Studying from Films
Cinematography in film is like a gold mine for artists. Every aesthetic detail is a choice curated by a team full of experts in their fields. One still image from a film can tell us a thousand words. This project involves studying and redrawing different film scenes of interest in order to experiment with and improve my colours, techniques, and story telling. Spoilers ahead!
This is a scene from The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson. It is of Agatha and Zero at their wedding standing with The Society of the Crossed Keys and Gustave.
I enjoyed this film and I felt that this scene captures Anderson's style of playful colours, composition, and eccentric characters.
I'm happy with the outcome of this piece and I enjoyed the process too. I kept the colours playful and soft by leaving out the use of black lines. The brushes I used are textural and unrefined which I think help emphasise the eccentricity of the subject matter. I chose to use a thick white outline to prevent the figures from blending into the background. To me, this outline kind of resembles a set of stickers which is super cute and enhances the novelty of Anderson's work.
There are plenty of other screencaps from Anderson's films I plan on redrawing.
Here are a few I have been considering...
- More from the Grand Budapest Hotel for its beautiful and playful colour palettes with fantastical scenes.
- Isle of Dogs for its Japanese inspired design choices, patterns and character designs.
- The Darjeeling Limited for its clever angles and compositions with three estranged brothers.