Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Star Gazer




Many months back I started and neeeeearly finished this piece, for fun, between work. I have been (and am currently) in a long busy stretch, so I didn't get the chance to put the finishing touches on it until last week!

This all started as a composition exercise. I was reading the wonderful Creative Illustration by Andrew Loomis (out of print, but free pdfs available online) and he has a great section about informal subdivision as a compositional tool. Informal subdivision is a process Loomis created, where you divide your image space unequally (and somewhat randomly!) by drawing a series of horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines. As he shows it in the book:


Once you create this dynamic linear plan for your image, you let it suggest your composition for whatever subject you have in mind. Here's the subdivision I made:


I didn't have a particular subject in mind, I just wanted to draw a lady. So I kind of just let myself meander a bit with the drawing.


I settled on the lady in the chair, who I made into a space lady (one of the best kinds of lady) who maybe got herself into some sort of a sticky situation.

Here's the final lined up with my informal subdivision.


It's a pretty fun exercise! It might be a little tricky to use if you need to have a specific sort of layout, but it's great for suggesting ideas. Try your own! Composition for all!

5 comments:

Ann said...

Great post, Kali! I'm working my way through the Loomis books right now! Beautiful illustration.

Puño said...

This is fantastic, I'm going to try it for sure.

Maybe this little gem by Peter P. Plasencia was made following this process: http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinklasch/5430969697/

By the way: your work is pretty good! I like it so much!

Drawtist_P said...

Pretty awesome! I'm been in a bit of a rut lately, so this should help me shake it off. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I'm learning a lot just reading your blog. Thank you.

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