Overlapping to create depth...The layers of a landscape



Here is a landscape of mine, with all the layers put together.
 What is hidden in the forest?
What is behind the trees and around the bend?

Let's take the picture apart to reveal it's secrets.



The Horizon and Sky



The background



The middle ground

The Foreground



  

The extreme foreground

 You are free to print out the layers for yourself, cut them out and reconstruct my landscape if you wish. If you have Adobe Photo shop, the magic wand tool will remove all the black and you can easily overlap the layers.

Now create your own landscape on five separate sheets of paper. Then cut out the layers and see what happens when you put the picture together.

Putting together the layers will mean hiding some of your drawing. This is what makes overlapping so magical.

 When you overlap it creates not only a sense of depth in a picture;  it creates a sense of mystery.

If you create your landscape on thick paper, such as card stock or watercolor paper, you can create a three dimensional shadow box scene. Just glue small pieces of corrugated cardboard or foam core in between the layers of your picture to hold them slightly apart.




Landscapes 101, Depicting Pictorial Space from Rachel Wintemberg on Vimeo.
The Helpful Art Teacher explains how you can use your knowledge of extreme foreground, foreground, middle ground, background and overlapping to create cool art. With a little imagination you can choose to depict realism, create optical illusions or just make people laugh.