Environmental Storytelling

        For our Environmental Storytelling brief we were required to visit a minimum of three locations and make a series of observational drawings in each, using the right medium to capture the mood and atmosphere of the location. The locations that I chose were the York walls (mainly around Monkbar) and Christmas Market, and the Corn Exchange in Leeds as an indoor location.

 

        I felt that the walls would be best drawn using artist's pens, as to me they summoned up old fashioned line and crosshatched illustrations. This style was particularly effective on one image of an indoor staircase providing access to Monkbar, as it perfectly captured the dark, dingy and claustrophobic atmosphere. The pens also allowed me to include finer details of the locations without losing definition.

 

         The markets required a softer approach. The festive and warm atmosphere fitted well with a deep red pencil, which allowed me to add tonal definition without the harsh lines which were appropriate for the stone walls.

 

        The Corn Exchange building was perhaps the most difficult location to capture, due in a large part to its round shape and domed ceiling, which made accurately showing perspective more troublesome than it already is. The Victorian style of the interior, particularly the intricate iron balconies and staircases, and the aforementioned ceiling, were ideal for pen and ink, due to the detail. However, I wanted this set of drawings to stand apart from those of the Walls, so I chose to add a wash of colour. The light and airy interior seemed well suited to a pale sky/duck egg blue, a colour which I feel also suits the period of the building.

 

         In retrospect, these three locations are perhaps a little too similar to each other, and I could maybe have visited somewhere which would have leant itself to a bolder medium. I had intended to revisit the location of my Dad's former steel fabrication business, beneath the Leeds railway. I have strong memories of it being a very dark, grim and imposing place which would have been well suited to grimy charcoal or graphite. I should perhaps have done more preparatory sketches in each location, exploring different compositions and perspectives, yet the cold an blustery weather was somewhat off putting.