How to draw a decorative black and white still life in different ways. Chess stylization of still life

The word "still life" comes from the French phrase "nature morte" and means mortified or dead nature. But it seems to me that the essence of this kind of art is better conveyed by the English expression "still life" - "motionless, frozen life". Indeed, in essence, still life is nothing more than a captured piece of life.

While collecting material for this article, I encountered certain difficulties. At first glance, shooting a still life is as easy as shelling pears. I put a cup on the table, added some details to it, set the light and clicked the shutter. Photo models are always at hand, unlimited time for shooting. Convenient and minimal costs. That is why novice photographers love this genre so much. And some achieve very interesting results. Go to any photography site, select the appropriate section and admire the really gorgeous pictures. But time passes, and many people have questions: "Why shoot this? Who needs it? What will I have from this?" Not finding answers to these questions, many switch to wedding, children's or animal photography, which generate a certain income. Still life does not enjoy special respect among the masters of photography. This is not a profitable business. If anything can do it, it is only aesthetic satisfaction. And they shoot still lifes from time to time, so to speak, to hone their skills.

But there are only a few who see in a still life, something more than just a beautiful picture. It is to these still life masters that I dedicate my article.

I confess that at first I wanted to make a selection of works by photographers that I like and who rightfully take first places in ratings on various photo sites. And then the question arose: "why?" Everyone knows how to use the Internet, most of them have never studied photo sites, they are familiar with the best works, and information about the photographer who interested them can always be found using a search engine. I decided to talk about Special photographers - those whose work turns the recognized canons upside down, who really brought something new to still life photography, who managed to see something extraordinary in everyday things. You can relate to their work in different ways: admire or, conversely, not accept. But, definitely, their works cannot leave anyone indifferent.

1. Cara Barer

Kara Barer (1956), a photographer from the United States, chose one subject for filming - a book. Transforming her, she creates amazing book sculptures, which she photographs. You can endlessly view her photos. After all, each such book sculpture carries a certain meaning, and an ambiguous one.

2. Guido Mocafico

Swiss photographer Guido Mokafiko (1962) is not limited to one subject in his work. He is interested in various objects.

But even taking a single object, he gets amazing work. Famous for his series "Movement" ("Movement"). It seems that the watch mechanisms are simply taken, and after all, if you look closely, each has its own character.

In still lifes, as you know, "inanimate nature" is removed. In his series "Snakes" Guido Mokafiko violated this rule and took a living creature as the object of a still life. The snakes rolled up in a ball create an amazing, bright and unique picture.

But the photographer also creates traditional still lifes, shooting them in the Dutch style, and using truly "inanimate objects" as props.

3. Carl Kleiner

Swedish photographer Karl Kleiner (1983) uses the most common objects for his still lifes, composing them into whimsical pictures. Karl Kleiner's photographs are colorful, graphic and experimental. His imagination is limitless, he uses completely different materials, from paper to eggs. Everything, as they say, goes into action.

4. Charles Grogg

Still lifes by American Charles Grogg are made in black and white. For filming, the photographer also uses ordinary household items found in every home. But by experimenting with their placement and combining in unusual combinations, the photographer creates truly fantastic pictures.

5. Chema Madoz

I am sure that the work of Chem Madoz (1958), a photographer from Spain, is familiar to many. His black and white still lifes, made in a surreal style, leave no one indifferent. The photographer's unique perspective on ordinary things is fascinating. Madosa's works are full not only of humor, but also of deep philosophical meaning.
The photographer himself says that his photographs were taken without any digital processing.

6. Martin Klimas

In the works of Martin Klimas (1971), a photographer from Germany, there is also no Photoshop. Only a short, or rather, super-short, exposure. His specially developed technique allows you to capture a unique moment that the human eye cannot even see. Martin Klimas shoots his still lifes in complete darkness. With the help of a special device, at the moment of breaking an object for a split second, a flash is turned on. And the camera captures the Miracle. So much for a vase with flowers!

7. John Chervinsky

American John Chervinski (1961) is a scientist working in the field of applied physics. And his still lifes are a kind of mixture of science and art. Here you will not understand: either a still life, or a textbook in physics. When creating his still lifes, John Cherwinski uses the laws of physics, getting an incredibly interesting result.

8. Daniel Gordon

Daniel Gordon (1980), American photographer, is not concerned with scientific issues. When photographing still lifes, he chose a different path. He prints out color pictures downloaded from the Internet on a printer, crumples these pieces of paper, and then wraps various objects in them. It turns out something like paper sculptures. Bright, beautiful, original.

