Nicole Sylvia

  • Step by Step: the Making of Nitobe Garden

    I always enjoy seeing other artists’ process work and videos of them working. While I can watch what they’re doing, so often I want to know what is going through their head at any moment, how they decide the next mark to make and why. I documented my process of creating this digital drawing of Nitobe Memorial Garden at the University of British Columbia in fourteen steps. These were all moments of pause in the process, either at the end of a work session or when I needed to step back and evaluate the drawing as a whole. Each step shows where the drawing was graphically and is paired with text describing what I was thinking at the time.

    Step 1: Initial sketch. This is mostly based off an actual view in the garden. The biggest changes were massaging the shore line and transplanting the bushes in the foreground. This sketch is all about setting up the composition. What are key elements and areas? What is in the foreground, middleground, and background? What types of shapes should I start thinking about? Where are opportunities for contrasts and how do I make sure they work toward focusing the subject?

    To these ends, some things worth pointing out are the exceptional color of the butterfly and its placement linking the two man-made objects, which have distinctly geometric forms. These three objects make up the focus of the image. There are leading lines to the bridge and to the lantern. There are placeholder plants where I can develop shape and texture. Lastly, there is a gesture at a scape of green to tie it all together

    I was hesitant to put too much in the foreground because I wasn’t sure how to deal with the higher level of detail those objects would require. But immediately upon reviewing this version of the sketch, I knew it needed something because this sketch does not capture the feeling of enclosure that the garden imparts.

    Step 2: I added tentative branches at the top of the frame. Maybe I could get away with just positioning the viewer under a tree? The left side of the frame also felt too open so I bulked up the mass of plants and redrew the tree to be less of a static form and provide some directionality back into the center of the view.

    Step 3: I took a first pass at drawing the bridge. Because it is one of the main subjects of the image it should also be one of the most detailed. Not wanting to get too lost overdeveloping all of the plants, I developed the bridge first to get a sense of how detailed it would be. I would use that as a metric to draw and detail the flora. This level of detail of the bridge represents everything except the finest details.

    Step 4: This was an initial study on where to locate the light source. Because the objects are in the center of the image and the pond is spatially open, it makes sense that the center of the image would feel the brightest. The light is helping to carve out that open space above the water. Before adding the light, the drawing was much flatter. Any sense of space was primarily conveyed through the viewer’s understanding of scale, distance, and familiarity with landscapes. I wasn’t really concerned about the actual colors at this point, but I did start to think about values (i.e. darkness vs lightness) and how the color temperature of the light, which is bright and warm, affects how the shapes of the plants are rendered.

    Step 5: I worked on developing that feeling of creating space with light and starting to add some detail through texture. Even looking at the grass on the right, the stippling reinforces the light in combination with a surface gradient. In the shadow the gradient and stipple are very similar in color and value so the difference is subtle. However in the sunlight the color and value contrast is greater since you would be able to see the shadow of the grass blades. I started to think about some details I might add, particularly with the rocks, so I put placeholders in.

    Step 6: I started refining the final shape of some of the middleground trees and started tweaking the values of the background greens to work out how to create a bright, open central space. I didn’t feel that just having the foreground branch at the top was providing enough of a sense of enclosure so I added a tree trunk.

    Step 7: I tweaked the background colors further, paying attention to the shapes made due to hue and value contrasts.

    Step 8: The straight-down, centralized light did not provide the type of movement I wanted in the image, so I adjusted it to the left. This created an opportunity to bring the glowing foreground branch across the image so that it could capture that light. As well, I preferred the radial character of the light overlapping the strong, vertical trunks of the conifers instead of being nearly parallel to them. Eliminating that strip of grass off the left edge completed the graphic frame and sense of centrality of the image.

    Step 9: Wanting to develop the light, openness above the pond, I darkened the bridge to visually push it toward the background and added some highlights near the center, where the light is strongest.

    Step 10: Going further, I added more glow to the central space. I also began tackling the challenge I had hoped to avoid in the very beginning: representing the foreground tree branches in a way that balanced abstraction and detail. I wasn’t interested in drawing every leaf. At the same time, a solid color representing the mass of the crown would feel uncharacteristically flat. I settled on exploring smaller clusters of color with articulated edges suggestive of individual leaves.

    Steps 11: I wanted to save the development of the lantern area for last, mostly for the satisfaction of seeing it all come together rapidly at the end. I worked throughout the rest of the image making many incremental tweaks. Small things here and there quieted certain areas, modified how shapes were meeting, and added texture where it seemed like something was missing. In addition to vegetation refinement, I pushed the bridge back further by reducing the visual strength of the shadow cast upon it and updated the pond reflection.

    Step 12: Finally, the lantern area. As expected, it was satisfying to zoom back out to see the whole image, almost complete. I didn’t want many shapes to be competing with the silhouette of the lantern so I settled for some rich texture in the adjacent moss.

    Step 13: The last tweaks. I moved the lantern to the left so it wasn’t so stacked under the darker bush above and brightened the bridge.

    D:\To Organize 210909\Admin\Website\Blog\2 - Step By Step The Making of Nitobe Garden

    Steps 14: I made some final tweaks to shapes and positions here and there and finished refining the glowing branch in the foreground. In the end, that branch incorporated gradients, different clusters of green, and stipples to achieve the balance I was looking for. I added some linear gradients to the light rays to provide some additional depth.

