Artistic question

[Andy in Germany]

So I need to make a second painting for the dining room to be a partner to this one I painted a few years ago.

The new painting has been giving me some trouble though.

I wanted a small ferry with a post bus approaching it, if possible in (semi) darkness giving the feel of the ferry being a safe haven. I made a few thumbnails:

Then came up with a design I liked:

The problem with this is
1: possibly too much foreground
2: Bus on wrong side of road with no barrier. If I add a barrier the bus will be hidden.
3: Bus has come over all Postman Pat but that's no big issue.

So, I made another sketch and mucked about a bit on Gimp to make it more what I wanted Atmosphere like this:

As for perspective, I don't know; but the middle one seems best:

The bus looks a lot better, but they all have a flat quayside which logically would be flooded if the ferry is that high. So I tried to combine the good bits in the first attempt at painting:

Hmm... still crummy perspective. There the matter has reated for some time with the picture bugging me constantly.

I wondered if making a more obvious quayside ramp would help:

Still not sure though.

I really want to get this moving next week so if anyone has any ideas I'm open to hear them...

 

[Salar]

Hi @Andy in Germany

As you say the perspective is out, although you could say the ferry is pitching and rolling.

I think you have two problems which need addressing.

1.There are two objects in the picture fighting for your eyes attention which makes you look from left to right to left etc. One needs to dominate.

The horizon is in the middle, if possible it's much better to have the horizon set at a third or two thirds of the depth of the paper.

Good luck.

 

[midlife]

Quite like the perspective of the rear end of the bus, it reminds me of the tail end of the plane in the pop art picture that has gone completely out of my head lol

 

[Salar]

Andy,

I do a bit of drawing and painting of boats. They can be difficult!! So keep at it.

I tend to not worry so much about perspective when I do impressionist type of stuff, more formal stuff maybe.

See the following two pictures of mine regarding regarding the horizon position

.

 

[Levo-Lon]

I like the 2nd pic, atmospheric, I like the proportions ,nice, simple and sort of relaxing

 

[Levo-Lon]

Andy,

I do a bit of drawing and painting of boats. They can be difficult!! So keep at it.

I tend to not worry so much about perspective when I do impressionist type of stuff, more formal stuff maybe.

See the following two pictures of mine regarding perspective regarding its position View attachment 430014 View attachment 430015 .

Superb ,the red ship one is stunning

 

[Andy in Germany]

Lovely pictures. I'm trying to break away from only doing realistic pictures but I think my technical drawing training works against me a bit there...

Thepicture of the lightship is more the idea I'm aiming for, but I really wanted to tell a story in the picture. Is there any way I can use the bus or the landing as a way to draw the eye toward the ship, instead of away, do you think?

 

[Katherine]

What about composing the picture so that the view is from the ferry welcoming the approaching postvan.

 

[Salar]

Thanks Andy,

I also started off on the drawing board as a young draughtsman and technical drawing training can hamper you a bit.

The lightship is about as formal as I go in watercolours, I prefer drawing with dip pens, bits of rag, cocktail sticks, that type of thing.

Enough of my stuff.

As the ferry is more interesting than a post van, why not reverse the picture.

Draw it as if you are standing on the ferry deck about a third of the way down with the post van coming towards you in dusk if you want atmosphere.
You can then add boat fittings, the deck construction, lights etc, the ferry will be dominant and take up most of the picture , but you should still be able to tell a story.

 

[Salar]

What about composing the picture so that the view is from the ferry welcoming the approaching postvan.

You just said what I was typing.!!!

 

[Katherine]

You just said what I was typing.!!!

But you explained what I was thinking!

 

[Salar]

But you beat me to it.

 

[Reynard]

Yeah, what @Salar says makes sense.

Use the ferry to frame the image, and then you can almost reduce the van to a smear of colour and a pair of headlights. Even better, if you make out that it's raining, then you can play with interesting reflections of a wet quayside.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Now you've got me thinking. I like the idea but I'm not entirely sure:

1: If I've got the skill to achieve that or
2: what the inside of the ferry should look like...

 

[Reynard]

There should be plenty of boat-y pictures lurking online that you can use as a template. Google is your friend here.