9. Andrew B. Myers

Still lifes of Andrew Myers (1987), a photographer from Canada, cannot be confused with any others - they are always recognizable. A simple gentle, calm background, a lot of empty space, which creates a feeling of the image being filled with light and air. Most often, he uses objects from the 70s and 80s to create still lifes. His works are graphic, stylish and evoke a certain nostalgia.

10. Regina DeLuise

Regina DeLuis (1959), a photographer from the United States, does not use mirror photography to create her works. She chose another method - prints negatives from photographic film on special rag paper. Her poetic imagery contains a wide range of tones and many textures. Still lifes are very gentle and poetic. Amazing play of light and shadows.

11. Bohnchang Koo

Bohchang Ku (1953), photographer from South Korea, prefers white. The still lifes he created - white on white - are simply amazing. They are not only beautiful, but also carry a certain meaning - the preservation of ancient Korean culture. After all, the photographer specially travels the world, looking for objects of the cultural heritage of his country in museums.

12. Chen Wei

In contrast, Chen Wei (1980), a Chinese photographer, finds inspiration for his work close to home. Showing strange spaces, scenes and objects, he uses props thrown away by others in landfills.

13. Alejandra Laviada

Alejandra Laviada, a photographer from Mexico, uses destroyed and abandoned buildings for his filming, creating still lifes from the objects found there. Her still lifes tell true stories about people who lived in these buildings and used things that were left as unnecessary.

Like any other genre of photography, still life is impossible without composition. Moreover, still life is precisely the genre where composition plays a primary role and requires the closest attention from the photographer. After all, a reportage frame can be forgiven a lot if the author caught a really good moment. And home pictures - have you noticed how mummies are touched when they see their child in the photo, albeit mediocre? It is unlikely that we will wait for the same indulgence from the audience, having photographed an orange with a bottle. To have a positive effect, you will have to try. And, of course, you should start with the composition of the intended frame.

Relatively speaking, composition in a still life is a harmonious combination and interaction of objects in the frame. Through composition, you can consistently show the viewer everything you wanted, create a mood, convey an idea and even tell a story.

Composition in still life can be conditionally divided into several types:

• geometric
  
• spatial
  
• color

Geometric composition

It is no secret that all objects have a geometric (or close to geometric) shape. It is also no secret that it is natural for a person to associate each figure with something characteristic of it. For example, corners are subconsciously associated with pointers. When you look at a square or rectangle for a long time, there is a feeling of stability (maybe because our subconscious mind draws a stable building). And the circle creates a feeling of coziness and calms. It is worth remembering that horizontal lines (a lying person) are much calmer than vertical ones (a standing person). As for the diagonals, the ascending lines - leading from the lower left corner to the upper right - look tighter than the descending ones: we still read from left to right, and our gaze has to "climb" over the picture to get to the very top. But a certain sense of victory is hidden in this, isn't it ?! Descending lines running from the upper left corner to the lower right, on the contrary, are traditionally associated with relaxation, sadness, or even decline.

All these little tricks can and should be used for their own purposes - in order to convey the concept, idea of ​​the picture.

Allocation with space

If there is a need to highlight a certain object in a still life, assigning it the role of the main character, here you can play on a spatial composition. For example, put the main subject in front, in front of everyone else. Or adjust the light so that the lead element is brightest, and those objects that are behind and in front of it are dimly lit. And you can do it more cunningly - light a stick of incense or release cigarette smoke, thus drawing an aerial perspective in the frame: the main attention will be focused on the front objects, since the distant ones will drown in a romantic haze.

You can also play on the technical aspects of the camera: if you want to show every object in detail, including the backdrop or draperies, then the shooting should be carried out with the aperture closed. But if it is important to highlight one object, then the diaphragm should be opened as much as possible. Do not ignore the possibilities of optics: in shots taken with wide-angle lenses, objects are highly distorted, and the closer the object is to the camera, the larger it will appear in relation to distant ones. Conversely, long focal lengths "gather" perspective, the space becomes much flatter.

Color composition

If photography is carried out in b / w, knowledge about the properties of color exposure will not be useful to us. But if the photographic work is planned in color, this area of ​​research should not be ignored. Turning our eyes to the psychology of color, we will see that each of the colors has, in addition to its original color, its own semantic load. Warm colors (orange, yellow, red, terracotta) remind us of summer, sun, warmth. This is the first association that arises when looking at a photograph, resolved in these tones. In addition, from the painting course, you can learn that such objects seem visually closer. What can not be said about cold colors: blue, green, pink, violet - these colors slightly distance the object from the viewer, and are usually associated with winter, cold, water.

It is important to remember about contrast, sometimes you can play on it, but often ill-conceived color combinations repel or distort the meaning of the whole production. If you decide to photograph a cucumber against an orange background, think about whether the background will draw attention to itself? And was that really what you wanted to achieve? You also need to remember that any object has the ability to reflect or absorb the color shades of objects nearby, and even two objects of the same color on the same background may look different precisely because of the difference in their textures.

