Environmental Storytelling

For this Environmental Storytelling brief we were tasked with producing a series of 15 images reflective of three different locations. For this I produced a series of sketches on site at each of the locations before touching them up with pen work and in some cases colour. The purpose of this task is to refine my drawing skills as well as make use of things such as perspective and composition when producing backgrounds for animation.

Nation of Shopkeepers: For this set of sketches I went to Nation of Shopkeepers, a pub and gig venue in Leeds...

1)

For the exterior of the pub I did a relatively quick pencil sketch on-site and took a few reference photos to refer back to before refining the lines later on using a selection of fineliner pens. I chose this angle as I felt the two-point perspective would give the drawing more depth and complexity to how I usually draw backgrounds on a flatter, more 2D plain. 

2)

After completing the linework I scanned the drawing in and applied various shades of blue to the building to emphasise the front signage of the building as well as the brick patterns and windows.

3)

This first drawing of the interior was done from the corner of the pub, and upon reflection has inconsistent  use of perspective. The wall in the mid-ground appears to be on a separate plain to the rest of the drawing and looks out of place, as the perspective lines do not follow the furniture standing next to it. All the interiors in Nation Of Shopkeepers were drawn the same night. For this I tried to keep preliminary pencil work to a minimum and started on the pen work there and then while I was having a drink. You'll probably notice that with each subsequent drink, the linework and use of perspective becomes more sloppy and unrefined, which can be attributed to the drinking that was taking place in between drawings. 

4)

The drawing above was after two drinks and you can start to see the proportions and perspective take a hit. Some of the finer details further away from my vantage point, such as the furniture in teh back and some of the things on the counter, were also omitted as a stylistic choice in order to emphasise distance. Each drawing was done from a different corner of a pub, so I kept changing tables to get a different angle. I was only interested in capturing the furniture and interior of the pub and to save time I omitted some of the customers and bar staff who were sitting around, which wasn't a difficult task considering the time of day and day of the week.

5)

This third drawing of the bar, produced after three drinks, taken from the corner at the other end of the pub, sacrifices detail for clarity in my opinion. Out of all of my interior drawings I feel this one is the most refined and successful in it's use of foreground and perspective.

6)

This final drawing of the stalls in the corner of the pub, while in it's use of perspective consistent, condenses the space a but too much. The ceiling is too low down and the square which in this drawing is supposed represent the image being projected by the projector is also too small and too close to the left.

7)

After deciding which of my finished drawings would be best to develop further I went back to my first drawing, scanned it into the computer and applied various shades of blue in photoshop to give the drawing a sort of cool tone.

Woodhouse Lane: I chose Woodhouse Lane as one of my three locations because of the sheer diversity in architecture. From here there is a clear view of several areas of the city, from Sky Plaza to the Leeds University building.

8)

This first drawing was drawn from the window near the stairwell at the farthest end of the college overlooking the car park. The pen work and shading was done on-site while the coloured image below was produced in photoshop after scanning these initial finished drawings into the computer. One thing I feel works well in this drawing is the use of perspective as well as foreground and background. The building in the foreground amplifies the distance the other buildings are from my vantage point, though I do feel the image could use a little more depths to better distinguish the foreground and background.

9)

The coloured version I created in Photoshop afterwards uses cool blue tones similar to my previous coloured drawing of the exterior of Nation Off Shopkeepers. This was done with the intended effect of creating something with a distinctly daytime tone and feel. While I feel the sky adds to this, in the future I will take reference photos in order to capture the other colours in the scene as I feel the blues in this picture fall flat.

10)

Like my previous drawings, the pencil work for this drawing was done on site in a fairly rushed rough state as it was 5'o clock in the morning and the line work was then done afterwards.

11)

However, I decided to take some pictures in order to capture some of the early morning tones, with the intention of colouring the drawing in Photoshop afterwards. The result is what you see above. I am really happy with how this drawing turned out as I feel it effectively captures the atmosphere and lighting of Woodhouse Lane in the early hours of the morning just before sunrise, with the contrasting blue and orange tones found in the sky and street lights, which I feel are juxtaposed very nicely. I used a variety of textured brushes from existing presets and toggled the settings in photoshop in order to properly simulate a sort of paint texture. I wasn't to preoccupied with detail or technically accurate drawing, mores the lighting and mood of the drawing, so overall I am happy with the result despite a few rough edges.

12)

As it was early morning and I wanted to capture as much of the mood as possible, I ended up taking more photographs or areas of interest, which allowed me not only to refer back to colours later, but also capture compositionally more complex scenes such as the one above. A rough version of the pencil work was done on sight, however most of what you are seeing was drawn using my photographs as reference. The perspective is consistent for the most part and I feel the drawing effectively communicates depths through its composition, as there is a clear distinction between objects in the fore, middle and backgrounds.

13)

For this drawing of the Leeds University clock tower I had to use the photograph for reference, hence the tight composition, a result of using a zoom lens on a camera.  By using a zoom lens for the reference photograph, the fore, middle and background is condensed into a smaller space, giving the illusion of parallax and I think you can tell by how much of the foreground is visible due to the fact the photograph I was drawing from was zoomed in.

14)

This drawing of the Leeds Beckett University building overlooking Woodhouse Lane was drawn during the day, hence the pencil-work was done on-site. Due to the height of the building I drew in portrait. While I am happy with the proportions on the buildings and the use of perspective, the lines detailing the tiles on the building are a little uneven and rough and probably would have benefitted from using a ruler.

Leeds Town Hall and Museum: For the final location I chose to draw the area around Leeds Town hall for its unique architecture...

15)

This first drawing of outside Leeds Art Gallery consist of a wide shot depicting the pedestrian area outside Leeds Town Hall. There are a couple of inconsistencies in the scale of buildings, particularly in the left of the frame, however the perspective is mostly consistent. There is also a clear sense of depth in the image as the detail decreases the further into the background objects appear.

16)

This drawing, drawn across the road from the side of Leeds Town Hall, effectively demonstrates depth and perspective as well as an attention to detail making it one of the strongest drawings all round I have produced for this brief so far. Out of all of my drawings, this is probably the one I spent the most time on. In order to deliver this attention to detail I drew from reference photographs, however the initial pencil sketch which the linework in built upon was, like the other drawings, done on-site.

17)

For this drawing of the front steps of Leeds Town Hall, I took separate reference images for the statues of the lions in order to deliver a detailed drawing. In this drawing I focused primarily on the foreground and omitted the background in order to focus on the details of the statue and the steps. Upon reflection I really should have used a ruler for the steps, as they vary wildly in their height and width in my drawing.

18)

This drawing of round the back of Leeds Town hall was drawn using reference photographs taken from across the road. Like my drawing of the exterior of Nation of Shopkeepers, I chose this angle for it's two point perspective and wide angle. There were cars in this scene, however I chose to leave them out in order to focus on the detailed architecture and shape of the building from my vantage point.

19)

This final drawing is of a segment of the town hall, the clock tower and was drawn using photographic reference. The close up of the clock was achieved using a zoom lens looking up from a very low angle.