Cycle - Manufactured Consequences

Natural disasters have become more prevalent in recent years. We hear of the human cost and cause, but rarely do we understand what cost the rest of nature (animal, plant, insect) pays for disasters which, while are not produced by our species, are certainly encouraged and bolstered by the choices of individuals, companies, industries, and governments. 

Manufactured Consequences is the first piece where I attempt to include the viewer as part  of the composition. This is why every animal is staring directly at the viewer. Nature itself is trying to tell you who caused the unfortunate forest fire.

Once again, I began the process by researching the elements for this piece.

Next, I sketched out the concept I had in mind and created a tonal study. This helped me visualize the idea in my head and solved the bigger composition issues, like focal points, perspective, arrangements and importance of the elements for the viewer. 

Once happy with the quick sketch, I created a line drawing of the final piece on a piece of Moleskine paper.

I didn't want to add too much detail at this stage. The details of this piece will be added in the colour process and texture illusions. I started with some large area colour gradients, done with pan pastels, and some blue shadow undertones, done with pastel pencils. I tried a smoke texture with some orange secondary light coming from beneath, but since there was no lightsource for it, I ended up scrapping it for some darker, dirtier smoke.

I lightened the sky to constrast the burnt trees and smoke to make them more noticeable. I really like the versatility of chalk pastels for this very reason. Anything can be reworked in a composition. I used white charcoal over black to create the burnt wood texture of the smoldering tree trunks. At this point, I also added the local colour for the ground, logs, and deer. 

I finished adding the local colour to the animals.

Referring back to my tonal study from the beginning, I noticed that my ground, sky and animals, while different colours, had very similar tonal values, all within a light grey area. My original decisions dictated that only the animals were of this value scale. The sky would be the lightrest, and the ground would be in the dark grey value scale.

Once the tonal values were correct, I added some green notes to the ground, some darker cast shadow, and, with light yellow, light green and white chalk pastel pencils, I added a bit of regrowth in the forest. Even though much damage has been done by climate change, I wanted the viewer to believe that it's not too late. 

This is the last piece in the Cycle series. You can see the entire series by clicking on the ILLUSTRATION tab at the top of the page.

The original art and prints are available. If you are interested please contact me at gilles.rainville@gmail.com

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