The color saturation also affects the viewer: compositions in soft pastel colors will create a feeling of peace and nostalgia, and bright, flashy colors, on the contrary, are suitable for attracting attention, conveying expression, assertiveness. That is why bright colors are so beloved by advertising photographers, while art photography often tends to a muted, calm tone.

Of course, any composition must fully obey the general color, the law within the picture - otherwise it will fall apart. That is why you should be careful with color contrasts, they can have a serious impact - both to make the work more interesting, and to destroy it by placing unnecessary accents.

Black and white

Despite the absence of color, black and white still life has its own laws, and contrast here also plays an important role. The very same color in this case is replaced by tone - another game, but it also has rules!

You've probably noticed that overweight women very rarely wear white. The fact is that white seems to be more voluminous than black. In a black and white image, the eye first of all grasps the lightest spots and only then moves to the dark ones. This effect is used to build a lot of visual deception pictures: if you look at a sheet with an even black and white stripe, it will certainly seem that the white stripes are wider. You must always take this rule into account when staging a composition, and also take into account that a bright white object, whether it is in the foreground or background, will certainly seem to be the main thing in this composition, and the gaze will fall primarily on it.

Contrasts

As already mentioned, contrasts play a special role. Existing within the framework of one composition in the image, they can both highlight objects and, conversely, hide them. The work, built on barely noticeable fluctuations of light and shadow without the spots accentuating the viewer's attention, seems monotonous, monotonous, inexpressive. Sharp contrasts create tension, dynamics.

Rule of thirds

Of course, when talking about composition, one cannot fail to mention the rule of thirds. Drawing four lines in your mind through the frame - two dividing it into three equal parts horizontally, and two drawn vertically - you can calculate the most effective areas of the frame: they are located at the intersection of four lines with each other. It is best to place the main subject of the composition in these areas.

In reality, the rule of thirds is a simplified rule of the golden ratio, which will be somewhat more difficult to obtain. To do this, the frame must be divided into eight parts horizontally and vertically. And then draw on the right and left, as well as below and above, lines at a distance of 3/8. The points of the golden section will be located at the intersection of these lines. But dividing into three parts is much more convenient than into eight parts, so it is used more often in the composition: the difference is not so noticeable to the viewer, and the harmony in the frame, if any of these rules are observed, is obvious.

Rhythm

Rhythm, that is, the repetition of the same or similar lines, is a very powerful compositional tool that allows you to manipulate the viewer's gaze. Along the "path" of alternating objects, you can take very far. But do not overplay - the rhythm can kill the whole composition, depriving it of dynamics and making it monotonous.

Internal communications

When creating a setting for photography, you must ensure that there is a connection between the objects in the frame. Objects can be related in shape (egg and onion), color (tomato and red pepper), meaning (apple and cinnamon sticks). Objects must necessarily communicate, captivate the viewer, looking from one subject in a still life to another. This approach gives integrity to the composition, makes it interesting, understandable and at the same time mysterious - it is not at all necessary to reveal all internal connections at once, the most interesting can be hidden inside the composition or hidden from the viewer for a short time, for example, with light.

You can talk about composition indefinitely, but the main thing on which a still life is built (as, indeed, photography in any other genre) is the idea, the plot and the soul of the picture. And composition is as much a tool in the hands of a photographer as the camera itself. Remember what you want to convey to the viewer! And use all the available compositional techniques for your own purposes.

Students perform a decorative still life in an art school according to the following method:

1. Arrangement of items in the sheet.
2. Transformation (stylization of the form).
3. Superposition or braiding of silhouettes among themselves.
4. Filling silhouettes with texture and decorative solution.

As you know, still life is a production of inanimate objects. In easel painting, still lifes are traditionally painted: they mold the volume of objects, convey chiaroscuro, linear and aerial perspective, space ... In a decorative still life, this becomes unimportant. The shape of the depicted objects becomes flat and conventional. There is no chiaroscuro. Instead, each silhouette is worked out decoratively.

We need to dwell on the transformation of the form separately. Its essence lies in the transformation of the original form of the object into a conditional one. That is, the drawing is simplified, it loses unnecessary details. The form is reduced to conditionally geometric, that is, it is based on simple geometric shapes (circle, rectangle, triangle ...). For example, a jug can be made up of a circle and a cylinder, and completed with circles or ellipses at the top and bottom. Thus, only the nature of the object remains. He must be recognizable. And the contours will already be transformed and brought to the general style.

