Before sketching thumbnails and forming ideas for a landscape piece it's a good idea to get some inspiration by looking at the works of artists. I'm going to take a look at Daniel Dociu.
Daniel Dociu
Art Analysis
The image above, titled Divinity Breach and found in the Ascalon post on his art station portfolio, shows a fantasy city setting within the world of the game Guild Wars 2. Looking at the piece, my eye is immediately dragged towards the bright warm colours in the bottom right of the image that contrast the less saturated tones found on the rest of the image, making this area seem alive while the rest of the piece appears empty or without life.
Dociu uses lighting to direct the eye towards sections of his art, highlighting their importance. This section is also located within the focal point in the bottom right when using the rule of thirds. From examining this area, I can see that there is some kind of festival or other kind of celebration occurring in this city at this time which is indicated by what appears to be a gathering of people and stalls with banners decorating the streets.
These banners also appear in the foreground on the left side of the image, in both the lower and upper half within the focal points. The way the banners are lined up, going from the festival, to the left side, and then from the left to the top of the image, creates a sense of motion in the image that leads your eye towards the dimmer sections of the piece.
The art piece uses complimentary colours, with the reds and yellows and dark colours that have a slight blue tint to them, to make the sections highlight each other and create a natural harmony. The unsaturated colours of the upper left section make it seem less inviting compared to the festival which uses warmer colours. Additionally, the white moon light highlighting the roofs on the upper left side of the image creates an ominous atmosphere and make me think of a light uncovering hidden things in the darkness. The most apparent colour in this piece, other than the yellow of the festival, is the red of the banners. Immediately I think of blood and danger when seeing the crimson red banners, and the way they surround the city creates a sense of these people being trapped or even being dangerous. The lack of colour and the high use of shadows for the building in the background compared to the warm colours of the festival create an idea that the people in the lower sections are filled with emotions while the people in the higher parts of the city are lifeless and lack real emotions.
A sense of scale is made in this image by Dociu, with the architecture of the buildings and the perspective of the image. By looking at the foreground it appears the image is from on top of a roof or from a window of a building, and with how it's difficult to make out people in the festival area it seems they're at a distance away. Furthermore, the architecture of the buildings in the middleground, with the windows around eye level, we can get a sense of a persons height and see how tall the buildings are. Knowing the scale of the image makes the people seem tiny compared to the city they're in, and the biggest building in the background, that appears to be a castle or some kind of aristocrat building, dwarves their buildings in comparison showing how little the common people are to those higher up in society.
Sounds
I can imagine hearing different things depending on where i am in this image. Being in the location the image is seen from i imagine the festival will be loud, with the roars of laughter and joy bouncing off the walls up to my location. I can also imagine the red banners flying in the wind making a slight, but still audible, swooshing sound in the wind as they move.
If i was in the festival the roaring of attendees and stall clerks would comfort me, making me forget anything else going on in my life. There would be the sounds of children having fun, the sound of games being played and the screams of store clerks trying to sell food and other items.
However, if i was in the dimmer parts of the image i can imagine the sounds of the festival being all but drowned out by my surroundings. The cries of animals in the night, the howls of wolfs at the moon, and the swinging of trees suffocating me as i walk through the bleak streets all alone.