Foreshortening as modelled by Stephen

Today's a bit of a higgledy-piggledy hodgepdge and a indeed, hotpot of a post.... some of my messy concept thumbnail type drawings and some kitty action. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Stephen was sleeping on my computer chair, so I picked him up (which is not easy) and plonked him on my lap. To my surprise, he stayed in exactly the position I left him in, flat on his back. He is so massive that I couldn't photograph all of him at the same time.






I have this photo of a graveyard in the village I used to live next to, and I really want to paint it. But I'm as yet unsure as to how I want the perspective to go, how cute I want to make the lines, and whether I'll put anything in it. Putting wrestlers in it feels a little contrived. And sort of vulgar. But how does a person judge these things? Painting pictures is a funny business.









Stephen has no suggestions.









Who's up for a fight? Bunnies and minotaurs?













It seems necessary to the congealing of my ideas to have these loose deranged pages in which elements can come together of their own accord.









One thing that's changed lately is that I'm trying to get a proper handle on perspective, because I was never taught it properly, yet I'm quite a fetishist for geometric tricks once I get into it. (See the new link on the right, to a very thorough page about perspective.) I used to try and convince myself that I was happy 'feeling things out' painting in quite a shallow, retarded pictorial space... but now I want to gain as much control as I can over these elements and not leave things to chance.

Here's an old painting with a nice feeling but no regard for perspectival depth at all:






But Stephen gives me lessons in dynamic perspective... in fact I've been studying kitty anatomy quite a lot. That's for a future blog.













Tags: gravestone, wrestling, minotaur, cats, sketch, perspective, painting