What examples are you drawing from?
I am drawing examples from certain techniques used across multiple works rather than focusing on one period or artist. These examples have the techniques of giving depth to a scene using tonal range.
Are they all from the same period? If so, what is unique about this form in this time? If not, what has changed between the different periods or schools within this form?
The two works that I took the most influence from was a ukiyo-e print made by a Japanese artist, Hiroshige, and a Haiga painting created to accompany a Haiku poem only named as “Mountain View Poet”. Both were from the late 19th century but contrasted one another greatly. Hiroshige’s style is colorful without clashing hues with thoughtful placement. The Haiga used misty thick lines to create vague shapes of objects and heavier thinner lines to establish the main subjects of the piece.
How was this accomplished at the time and what techniques were traditionally used?
Japanese landscape paintings were usually done on rice paper or silk with Asian ink. They used handmade brushes with bristles made of stiffer animal furs for more vague scenery lines or of soft goat hairs for more smoother strokes and calligraphy. Needed colors were commonly made from plant extract or minerals.
What elements are you taking from your research examples? How are you adapting these elements?
The elements I took were the pattern of brushstrokes, the blending of gray areas and line weight to give a sense of depth. These elements were adapted by using darker lines that are closer to the foreground of the painting, while lighter and harder brushstrokes were used to create different textures, such as tree bark, water or stone material. Lastly for the background, I used different tones of the ink to add to the placement of mountains and clouds.
What are some inherent difficulties with the art form? What are the inherent benefits?
Some difficulties with the art form are that ink is a permanent medium and cannot always be as controlled as wanted. However, it can be manipulated and redesigned. It also has a great contrast to the color(s) that can be added to and around it, and they both have the ability to make the other stand out.
How did you go about creating this work in this form? Where could you use traditional materials and techniques? Where did you have to improvise? What decisions did you make in that improvisation?
I created this work by combining Indian ink with watercolor to paint a captured scene from the Nintendo game Zelda : Breath of the Wild. I used the traditional techniques of this form throughout the entire piece because of its similarity to older Japanese landscape paintings. The only thing I had to improvise was the use of color and how it was applied. Traditional paintings of this type of scenery would usually have one color standing against the ink but I needed to used two to differentiate the things included in the scene. More specifically, the water not blending in with the texture of the ground and dirt.
The scene the painting is referencing:
A preliminary design with catching the sense of the Haiga:
Works cited:
Iyanna Rogers DMA Portfolio 