Stages of Renaissance Art Painting

Beginning: Pencil Drawing


Middle: Colour Wheel

Middle: Applying Paints

End: Finished Painting

Exterior Perspective Painting Inspired by the Renissance Art Period

Some of the techniques i used from the Renaissance Period to develop my painting were:

1. Foreshortening - effect of shortening lines in a drawing so as to create an illusion of depth. In my painting i used freshening in order to create depth so that the mountain would appear in the distance and not near the front. Foreshortening helped create a sense of depth also with the continuous arches that recede into the distance. This added to giving my painting a sense of depth.

2. Balance and Proportion – were I used proper sizes for objects that would be in the front and objects in the background. I used light, airy, and bright colors in the parts of the painting that the sun shown on, and on the parts of objects that didn’t receive light from the sun I made those parts darker. Using light and dark colours created a sense of depth in my painting.

3. Chiaroscuro - effect of using a strong contrast between light and dark to give the illusion of depth or three-dimensionality. I used chiaroscuro in creating depth in the background, where I had the sky and the mountain. The sky features light colours and the mountain has dark colours. This use of light and dark colours creates a sense of dept in my painting.

4. Sfumato - art painting technique of blurring or softening of sharp outlines by subtle and gradual blending of one tone into another through the use of thin glazes to give the illusion of depth or three-dimensionality. The technique of Sfumato was used in my painting of the sky. Here is used smoothly blended colours so that is appeared gradual and not as separate clouds, the sky appears as one big mix of colours but it is blended in together so well that it does not appear as single colours.

The discoveries that I made during the renaissance painting project were, that objects that receded into the distance, often had blue added to the object or landscape. It seems the artists during the renaissance period did this to create a sense of depth. So, in my painting I made the mountain blue so that it appeared that it was distant and in the background. A technique that I found helpful through the process of my painting was, chiaroscuro because without creating a light and dark contrast in my painting, it would have possibly been hard to create a sense of depth.

Two skills that I learnt were Sfumato and proportion. I learnt Sfumato in my sky where I blended warm colours together, in the end it appears as one large full sky and not in pieces. I learnt proportion in how made the sizes of objects appear in the front and background. Objects in the foreground appear bigger than objects in the foreground. I feel I could improve my blending technique, if I were to practice this technique I believe I could eventually reach a life-like sky, and not an unrealistic one.

Renaissance Art: 5 Referances

These are the 5 reference photos i used for my perspective painting:

Finished Skateboard

This is the finished look of my Skateboard.

Process

How I developed my final design for my skateboard:

To reach my final design, it was a long tedious journey; because there are many steps I took in which to reach my ending goal.

First what I did was I thought first of what kind of design I wanted, did I want a big image, a small image or something crazy. So, I practiced and made 5 thumbnail drawings of possible designs for my skateboard. Once I had my 5 thumbnail designs I realized that I didn’t like these designs enough to put them on my skateboard. The kind of design I wanted to place on the skateboard, to me had to be personal, because they way I would enjoy it more after it was finished. So, I thought of a past event that happened last March Break of 2008, where I went on a school trip to China. This trip really stood out for me because I had a ton of fun and it was very historical, which I like. A figure that stood out to me was Chairman Mao, who was a dictator in China. His portrait was scene almost everywhere. Mao, I decided had to go on my skateboard.

I created my own version of a Mao portrait and created my own text font for his name to be placed on the skateboard. I cut out my designs of Mao’s head and name in stencils. This way I could practice my designs over and over again, but also it could be used to paint my final design onto the skateboard.

There were tools I used to make affects on the skateboard. For instance I used a sponge, the sponge allowed me to distribute the evenly, with the amount of pressure I used being controlled. The sponge worked effectively at spreading the paint on top of the stencils.

Next I created 3 full scale drawings of the skateboard, on paper. I would use these up to scale drawings to make practice designs for my skateboard. I used my stencils to make 3 different compositions using different colours and values.

After I created my 3 practice designs I began to work on the final step, of placing my design on the skateboard. Just before I began to place my designs onto the skateboard, someone in my class suggested creating a direction in which I could place the word “Mao”. With that advice I chose to place the word Mao diagonal and repeatedly. When I placed my design I’d put the head in the middle because of it being a large shape, that stands out. For the word “Mao” I decided to use a gradation scale from white to black on a diagonal. I used balance in the composition, of placing the head in the middle and the text on both ends. I used repetition, in the word “Mao”. Also Unity could be found on the finished skateboard in which, the text draws your eyes to the focal point of the Mao head.