  • My First 100 Days Project

    A little over a year ago I started my first 100 days project. In essence, a 100 days project is simply doing something creative for 100 days either as a stand-alone project or in service of some larger goal. Committing to a 100 days project is meant to provide motivation and structure, while the specific goals and rules of each project are made up by the creator as they see fit. 

    The project I set out for myself was to paint a 2” x 2” painting each day. I had three goals:

    1. Gain confidence in color mixing
    2. Build more control over my brush skills
    3. Develop a lasting habit of regular painting
    Days 78, 36, and 30

    In order to make it through the full 100 days it’s important to design a supportive process in addition to selecting a realistic final project. I’m a big fan of constraints, that is, limiting the options available. Taking away analysis paralysis helps promote creative problem solving, focus your work, and propels you past the planning stage straight to the making stage. 

    The parameters for the paintings I gave myself were:

    • I would paint on watercolor paper
    • I could only paint something I could see outside my window
    • I could only use acrylic gouache
    • I could only use a ½” brush
    The paints and brush I used relative to the 2″ paper squares

    I also made sure my workspace was always ready for me. I chose to paint in the morning. Not only was it a positive way to start the day, but it was also the only time I knew I could consistently reserve for painting. My palette, brushes, water dish, and box of paints were out on the table the night before. I precut the 2” squares of paper from larger sheets in batches. It was essential that the time investment in the set up and clean up each day was minimal. 

    So how did I do?

    I achieved all my goals! It was rewarding to see my little pile of paintings grow as well as the growth in skill comparing the bottom of the stack to the top. 

    Since making this collection, I have felt more confident working with colors on subsequent paintings. This is for two reasons. First, I learned how to make the colors I was seeing from the paints I had. In winter, Vancouver is predominantly blue. Green blues, grey blues, cyan, desaturated ultramarine. They’re all there and constantly in flux. None of them come straight from the tube. Second, I worked on my understanding of color relativity. Color relativity is the effect one color has on your perception of an adjacent color. So a color that may look like a warm grey in one context could look like a dark teal in another, exclusively because of the other colors around it. Understanding color relatively and how to use it is essential for providing depth in low contrast areas and making colors pop where you want them to. And it feels like magic.

    The selected color looks green in the painting, but most would describe it as blue

    My control over the detail and nuance of what I was painting improved throughout the project. Something clicked around day 20 and steady improvement continued thereafter. 

    The first three and last three paintings

    For the most part I have stuck with the habit of doing creative work in the morning. It may not always be panting, but I do start my day with something creative most of the time. 

    What was unexpected?

    I was surprised by how much time some of the paintings took. As I gained more control over my brushwork I really got into the nittiest, grittiest details. Being too detail oriented is something I’m conscientious of. When designing the project I thought the small scale would compel me to simplify the representation, but my proclivity for the minutia reigned supreme. This compulsion definitely encouraged me to improve my brush control, so I’m grateful for that, but I definitely yearn for the confidence in making quick, vibrant marks. For me, this project ultimately wasn’t set up to develop that skill. 

    While developing technical skills was the primary motivator for starting this project, one of the things I came to appreciate most was how much time I spent observing. Vancouver is stunning. The atmosphere and light changes dramatically throughout the day and across a season. Sometimes English Bay is black, other times it’s green, or pink, or striped. The North Shore Mountains are a flat monolith in some conditions, but in others you can see every tree and valley. Clouds can show how vast the Lower Mainland is, or they can shroud the city in an intimate blanket of glowing light. Downtown is often grey, green, and sandstone, but for a short time in the evening the whole skyline can be unnaturally bright gold when the sun hits just right.

    The Museum of Vancouver in different weather and lighting conditions

    Whenever I share this project with someone I am always amused to learn which painting jumps out to them. Some are attracted to the subject, or the color, or the framing, but the selected painting always seems to be different from person to person. Some like earlier ones and some like later ones. For me the take away from this is to just make and keep making. It’s important to appreciate the process and enjoy what you’re doing because that’s how you will make your best work, i.e. work that is rewarding for you. You never know what is going to resonate with someone else or why. 

    Why was I able to successfully complete my project?

    From my previous experience painting and knowing how I like to work, I was able to design the project in a way that was clear and easy enough to stick to for me. Every now and then I would fall behind by a day or two but I was able to adjust the complexity of scenes I chose so I could catch up. The third quarter was the hardest. It was the dead of winter and the project had become a bit tiresome. The robust process I had carried me though because painting first thing in the morning was automatic at that point. I stuck with it and once I broke into the last quarter I was re-energized by knowing I would complete my goal. 

    Days 9, 40, and 81

    Would I do another one or recommend someone else do one?

    Definitely! The conceptual structure of a 100 days project is helpful for reflecting on how to improve something in a flexible, actionable way. Having 100 attempts at something means not only will you get a sufficient amount of practice to see improvement, but no singular attempt needs to be precious because you’ll just do it again the next day. 

    If I were to do another one, I would probably do something more minimalist to help me resist my tendency to get too detailed. Since working small didn’t help with that, I would define the project in a way that made a more minimal approach the focus of the exercise. That might be something like rendering an object or scene in the fewest number of strokes required to capture its essence and nothing more.

    If you’ve never done anything like this before the best advice is to be adaptable. Learning what does and doesn’t work for you and why is hugely valuable, perhaps even more valuable than the material product you produce in the end. If something isn’t working, figure out why, make adjustments, and carry on.