Four Paintings

These were made for my layout (background) painting class. The assignment was to come up with a simple, surreal design for a landscape. Then we had to paint it 4 ways: First, just simple flat black and white with no blending or shading (second from top). Second, we need to add gradients (3rd from top). This one probbaly gave me the most trouble. I kept striving for perfectly blended, subtle gradients that I could make in 3 seconds in photoshop, but what I ended up with was clunky, patchy gradients that look like they were made with my foot. I'm new at this! Third we had to make the same design, but now make it more 3D (bottom). This one to me came easier, basically when in doubt just add a highlight or a shadow and POOF! Ya got 3D! Finally, we had to choose our favorite of the 3 and re-paint it in a monochomatic (using only one color) fashion. So yes, I did pick the fastest and easiest one to re-paint. BUT, I happen to really like flat, simple designs like this. Reminds me of my printmaking days. It conveys everything the more rendered ones do, but its much more succinct and to the point. I like that. Plus its 5am and these are due in a few hours!