Intersection: Copeland, Shadyside District
The bridge (at the far edge) was the original “intersection,” but I noticed that the specific view from the balcony of the engineering building showcased several overlapping aspects of Pittsburgh that simply happened to coexist. On the left is a pure industrial experience, showcased by the ongoing factory smoke and pile of wood. It crosses over with a religious building in the middle (that I resketched with more detail), followed by an art museum on the right.
Thus, I noticed that not only was there an intersection in roads, but also an intersection in cultures and lifestyles. There wasn’t any noticeable activity at the time, so while it was relatively silent I could simply view the creations of the people through said buildings. Overall, the scenery as a whole established an interesting dynamic.
I decided to find a different intersection during Labor Day; one that was more natural from the ground floor and wasn’t visible from campus eyes. While I enjoyed the variety of architecture and culture, I was concerned about the overstimulation of detail, coupled with the fact that from face value, there truly isn’t an actual “intersection” that the eye can immediately focus on. I was concerned that I would direct my attention too much towards making my piece stand out, thus drawing me away from the assignment’s original intention.
I met this intersection at Shadyside, and I quite liked the varying perspectives and overlapping of shapes: from the car to the poles and telephone wires. There’s a solid consistency radiating from the photo, almost as if I could extract a protractor and discover equal degrees of angles.
This time, we could only take a few photos that embodied the feel of our intersection. I thought this was a fun shot, where the giant tree is visible towards the end as an indicator of the Shadyside district location. Despite is emptiness, the wires are a clear sign that this is meant to be a bustling street, and I really liked the overlap of the pole, the car and the geometric buildings. The only signs of activity are the two cars, met at opposing sides of the street, and an almost insignificant pedestrian.
Upon our first paper assignment we were to solely rely on depth and composition, and omitted color. Thus, I wanted to emphasize the gaps in depth and space, and make frontal objects really pop while still maintaining the complex details of the backdrops without it overpowering the overall image.
I used the bone folder to rub tracing paper onto the back of my desired paper, and then flipped the whole product so that it would correctly align with the reference image.
My personal criticisms on this piece: A clear struggle on technical use of the knife. It’s apparent that this is the very first step of our project, given the few scrapes and folds that prevent the piece from looking neat. Telephone poles could afford to be straighter, and the car is barely distinguishable. Should focus on those elements during the next step of our project.
PART 2: GRAYSCALE
For the grayscale, I started off by making some simple thumbnails in my sketchbook, where I originally planned on creating a depth-specific work (left).
Later, I decided to use grayscale based on the intersection’s color scheme, rather than depth. I thought that the variation in grays would give me more opportunity to explore, and while I was limited to layering in the former assignment, I had the potential to do both layering and emphasize of the background’s overall color pigments.
I created a prototype on Procreate, where I simplified the photo into five shades of gray (middle).
Next, I numbered each section to determine the layering process, so that while this next project would focus on the color scheme, I would still have depth and perspective elements (right).
This time I also used scissors to trim the thin parts, such as the telephone poles and the wires. I felt that my prior piece lacked some elements, and felt “missing.” Thus, I included more complex details, such as the roofs, extra depth in the trees, and the wires.
My personal improvements: I’m very thankful that the grayscale added extra depth for the road and trees; I was quite proud of those. Piece no longer appears bottom heavy now that I’ve added the top wires. Perspective is relatively consistent.
Personal criticisms on this: I still feel that the car could have been better defined, and the telephone wires could have been straighter and better spaced out.
PART 3: COLOR
Once we moved on to color, I was stuck between what to highlight. I immediately omitted the frontal pole, given its larger than life enunciation already. I remembered during our very first critique that someone mentioned the space between the car, the pole and the house, and so I thought it would be interesting to highlight the house, rather than the car. In my humble opinion, I was afraid that highlighting the left car would give the overall piece too much of a left-weight feel.
After deciding on the area of focus, I played around with what color to use through editing on Procreate. I took my previous grayscale and clipped a Darken layer on the building, allowing me to experiment with various options.
In the end, I decided on yellow, as it would pop “naturally.” The color would still be distinct, but it isn’t so vibrant that the viewer would immediately forget about the other aspects of the composition.
This time, I took criticism from my peers and decided to pronounce the secondary, further behind car’s features a little more — I shaped the wheels and added a secondary gray. I also attempted to shape the bushes with a little more irregularity, rather than the jarringly consistent jaggedness the grayscale piece seemed to emit. I attempted to thin the telephone lines as well for a more accurate representation.
Furthermore, in terms of resources I utilized my Olfa knife, rather than scissors, for my telephone poles and wires. To my surprise, I found that I had much more precise hand-eye coordination, and my lines were significantly straighter and in control.
As time passed, I found that not only were my physical improvements noticeable, but my productivity as well. What seemed to stretch on for four or more hours was quickly becoming marginally more efficient, and I keened under that acknowledgement.
Truthfully, this final piece was much more accurate to scale, consistent in size and straight in stature. Sadly, no matter what I did the end resulting photograph continued to produce a work that seemed a tad warped; in-person I firmly believe that my foreground pole is much straighter. While there are additionally features that were lacking or that I wished were more pronounced, to me the improvement is discernible.
Personal improvements: I truly loved my choice in object to color. It added a balance so that the viewer could easily focus on the building, and choosing to color the building rather than the front car allows the car to match with the one in the background. Furthermore, using the Olfa knife made my telephone poles much straighter, and I think I did a much better job keeping my angles parallel and spaced out. The background car has more definition, and there’s extra depth in the building as a whole.
Personal criticisms: Alas, I can always strive to be better. Maybe the addition of a small sidewalk would keep the poles more grounded, or I could’ve scored the wheels of the car lightly for better detail.
FINAL REFLECTION: Looking back, I thought of this assignment as simultaneously tedious yet comforting. The consistency of location brought a grounding sense of focus, as if I can target what I need to work on from a minuscule standpoint. Upon putting my three compositions together, I can see noticeable progress from all aspects, and I’m deeply satisfied with that. Hopefully in the future, I’ll be able to see my technical and compositional skills grow.
