Painting the Vast Beauty of Italy | 8 Minute Masterpiece

[00:00:00]Before we get stuck into the painting, I wanted to let you know about my online course. With a growing collection [music] of weekly videos, there's always something new to look forward to. Click the button in the top right to sign up today. Now, over to the easel.

[00:00:14]Okay, just [music] getting those big shapes in place.

[00:00:18]And this is where with almost to a T every scene.

[00:00:23]And this is a great example of just the importance of perspective. Cuz if we get that wrong, pretty well doesn't matter how good I do do contrast, light, color, everything else.

[00:00:35]I was fortunate when I was uh finishing grade 10 that uh and we had a course called technical drawing, which was doing basic draftsmanship.

[00:00:50]Uh and I used to love it as a subject and I always thought I wouldn't mind being an architect or a draftsman of some sort cuz I just had a natural interest in just how [music] perspective worked and how you can put just a few little lines down and it can start to appear as the object that we're looking at.

[00:01:17]So, that's where my journey for of perspective really did start as a 15-year-old.

[00:01:26]And if my memory is correct, our teacher said we have finished this year's work.

[00:01:33]We've done all the exams, we've done everything we need.

[00:01:36]Anyone who's coming back for next year, you may want to pay attention cuz we'll do we'll have we've got 2 weeks left to go and we can we'll start on next year's uh curriculum and that first thing was going to be perspective.

[00:01:52]And I was actually offered a carpentry apprenticeship through the uh summer break, so I actually never returned to school. So, um so, that 2 weeks and it probably we didn't do perspective all through those 2 weeks, but that was the first thing that we did and it's all got to do with the horizon line, all those lines and it definitely does uh will do you the world of good to just a Google or YouTube.

[00:02:21]There are some great little lessons on perspective that will uh just clarify.

[00:02:30]Quite often with a lot of the videos that we're creating, I'm more raising the idea and its importance.

[00:02:41]And in 8 minutes, 10 minutes, even an hour, it can be extremely difficult to go through every single thing and almost on some of the longer videos, I felt I've covered just about everything and then a day later I think, oh, I forgot to mention that. So, definitely, if you are struggling, uh definitely um research the idea. So, but it definitely has most to do with the horizon line and where those it's the classic train line train track effect that you can stand in the middle of a train line. I wouldn't stand there for too long.

[00:03:19]Preferably, pick one that's a disused train line for the classic effect and it will look as though the train tracks are going to meet in the distance and that's the effect of a living on a orb not a flat surface. If we lived on a flat surface, perspective would work quite differently. So, everything's bending to that round earth shape.

[00:03:53]And if we establish it early, then it's just a matter of identifying just to make sure throughout the painting that it is correct cuz there are occasions where I will do some little adjustments.

[00:04:07]Sometimes I will actually uh reduce how dynamic perspective is, especially with those classic scenes where you're standing on the ground and you're looking up at a say two, three-story or even taller building. Sometimes the perspective can be too dramatic, so I will actually reduce it slightly so that it's not too dramatic.

[00:04:33]And that's always in our artistic curriculum that we are able to do these sort of things. It's there's no ru- rule or rhyme or reason, but it's always got to do for me really at the speed that the viewer's eye is traveling around the scene.

[00:04:57]And that's why I'll normally uh strengthen a shadow, uh leave out something, adjust something is because ultimately I'm trying to get the viewer to look at the gates and then travel to the left up to the sunlit wall and then hang a right along the uh guttering line, the eaves down to that background diagonal shape and shadow car shadow onto the roof in the background.

[00:05:32]All needs to be in perspective from the gates to the mid-distance.

[00:05:41]And there's a little bit of a uh trellis area. That's what those arched shapes are on the bottom left.

[00:05:52]So, I'll just need to put in a few more of the little accents here and there, especially on those windows where the shutters are.

[00:06:03]Can be quite easy to overdo the windows, so I'm cautious and careful of that. But notice that they're all in a alignment. They're not sort of technically up, down, around because they will all be in that same perspective because they'll be the same distance normally uh from the ground or from the eaves, but they'll appear to be getting smaller as they go further and further back.

[00:06:35]Normally, when it comes to trees and foliage, it's a a much harder, more difficult aspect to get the illusion of perspective because trees do grow randomly depending on the type and when it was planted.

[00:06:53]So, yes, and now I'm just bringing in the finishing touches.

[00:06:59]That's where a little figure or in this case I think the gates are a good uh reference point how to sort of judge the size of the building in aspect to the to a known shape. So, that's that's where the uh figure in the gates cuz as we know, as I mentioned, trees can be all different sizes and shapes.

[00:07:28]There's not too many trees that we know, oh, that's a such and such a tree because it's say 6-ft high.

[00:07:37]Okay.

[00:07:38]So, now I'm just finalizing some of those little accents and I can enhance the perspective by making a shadow darker or softer or more blended, especially on the hedging in those shadow areas or so we can either reduce the effect of the perspective via our brush mark as well.

[00:08:04]So, that's what's the tool that I have in my hand is what's going to control the overall painting. [music] >> [music] [music] [music]