3 Priliminary Drawings and Stencils

Here are my priliminary drawings of my Skateboard:

These are the stencils I'm using for my skateboard:

• The word "MAO"
• Two stencils of the face that when put together make the face of Moa Zedong.
  

The 5 Thumbnail Sketches For Skateboard

Here are the five thumbnail sketches i did:

Unit 2: Sanding of Skateboard (DECK)

The Process

Gluing the Skateboard



Step 1

Gluing the skateboard together was the first step in creating our skateboards. What we did was, we took the eight pieces of sheet maple, which had been precut, and placed them in a pile according to number. The Canadian maple sheets had already been stamped by the manufacturer, which showed us the order they'd be placed (from 1-8). We then placed the first sheet down, and right away put glue on it, we had to do the gluing fast because the super glue we were using dries very fast (within ten minutes). To glue the boards together we used paint rollers (that are for painting walls), and made a thin coat of glue on the sheet. It takes group effort to complete the process of gluing the board; one person had to time the gluing, another person to place the board pieces on top of just glued sheets, and two people to spread the glue on the sheet very fast. After all the gluing and placing of the boards, it should look like one big sheet (8 sheets thick). What we did to keep the boards all in place was, we took an ordinary screw and placed it through one of the eight holes. The screw only fits though, if you have all the board sheets aligned, this is not to important if the screw doesn't go through the board, it is just an extra step to keeping the board aligned.

Vacuum Sealing the Skateboard

Step 2

To vacuum seal the sheets of maple, all the eight sheets of maple must have been glued together, with a screw placed in one of the eight holes (possible step). This step must be done with in the ten minute time period, of gluing the skateboard as well. Take the glued board and place it upon the Styrofoam cutout that comes with the kit. This is used to shape the skateboard. Use two elastics to keep the sheets of maple in place. Also place a piece of fishing net to allow air to be easily sucked out when the air is later removed from the plastic bag. Once these things are attached to your board, place the skateboard neatly into the vacuum sealing bag. In order to close the vacuum sealing bag remove the unsticky strip of tape and make sure that is a good seal and that there is no air bubbles in the tape or air can escape. Close the bag, and take the pump for taking the air out of the bag. Continuously pump the bag, until all the air is sucked out. After one try of getting rid of all the air, pull at the sides of the bag around the skateboard. This will help get rid of any curling of the bag around the sheet pieces and will get rid of trapped air. Pump the bag once more to get rid of all the air. Let the sheets then sit for eight hours or more, so it can form into a skateboard. After set period of time remove the sealing bag, and other attachments to your board, and your skateboard is now complete. Make sure this step two is done within the ten minute period, for sealing the board in the sealing bag, or problem with your board may occur.

Carving the Skateboard

Step 3

To carve the skateboard, I used a sort of cheese grating utensil. This worked very well at removing the wood. To use the grating utensil, i pulled towards me. Make sure that when you use this utensil that you do it at a slow pace because if you rush through it, you may catch a wood piece and splinter your board, which just ruins your finished look. The finished look of the grating of the skateboard should have a smooth edge around the skateboard, with all of the sheets of wood edges being the same length. This step can take some time so don't rush it.

Sanding the Skateboard

(Need Picture)

Step 4

When i started sanding the skateboard i used a low numbered grade of sandpaper, because the lower the grade the harder the grain is, and the higher the grain of sandpaper the smother it is. I started from 60 - 80 - 100 - 120 - 220 - 400 (grade). For each grade i used one whole class length, so 120 minutes on each grade of sandpaper. This step was definitely the longest step of them all, the longer you sand your skateboard the nicer it looks i believe. When i personally got to the level 400 grade of sandpaper, I believe i reached the smoothest i could possibly get teh skateboard too.

My View on the Skateboard Project

I found this unit to be very enjoyable, and neat. The things i found easy were the making of the skateboard and the grating around teh edges of the skateboard. The hardest part would have to be teh sanding, because it took lots of time to reach the finished result, but I'm glad i spent all that time because the end result was a very smooth skateboard. Things that are important to know about this porject was the time it took to glue teh board, you have to be fast, because if you have a problem it can affect the outcome of your board. Also when you grate the edges of teh skateboard, make sure you follow the grain, because if you don't follow it, you'll end up with splintered wood.