WOOHOO! Good weather = time to build

[P5se Camelback]

I am truely loving this!!!

... It takes steady self-control to keep the details to a minimum, and to gradually haze out the items progressively depending on how far they are away. As biL said, the skill will come with practice.

True, true and ... again … true! And you are well and truly progressing with your grasp of the principles involved at veritable light speed! It's getting down to repetition will now be the key to mastery. I have every confidence! And before you alter what you've done at the end of the parking lot, which is spot on in my book at this point, wait until more has developed in the neighborhood to determine the appropriateness of the results so far. You can never be totally sure of the result until you can see the scene as a whole, because that's what it is ... an entire scene ... not a gathering together of individual elements.

... In the last photo, the hazy indistinct distant city skyline is in contrast to the small building on the left, which has more detail because it is closer. Instructive. One of the best things about that photo, as biL mentions, is that road. I will have to study that. How did he get the illusion of a long long road in just 1/2" of vertical paint?

The device, or I think “ploy” was the word I used before, is the introduction of the "sub-title" curve introduced in the road. It is just enough to cause the eye a small amount of "confusion," a little extra to process that pure straight lines do not present for processing by the brain. Remember the "less is more" principle that Mies van der Rohe was so into? The road here is a perfect example of that multi-duty minimalism put into practice. It is such a simple device, two lines that curve gradually to one side, growing ever closer together, and containing a field of gradually lightening color as it recedes ever so slightly to the right. The device here leads the eye astray, fools it with constantly graying and fading color, forces it to perceive a change in direction and leads it to mere suggestion that “there is more there than meets the eye.” And while those two lines delineate the constantly diminished color saturation and reduced hue of the “road surface,” together they’re a device that causes the eye to work to the point where it wants to move on, because, “way back there,” it seems there is entirely too much to take in quickly. But when you really look at what’s actually back there … there’s not a whole lot of any real recognizable substance! Beautiful!

Note the color used all the way to the rear of the road (or just up from the horizontal plane … a very light gray, a spot of light? Sunlight? Maybe. Who knows! It’s a familiar, comfortable distraction from getting too involved in everything that isn’t there … another ploy or device used to put the viewer in his “comfort zone” so he is relaxed enough to accept what his eye is telling the brain is there, but it works because the transition is gradual.

I also noticed the power poles and wiring right against the backdrop. I like that. Now, a specific question on that ... I am wondering if I should put in the traffic signals at my road. There are two sets, one way off in the distance, one right where the backdrop meets the layout. I could paint them both in, or I could only paint the far ones, and model the close ones and string some thread across to hang them on, right at the backdrop, or I could leave them out. I am thinking it may be a way to frame the road going into the backdrop and help with the illusion.

The notion of framing the road “going into the backdrop” again brought a wry smile to my face! “he’s really getting it! It’s so cool! It’s brilliant! And mixing two dimensional and three dimensional versions of the same thing in the same scene is ‘beyond the box” thinking! I would try painting the distant ones (2D) and mounting some not-very-detailed 3D ones directly on the backdrop. I’d try music wire or maybe a thin brass wire that you can introduce the proper “hang,” but place it very, very close to the backdrop in an effort to eliminate the possibility of an unwanted shadow. Those things ar anachronistic and ruin otherwise beautiful illusions!

The power poles, both 3D ones in the foreground and a 2D “indications” of them continuing along the road is a standard device to indicate progress towards that inevitable vanishing point in the distance. And although your road it needle-straight in the photograph, introducing a sub-title curve to it will serve to enhance the notion of distance while reducing the problem of a static vanishing point even as the viewer moves to one side or the other. That is often the big bugaboo (technical artistic term) when dealing with a subject that of necessity must dive perpendicularly towards the backdrop and continue on into the backdrop. There is not much helpfor the situation as when the viewer moves off perpendicular, the vanishing point does not reciprocate. But the introduction of a curve at that point and “beyond” seems to “move” when the viewer changes position.

I’m reminded of a scene on doctorwayne’s layout where a stream curves into the distance as it goes to the backdrop. It curves to the left and at some point back there, (in actuality only inches away) it does really come to a point! But we see it as the typical narrowing of two parallel lines headed for the vanishing point, which in every case is, in fact, a point!

O.K. … that should be more than enough to ponder for a little while.

Gary, you are headlong on a course to become the “go-to” backdrop guy in Houston, mark my words! You have grasped a couple semesters of artistic principle in only a night of concentrated effort! I have had fun exposing the concepts and principles! My enjoyment was tripled by watching you tackle and immediately grasp the techniques. I hope that you have enjoyed doing it as much as I have enjoyed exposing it! The only thing left is dogged repetition and concentration … at least in the beginning. Later on you’ll be able to carry it off by just watching the brushes do their thing while you think about the next scene down the line!

WooHoo, Gary! You are rockin’!

EDIT: Corrected a pair of embarrassingly stupid typos and clarified a clumsily-made point.