment.

Name of Artist – Marcello Barenghi

Description – This artist specialises in drawing real life objects in extremely high detail. Some of his recent pieces of work include things that are quite common such as gummy bears, bottle caps, bottles, a drinking glass and a pair of sunglasses.  All of the objects are made to look 3D and they are given so much attention to detail to the point that they really do look like the real thing.

Analysis – The artist relies on building layers slowly through the use of colours and highlights. This allows him to achieve an effect that is hyper realistic because of the use of detail that can be used to showcase the lighting, reflections and overall different tones of the object.

Interpretation – This artist wants you to see the items in a very realistic way which has been built up through the use of paints and coloured pens. It’s a very slow process that can take a lot of time to perfect, but the end result is a finished product that is at a very high detail. The use of everyday objects allows the artist to see these objects in the first person perspective and also allows them to see the properties of the object such as the way that the light reflects where certain shadows are etc.

Judgement –

Name one thing that you like about the work?

I really like the simplistic drawings that are used for the outlines because it shows the effect that colour and tone can have on an object. This means that the amount of detail that was put into the colour scheme and highlights elevated the object to a realistic standard that proves that you can make creative designs with simplistic drawings.  These drawings also made me realise the importance of colours and the way in which they can make our drawings stand out. I always thought that the most important stage when applying detail to an initial sketch is to make sure that the drawing itself is given detail before applying colours, but by using colours in a certain way you can manipulate the way in which people see the image.

How does it relate to your project?

It relates to my project because of the type of objects that are being used. This artist has actually finished a concept piece which is a Coca-Cola bottle, which is the same thing that I am using for my project. The fact that he is using everyday objects shows that you can really showcase colour and unique objects in things that are quite common.

Name of Artist - JEAN BAPTISTE SIMÉON CHARDIN

Description – I chose this artist because I feel like the items that he chose to draw were very much in line with the subject matter of what I was trying to create. The artist had chosen the items from his own home because of their shape, textures and colours rather than any symbolic meaning that could've been behind the picture. This is the same reason why I chose my object because it’s an everyday item that I can pick up and see the properties for it, such as the lighting and proportions from different angles. 

Analysis – In his pictures, his work was created on canvases. They are usually based with a brown pigment that is sometimes tinted with red or green. The reasoning for this is because the neutral backgrounds that are used can be painted on to make the objects that stand out without the whole picture looking too bright or unrealistic.

Interpretation – My interpretation of his work is that he is using real life objects that you could find in your house everyday as a reference for his images. The artist’s reasoning for this is because he wanted to use everyday items to showcase the shape and design in everyday objects and how they can be used as a compositional device to lead the viewer’s eye into the painting, allowing the viewer to link all of the objects together.

Judgement –

Name one thing that you like about the work?

I like how subtle the work is with the amount of detail that is put into the pictures. With this picture, it displays a glass of water on a table space with some other items that are much darker being displayed alongside it. He built up these images by brushing the darkest tones, then the mid-tones and by finishing it off with highlights. With this technique he built up a subtle layering of detail that made the pictures tones blend together without them being too similar too each other. 

How does it relate to your project?

The simplicity of the piece is what relates to my project, because of the choice of objects that he uses in all of the images. Because he uses everyday objects to showcase his skills, I can see that using everyday objects can provide you with objects with different shapes and textures that you can have a constant reference from.

Artist Critique

Name of Artist - Giorgio Morandi

Description – Giorgio Morandi was an Italian painter who specialised in still life paintings and prints. His work is often cited as an example for how to subtlety create images that depict simple objects. Often times, these would include things such as vases, bottles and pots.

Analysis – The pictures are created using quite monotone colours with all of the colours being in a similar colour scale and range to each other. A lot of the items are put in very close proximity of each other as a focal point for the audience to look at when they are first noticing the picture. A lot of these pictures are shown from the perspective of either the front, or a little bit above that. I've noticed that they are usually not shown from a top down perspective because it takes away from the compact view of the items being as close as they are.

Interpretation – My interpretation of this artist’s work is that he is using everyday objects in close proximity to create a compact setting. When painting them, the artist will sometimes blur some colours together if the objects are in range within each other to help with the compact feel of the pictures.

Judgement –

Name one thing that you like about the work?

I like how the artist contrasts the lighter, yet more blurry objects that are displayed usually on top of things that are in similar colour range, yet the individual objects within the frame of the picture still retain their own properties as objects without being muddled together. This is one of the things that I feel helps this artist’s work for the fact that his consistent style allows you easily identify a piece of his work without seeing his name.

How does it relate to your project?

This artist is another artist who shows the use of everyday objects that are found but can be used to create compelling pieces due to the artist manipulating the light directions, space proximity and colour composition of the objects being used. I found this artist to be a good source of research because he is one of the only artists that I researched that was from a different generation of artists considering he was born in 1890. Because of this, all of his work was created using painting so it was interesting to see the difference between some of his work, compared to a lot of modern artist’s work where a lot of the digital work is created using computer software.