Overlapping or braiding silhouettes Is a technique in decorative arts and design. The superposition of silhouettes on each other is understandable by definition - this is when objects obscure each other and the image becomes, as it were, multi-layered. But braiding is more difficult. For example, when a part of a jug is obscured by an apple, then the intersecting parts of the jug and the apple can be displayed by the artist in a completely different color. Objects become, as it were, "transparent" and their intersecting parts are visible to the viewer. The silhouettes of objects are intertwined in such an intricate way that in the end, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between them. And this gives the decorative work a special appeal.

Filling outlines of objects with texture- is not particularly difficult. You can spray paint, you can lay paint in chaotic strokes, etc. But filling the silhouette with a decorative solution is more difficult. The artist comes up with a kind of "ornament", although this word does not quite fit here. He fills the silhouette with this "ornament". This "ornament" is created on the basis of the generating line. A generatrix line is a line that forms the outline of an object. For example, the outline of a Greek amphora will be gracefully curved. Therefore, the interior decoration of the silhouette will be based on lines curved in a similar way. Individual parts of such decoration of objects, as well as the objects themselves, can be braided. Also, you can skip a literal ornament between them. Therefore, such decoration is not just filling in silhouettes with only texture or coloring. This is a more complex process. But also more effective, on which the essence of the decorative still life is based.

Still life photographs are known to be quite common. Often, many photographers like to present their still lifes in black and white. To do this, you need to find objects, compare everyday objects in your environment, and also enhance the difference in textures and tones. Converting to black and white gives you a lot of options when viewing the photo itself.

Black and white still life allows you to focus on the lines of the photo, textures and shapes. In this case, it is much easier to focus on these elements, since you do not need to be distracted by the colors. Good use of this technique will allow not only to obtain a more objective image in terms of its integrity, but also to increase the tension between different objects and materials. Such combinations can be found everywhere, for example, in the park, on the shore, etc. You can take photographs of any objects. In addition, you can photograph objects in pairs, or in more. It should be noted that it is not recommended to use the same methods of converting a photo to black and white.

To create a black and white still life, you must have:

In our painting classes, special attention is paid to still lifes made in decorative painting technique.

Decorative painting is a diverse and broad theme. Developed by our teachers, there is a series of lessons on the study of decorative techniques for working with paints. For examples, special still lifes have been prepared, on which you can clearly show various techniques and features of the decorative style.

The purpose of the assignment is a decorative still life.

• Learn to depict objects using decorative painting tools.
• Master the skills of transforming, dividing and arranging colors in shape.
• Try different decorative painting techniques.

There is a widespread belief that decorative painting styles do not fit into the academic curriculum and are contrary to basic painting rules. In fact, this is a deep misconception. All the techniques and principles of the decorative style follow directly from the academic program and are its further development and the continuous evolution of all academic art.

At first glance, simplistic modeling and the absence of a realistic image may present the wrong image. The decorative performance of the work poses many other, more complex tasks.

Decorative painting involves a deep study of local color, the composition of color spots, the search for expressive accents and effective spatial solutions.

The artist is required to convey as clearly as possible, using a minimum of means, to convey the image, the impression of the real model. It is necessary to show the volume of the object, material, texture, without resorting to classical modeling. The importance of analyzing the shape of an object is increasing; it is necessary to select and model a stylized image that transfers the object from a realistic image to the color plane.

In decorative painting, the line becomes more important, which becomes a full-fledged participant in the picture and, along with color and tone, participates in the formation of the overall composition. Changing the thickness and expressiveness of the line more clearly emphasizes the volume and plasticity of the object.

Also, a wide variety can be brought by a change in the shape and frequency of applying a stroke, which will immediately turn the surface of the canvas into a decorative panel or mosaic.

At the first stage of acquaintance with the possibilities of decorative painting, we recommend writing a series of still lifes, since in a still life there is an opportunity to choose combinations of objects and fabrics in order to vividly demonstrate the techniques of a decorative style.

Types of decorative still life.

There are several common techniques that have worked well in practice and in the learning process. The names were chosen conditionally, since in modern painting there is no clear, international classification of styles and uniform names.

Painting from rags. All color combinations in this technology are depicted as separate segments, emphasizing the structure of objects and showing their most expressive properties. Pure colors and planar display of space are often used.

Painting with a clearly defined outline. To enhance the shape and color relationships, the so-called "stained glass method" is used, when all objects and places of refraction of the form are outlined with black or dark lines, creating clear outlines and borders between colors. The works performed in this technique are very spectacular and vivid.

Other decorative techniques are based on combinations of solid colors, various types of changes in strokes, the use of a palette knife, wide brushes and other tools. The format of the article does not allow describing every technique and method of applying paint. You can find out more by visiting our classes.