Scholar.sun.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10019.1/6633/heyer_explorations_2011.pdf?sequence=2. History - British History in depth: Vermeer and the Camera Obscura. The Camera Obscura and a neat optical illusion. I thought I’d muscle in on Swans on Tea’s turf for a post and discuss an interesting optical illusion that is based just as much on optics as on the idiosyncrasies of the eye itself. While stumbling through StumbleUpon.com, I found an interesting collection of images at 2Loop.com showing ’3D Painted Rooms’. An example of this is shown below the fold, from 2Loop… The first image shows the room as it is actually painted, a rather seemingly scattered collection of curved lines.
When looked at from a particular point in the room, however, the lines ‘magically’ appear to form a collection of circles suspended in midair! The images on 2Loop are referred to as ’3D Painted Rooms’, though the title is a little misleading, since the images are not three-dimensional; rather, the illusion is created because our eyes only take two dimensional projections of things we see. The photo on the left shows the illusion as it appears from its one ‘special’ observation point.
Like this: Like Loading... Vermeer and the Camera Obscura, Part One. (part one) Discovery Certain aspects of Vermeer's paintings which are seldom if ever seen in the work of other artists of the time have puzzled art historians ever since the artist's rediscovery in the mid-1860s. Even before the turn of the century, one critic suspected that such anomalies were not merely stylistic quirks, but evidence that Vermeer had used some sort of mechanical device fitted with lens or mirrors.
After decades of protracted debate, the art history community has come to believe that the device was the camera obscura. From an optical standpoint, the camera obscura is a simple device which requires only a converging lens and a viewing screen at opposite ends of a darkened chamber or box. It is essentially a photographic camera without the light-sensitive film or plate. Only in size and decoration has it changed since the 16th century.1 Why have scholars imagined that Vermeer used the camera obscura as an aid to his painting?
Joseph Pennell A. In 1946, A. Lawrence Gowing. Realistic Portrait Art: How to draw in Prismacolor colored pencils & mixed Media; An Art lesson in drawing & shading techniques & Ladies Portrait Gallery by Howard David Johnson. Photorealist Painting Techniques and Methods. An overview (Click here for An In-Depth Step-by-Step Guide to Photorealist Painting Techniques) Photorealist painting is marked by thorough attention to detail, in which the artist strives to accurately reproduce every detail in the photo onto the canvas. The completed artworks are usually air-brushed or handpainted in acrylics or oils. Before embarking on a large-scale painting, photorealist artists often create small studies in colored pencils or watercolors, which are generally impressive artworks in their own right.
These smaller studies allow the artists to work out the various elements of composition, perspective, form, light and shadow. They can then pinpoint and correct any potential problems before embarking on the creation of an intensive, time-consuming large artwork. After selecting a suitable photo, the photorealist painting process involves transferring the photo to the canvas through mechanical means. The term "Photorealism" was first coined by NY art dealer Louis K. Norman Rockwell’s Photo Realism.