Creative Process

What I learned about the creative process...

I have learned a ton about the creative process while designing, drafting, and finishing my digital paintings for my capstone. I utilized Wallace's four-step model in order to create central themes in each painting. I prepared by doing background research, sat on it for a couple of days, and was illuminated with great ideas for both.

For the physical idea generation portion of my project, I utilized rapid iteration in order to focus my creativity into something tangible. This involved jotting down ideas as they came to mind, focusing on quantity in order to have plenty of ideas to narrow down in the future. For the sketching portion of my project, I took advantage of public domain images in order to get a rough figure of the main subjects and background objects.

For the coloring, lighting, and shading portions of my project, I took various classes and watched many YouTube tutorials to build a strong foundation on which to create. I also received plenty of strong advice from my friend Ji-Han, which helped me in the refinement process. Below you will find my creative process in the idea generation, drafting, and creation of Shrike.

To the right is the full poem written for shrike -------------------------------------------->

Shrike

This was my initial sketch of what I wanted Shrike to look like. I was going for a kinda of smoky sunset vibe to portray the pollution that fossil fuel companies emit. I found that it was better and more visually appealing to show that in different ways, so that I could play with the lighting a little more

Below is my first rough draft of Shrike. During this time, I was taking online courses and building a foundation for my skills so I could create something I was proud of. The pink sky was kinda a bad choice in retrospect, since yellow skies are much more visually appealing and easier to paint reflections in.

Finally, after studying and practicing, I managed to create a sunset that I was happy with. It is unfortunate that barely any of the purple haze wasn't able to fit in the final product. Oh well.

This was the point at which I started to develop the barn and wall as the biggest objects in the painting. I was mostly taking my designs from some reference images online. I hadn't considered shading or anything like that, just getting the shape and basics.

I then created the farmer and the unshaded cow. I tried to add on some shading to the barn, but as we will see, it took me a long while to get to a point I was happy with, as I was still completely new to understanding how lighting works. I originally planned for the farmer's ghost to be backed by a cloud of dust, since I still hadn't really drawn people yet.

I added more shading to the barn, shaded the cow, and added the spike. I also got rid of the farmer's brown background because I thought it took up too much space in the painting, and the color was distracting. I had to retrace the farmer since I accidentally made them on the same layer. I still needed to add the kind of yellow glow on the barn that the suns light gives.

At this stage, I added the barn shading, the b2 bombers in the background, the deer-headed son, and added more shading to the wheat. At this point, all I was thinking of completing was the spikes on the wall and calling it a day.

Finally, I completed the spikes. It took me a long time, and I think it is still not perfect, as I was having trouble with the thickness and color of the highlights. I was also experimenting with some poetry and trying to find anything else that could kind of fill the lack of objects on the left side of the painting. I went to a document containing some of the poems I've made over the last couple of years, and took inspiration from it to make a stanza for this piece..

Shrike

Maxwell Shawer

Digital painting, Krita

Shrike is a surrealist digital painting that underscores the predatory business practices of oil conglomerates in acquiring land for fracking and the flow of those resources. The painting depicts a family-owned farm enclosed by a wall of tar. The farmer’s spirit looks on as the shrikes have impaled their cow and cut the doe-faced son. The bombers loom overhead, ready to hunt their next prey. This mirrors how corporations poison land with nearby fracking, killing the farmers, crops, and animals. Their children become the next target of the military-industrial complex. It takes their land, health, and autonomy as they are drafted and sent off to fight wars for oil, repeating the cycle of state-sanctioned murder.

Emblematic

This was the rough draft of my idea for Emblematic. I hadn't referenced anything when creating it, so a lot of the proportions were off. This was more of a proof of concept, and that I could work with this kind of lighting so soon after starting to paint/draw.

The first thing that I did when creating my preview for this painting was to grab a reference for the dimensions and scale of the house. I actually used the background scene of the inside of the Watersons' house from The Amazing World of Gumball. It was the perfect size, and it was just something cool that I wanted to include in my painting. I drew out the dimensions with color panels and then added the base layer of the couch.

This is kind of a big jump, but I spent the next few hours trying to get the right lighting and shading for the room, there being only a single light source coming from upstairs. I wanted this to be representative of the person metaphorically putting on the play on the TV in front of the man. As the main metaphor is how fossil fuel corporations, as well as other conglomerates, pump out media to distract and divide. I also drew out the couch and made sure that it looks ok.

I then added a kind of sickly blue lighting coming off the screen to juxtapose the true light above. I spent a lot of time deciding how much light I wanted coming off the screen, as I feel like, at a certain point, the blue will just make everything look ugly. I think I got a good mix. I also shaded the couch with the blue light to make it feel more leathery.

To demonstrate the warping reality around the man as he continues to consume more and more propaganda, I wanted to include a lot of mishapen and of looking objects. The paintings on the wall are shifted, faded, or look wrong. A lamp that stands too tall sits on the right side of the painting by the door, off and looming. The letter blocks the couch, signifying the fading of his kid from his eyes, who now only appears as the objects left behind, as he continues to stare into the TV.

Finally, I added the man into the painting, hunched over, intently staring at the play on the TV. There is the true light hovering on his shoulders, reminiscent of the poem in Shrike. He holds an empty bowl in his hands, symbolic of his state of mind as well as lack of food or utility that is being satiated by a hate generated by the narratives on the TV. This could be to neighbors, friends, family, any culture war topic, or buzzword-filled speech that corporate media endlessly pumps out.

Subliminal (preview)

Maxwell Shawer

Digital painting, Krita

Emblematic is a surrealist digital painting discussing the use of misinformation campaigns by fossil fuel companies and how that negatively affects both the mind and culture. A man sits on a couch in a reserved and strained position, taking in ads on the TV. The words stretch across the walls and wrap around his head, constricting his vision and blocking his access to three possible exits. The ads chant anti-nuclear and pro-fossil sentiments. The furniture and embellishments of the room are misshapen and missing key details. This demonstrates how our minds deteriorate the more we are exposed to propaganda. The disorienting room is representative of the separation from society that these campaigns cause.

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