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Sketch for my Lancaster picture
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Message
Posted
I learnt pretty much on my last painting that the best way to get it right is to sketch out idea after idea after idea. That way I learn technique and style and what looks good and what bad. I'm repeating the process with my Lancasters for my Operation Chastise painting. I really wanted the Lancasters to be in the dark, on a dark sky over a dark sea: but what the hell do I paint then? Blackness. Yet of course I know there are Lancasters there. But I recall from long ago (two years) that we must paint what we see, not what we know is there. So that's it. I cant paint darkness just because I know there are Lancasters there. I had a rethink. Sunset need not be dark of course...some cracking sunsets this week here in Salisbury. The perspective is from a boat out to sea off shore at Southwold, where Wave 1 departed (and wave 3, but they missed the fun and by then it really was dark).
So here we are, the first sketch with a plane in it. I've got loads of different sky sketches, and they will continue, but this one has an aircraft in the picture and I'm playing with light and colour. The important aspect is that bomb: not right here by a long way and I will over emphasise it's size in the final image anyway. This bomber isn't correct of course, so don't knock that. It has no insignia yet, it's bland and somehow hanging there like a Thunderbird rather than roaring past (I admit, I may never get that bit right) and the blasted paper has cockled making straight lines very hard. Do I need to stretch it for that to stop?? And the horizon isn't right...it will have the hills of Southwold painted in...this is a WIP to see whether you all think it has legs or whether flower arranging is my best bet!
For those interested...
The engine nacelle on number 4 (furthest left here) is hard edged where light and dark meet. Nr 3 was wet in wet where they meet and blends better in my view. Nrs 1 and 2 (furthest right)are just dark indigo washed out with water where the light might hit them. I think Nr 3 engine works far better than the others. Nr 1 and 2 show exhaust flicker...I might ignore that or add Gouache later.
The cockpit and nose glazing is a puzzle at the moment.
Would it all be more menacing darkened right down? I'm not sure how to do that...which is why I went this way in the first place.
D
Edited
by DavidG4YVM
Posted
David this is so impressive. Not knowing a thing about your subject it i has really made me look..( im more your bunch if flowers artist) .
Yes darken your datks on the plane itself, that will give more contrast and drama. May i just also politley suggest that you get your horizon line straight. You are allowed undulations along the line , though not much , but the sea does not go up hill . It should be possible to use a low tack masking tape as a guide line or a good eye and steady hand. Very well done ..says she patronisingly 😇 .
Posted
There's very few photos available of the aircraft in that position relative to the viewer. Here's one which is something like the arrangement you want:
http://img10.deviantart.net/bf27/i/2010/304/7/4/avro_lancaster_overhead_sywell_by_davy59-d31wugo.jpg
The nose cones on the propellors on the two right engines are too sharp, they should be blunter. The cockpit canopy is too prominent, it needs reducing in height. The angle of the shadows cast by the nacelles on the underside of the wings suggest the sun is on the far right of the picture and is almost at the horizon level. Yet the left side of the fuselage seems to have sunlight on it rather than be in shade.
It's a difficult pose you're attempting. Calculating how the shadows would fall makes it harder.
I imagine that to a viewer on the sea, at the speed the plane's flying, details wouldn't be apparent. It would appear dark and menacing and there would just be a few highlights.
Is this a better pose?
http://www.militaryaircraft.de/pictures/military/aircraft/Avro-Lancaster/Avro-Lancaster_RIAT2007_2021_800.jpg
Edited
by keora
Posted
I hope you don't mind a newcomer sticking his nose in, but these kinds of discussions about making a painting are why I joined the site. I think paintings like this are the most interesting to paint...where you are assembling your image rather than painting what's in front of you. The light source is always tricky to resolve. An aircraft seen against an evening sky would most likely be in silhouette, this would be more menacing but perhaps less interesting. I take your point about painting what you see, but believe you'll have to allow yourself a degree of artistic license here. Perhaps your light source, the setting sun, could be right out of the picture...extreme right or left, thus allowing some illumination on one side of the aircraft, and fairly dark on the other side. I do sketches on more lightweight paper and always get buckling, I don't think that matters too much, you know you'll have that sorted for the final painting.
I look forward to seeing the final picture.
Posted
My one suggestion would echo one made already - consider the light source, so that you can introduce some tonal contrast: that's usually what makes a painting commanding to the viewer - dark and light, basically; chiaroscuro if you want to be posh. You have some, but not yet quite enough.
The foreground presents a bit of a problem with any painting like this - how much detail do you include? Any at all? It's a bit Payne'sy grey for my taste at the moment, but what you're supposed to do about that now it's applied is something else again. This is watercolour, so lowering the horizon now isn't really an option without major surgery. I'll stop there because I really don't know the answer! But I think sharper work on the aircraft, hints of light, slashes of dark, will concentrate all the focus on that and reduce issues elsewhere. And I do like your sky.
Posted
Thanks all.
The comments on the shape of the machine are noted: this is but a sketch which Im using to work out the basics like light and shadow.
Thanks for the photos...theyre good arent they?
I have developed this painting a bit now, more to do, then I will repost and see what you think. It looks better already so maybe its getting somewhere. The idea of a much lower horizon is interesting...I guess goven that the sea is serving no real purpose at all that could be done with no loss.
I'll be back...
D
Posted
Okay, in the true spirit of a sketch I have added and added to this thing until it barely stands, each stage telling me something new.
You were all right...the darker the aircraft got the better and less "cartoony" it became. The darker the sky got the more dramatic it became. The hills need to be darker still...they look as if they are just a few feet away here, and the clouds really add dramatic effect. These clouds are rubbish and make the thing look like a painting by numbers exercise, but they were all added afterwards and worked around the plane...
However, the plane certainly has more dynamism and it feels as if its flying. An achievement!
So what do we have: darker skies? Some clouds to break it up and add drama? A lower horizon, darker aeroplanes. All in all a dark painting.
I'm not sure I'm up to that!!
Anyway, this is my poor sketch flogged to death. Thanks for the input.
David
Edited
by DavidG4YVM
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