Richard Dumont

Date:2010-12-23 | Quote | #1

Swan Lake project: Defining the subject and the art direction

Hi everyone,

I would first like to say thank you to the Organizers to have set up this huuuge art contest! I haven’t participate to such an event since the CGSociety challenges a few years ago, and I’m really glad to have the chance to participate again. So many people have registered so far, and many of them have been inspiration to me for a long time... This is so cool.

For this entry I’ve chosen the special category “Swan lake”, so I’ll be studying and working with the Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus). This subject from the start has attracted me for many reasons. I like this local Chinese belief written in the description category: “many people’s soul are refined when they take photographs” of swans… Sounds mystical and fantastic, I like that! Birds sanctuaries are really interesting and important places, so lets hope the “Swan Lake wetland Ecosystem Restoration” project of Doctor Duan Jia and his friends become a reality! :)

Here in the province of Quebec in Canada we have the Bonaventure Island which is also an important bird sanctuary. If you travel there in summer, make sure to visit this amazing little island, with thousands of fous de Bassan (Morus bassanus) nesting there. The installations on the island let you get really close to the birds, giving you a very intense experience! Birds sanctuaries are just so cool places to visit...

So, what am I going to do for this project?

First step : defining the subject. It took me a while to decide what I would do visually. Since this category is set to support the “Swan Lake wetland Ecosystem Restoration” project of Doctor Duan Jia and his friends in China, I decided to first try some visual researches using Chinese brushes. Being a big fan of the art direction of the movie « Hero » directed by Zhang Yimou where we see a lot of ink and handbrushes strokes, I’ve decided to get inspired from this, and try to explore different ways of painting those birds in a minimalist approach on the early stages, using real medium to get interesting base textures and natural water base forms. For this project I think I’ll try something very different from past challenges, with an approach more minimalist and graphical. The idea here will be to mix natural real medium brush strokes with digital compositing, retouching, and painting. I’m also planning to explore the possibility of integrating text that might suit and add to the subject, but I’ll have to verify if it’s ok with the competition rules… I’m also thinking about getting some inspiration from artists I really like, whose artworks can be found in art books and on the net : Cai Guo-Quiang, Ernesto Caivano, Ching Chung and Hai Chung, Tor-Magnus Lundeby, and Takashi Murakami.

Concerning the text, I’ve found this beautiful poem from Du Fu (712-770) titled “The River's Blue, The Bird a Perfect White”, which I really like for its simplicity, its relation to the subject, its vibe, and its graphic quality (4 lines of 5 characters each… nice :). I’ve found this poem on this interesting website: http://www.chinese-poems.com/d27.html Here is the poem in Chinese and in English:
………………………………….
江碧鸟逾白
山青花欲燃
今春看又过
何日是归年

The river's blue, the bird a perfect white,
The mountain green with flowers about to blaze.
I've watched the spring pass away again,
When will I be able to return?
………………………………….
That’s it for the resume to define the subject and the art direction! Time to work now! C’est parti! :)

Richard Dumont

Date:2011-01-13 | Quote | #2

Research

I've finished the base brushes and forms research. During this step I've tried to explore various base forms using photo references of swans found on the net using real Chinese brushes and paint. I'll post in the next WIP the one I best prefer for this project and see what I could do with... :)

Richard Dumont

Date:2011-01-13 | Quote | #3

Choosing the best swan form

Here are the 2 variations of brush strokes that I prefer for their simplicity and the vitality of the pause. Now I need to figure out the final composition... For the next step, I'm going to explore base composition using these paintings as center of interest in the picture, with a minimal and graphical approach in mind. Time to explore now! See you later! :)

Richard Dumont

Date:2011-01-16 | Quote | #4

Base final composition!

I've tried different block in and choose this base composition. Next I'll incorporate textures, typo and maybe a few other elements... Time to explore a little bit more! :)

There are very nice artworks so far in the competition... Great works everybody!!! :)

Richard Dumont

Date:2011-02-08 | Quote | #5

Final phase

During this final phase I've played with different textures, trying to find something that would fit the composition and the subject. I made a pattern using the base swan shape. I flipped it and scaled it down, making the little shapes looking like dots when you look at them from a distance.

I've also added flying swans that come out (or pass through) the red mass on top, trying to keep the first direction: simplicity of shapes in the representation of the birds. To those shapes I've added smooth airbrush effect, which I liked for its reference to a famous modern-contemporary painter of Quebec named Riopelle. He did in the end of his life many paintings of gooses, using dead bodies, which he then placed on canvas. He then sprayed paint over them, transferring the silhouette of the dead body on the surface. (Hope I remember his artistic process correctly... :P) Here is a link to his work for those interested! http://www.riopelle.ca/

I’ve tried different colors but the red seems to fit better than others, I guess a lot because for its reference to life, and urgency… But that’s only my opinion. :)

I've also added the poem from Du Fu, trying to integrate it the best I could in the comp. I would like to thank Donglu Yu (great concept artist and illustrator :) who helped me find out if the text was correct, and telling me the sens of lecture (I couldn’t have known by myself for sure… ayayaye ;)

I’ve also started to think a little about different ways of presentation for exhibtion, just for fun... I’ll post a quick try I’ve done, maybe I’ll expore the possibily of integrating real life object… We’ll see! :)

Richard Dumont

Date:2011-02-08 | Quote | #6

Artwork in environment

A friend took a picture I like of an interior and I thought maybe the artwork might fit in, so I modified it to see what it would look like, just for fun... :P Maybe I'll try different setup later, using other "red" objects... I dunno... It might just be stretching the contest rules a little bit too far... ahum ;) Tx Soraya and Agnes for the pict!