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December 18, 2012
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Nov 25, 2012, 5:25:02 PM
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:iconfrogger1093:
Comments and any sort of constructive criticism are welcome; I'd like to know what I could improve on and I'll try to work suggestions into following submissions.

My first semester of college is finally over, and I'm now free for the next three weeks or so. School kept me pretty busy, so I've only had time for two pictures--only one of which was personal work unrelated to school. This was my final project for my Art History class.

For the project, I decided to explore Post-Impressionist use of color for expressive means. I can't paint or work in color to save my life, so instead of embarrassing myself with a mediocre picture, I decided to recreate a Post-Impressionist piece in my more naturalistic, black-and-white style. The piece I decided to recreate was Vincent van Gogh's The Night Café.

van Gogh's 1889 original was meant to convey a sense of oppression and desperation; it depicts a cafe de nuit, a place where downtrodden vagabonds would go for cheap food, drink and board. In a letter to his brother, Theo, Vincent said that the café he painted "is a place where one can ruin oneself, go mad or commit a crime… And all with an appearance of Japanese gaiety, and the good nature of Tartarin." The warm colors are simultaneously inviting and repulsive.

Since I don't have the benefit of using colors to express ideas like that, I tried to find other ways to convey the café's atmosphere, mostly through the dim lighting, textures, and patrons' poses. Even though van Gogh's loose brushwork leaves a lot of details open to interpretation, I tried to remain faithful to the original.

graphite pencils on bristol board, 2H through 6B
November 22, 2012
12" x 8.5"
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:iconblanket86:
Mood: Love *blanket86 Jan 31, 2013  Professional Traditional Artist
This is so amazing! Very nice style! I love it!
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:icondocnfoid:
~DOCNFOID Jan 22, 2013  Hobbyist Digital Artist
How did you learn perspective? I am horrible at drawing angular stuff like furniture and so forth. The lighting in this is also great, I'd say you definitely captured the atmosphere. I can just HEAR the sounds of this room.
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:iconfrogger1093:
~Frogger1093 Jan 22, 2013  Student Traditional Artist
I'm not too keen on perspective either, but I'm so glad you like the picture. Thanks. :)
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:icondocnfoid:
~DOCNFOID Jan 23, 2013  Hobbyist Digital Artist
Better than me :P
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:iconsergeantaegis:
Mood: Love ~sErgEantaEgis Dec 24, 2012
Sweeeeeet work and that shading man.
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:iconfrogger1093:
~Frogger1093 Dec 24, 2012  Student Traditional Artist
Thank you. I was trying to convey the mood that van Gogh had in his original. Black and white doesn't exactly have the full expressive spectrum that van Gogh had, but it gets enough across. Glad you like it. :)
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:iconsarahcaj:
~sarahcaj Dec 18, 2012
very interesting reinterpretation of Van Gogh. Instead of contrasting color and distressed brush strokes, you employ shadowing and dark tones to convey the distress and despair of the room. I really like the way you are able to keep the halo of light around the hanging lights, especially the center one, since that is one of the cool parts of Van Gogh's piece.
Your linear perspective is good (the back room looks a tad off) and the shadow locations seem logical. Your detailing good and conveys a sense of reality though the specific objects. Nice work. Very well done.
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:iconfrogger1093:
~Frogger1093 Dec 18, 2012  Student Traditional Artist
Thank you so much for the critique, feedback, and watch. I had hoped that the shadows were well placed, I'm really glad that you like the picture. Much appreciated. :)
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