The Return

Each July, the studio Atomhawk invites artists from around the globe to take part in an annual art competition. There is one theme which changes each year that the artists must base their work around, and in 2021 this theme was ‘The Return’.

After some thinking, I decided that I wanted to express the theme of The Return through emotion and subtlety rather than taking a more literal approach.

The Story

My aim with the image was to focus on telling the story through use of facial expression, body language and subtle clues in the background. I wanted to opt for a more emotional representation of the theme, as opposed to a more literal one.

The story I wanted to tell was one of two lovers reuniting for the first time after one had returned from battle. I planned to make their reunion a highly emotional one, as well as intimate and private, but juxtaposed against a vibrant celebration happening in the background behind them. I also wanted to make the lovers from different social backgrounds to allow for more diversity in the character designs and so I focused on a character of royal standing as well as a more brutish soldier type character.

After some exploration with some quick compositions using greyscale silhouettes, I began to then focus on character designs.

The Characters

Having already decided that the two characters would come from different backgrounds, I began exploring designs for them.

For The Prince (below, top left), I wanted to give him clothing that might not have been practical in terms of comfort and movement, but was made of expensive materials and adorned with jewels to better represent his royal status. I also decided to give him a smaller stature and longer, more impractical hair, to show that he wasn’t necessarily experienced in the art of war or physical labour.

The Champion (below, top right) was given a larger physical frame due to his familiarity with fighting and physicality, and to make him appear as a more intimidating opponent to anyone on the battle field. I wanted to give him far more practical clothing, which would allow him for better movement when fighting.

Across the two different characters, to tie them together to give them the impression of coming from the same place I used some of the same materials but with different treatments (for example, embroidered patterned leather on The Prince, and torn, worn leather on The Champion). I also took into consideration the climate of their location and dressed them both in a way to account for the warmer weather.

The Background

Having settled on which composition I wanted to use, as well as having a better idea of how my characters were going to look, I started to piece together some photo references as well as quickly painting in various elements to help me better understand how I was going to tell the story of The Return.

While I aimed to keep their embrace as intimate and private as possible, I wanted to use the background to tell the story of a victory in battle using various visual clues. I initially thought about concealing a lot of the background behind drapery, but felt this closed the characters off from the environment too much and would make it difficult to understand what was happening outside, so I then tried a background design which featured things traditionally associated with celebration - fireworks and banners. I added these above the tops of houses, and put the characters weapons off to the side, to symbolise the fact that the fighting had come to a victorious end.

Once I was happy with how my rough mock up was looking, I started to create a more detailed sketch that I could then paint on top of. However, once I’d begun to start apply colours and block shapes out, I started to feel that the composition wasn’t working - there was too much empty space in the background, and the characters felt too far removed from the action taking place. I wanted it to feel like the two characters were stealing a quick moment of intimacy amongst a busy celebration, but having them so prominent in the foreground with the buildings so small in the back it didn’t give the impression I was aiming for.

I also decided to rework the idea of having fireworks going off - if I took into consideration how advanced the technology was of the people who lived in this area at this time, fireworks seemed to be too futuristic and wouldn’t have fit in.

With these things in mind, I started to rework the background design.

I changed the time of day so that it was sunny and no longer night time, and painted some building that were a lot larger and closer so as to make the characters feel like they were amongst the streets.

Having the buildings featuring more prominently also gave me an opportunity to paint in some more details that would give more clues as to how the townspeople lived their lives. Things like a bell tower to signify a religious building that people would worship at and covering their shacks with animal hides suggested a simpler, more primitive time, with people reliant hunting and gathering to get them by and having faith in a higher power.

The Details

With the majority of the painting done, adding in smaller details to help tell the story was a crucial final step. I wanted to put in clues throughout the image that would give the viewer insights into what was happening within the piece.

In the background, there are brightly coloured flags and banners strung up among the streets, the chimneys blow out smoke from delicious food being cooked and petals, used as confetti, gently blow across the scene. On some of the banners, there also features the symbol of their faith, showing that they have been victorious in their battle.

On the characters, the most obvious detail is the stark difference between the two figures - The Champion is battle worn, covered in wounds, scars and caked in mud. He is dishevelled and unkempt. The Prince, in contrast, is flawlessly put together, with clean skin, elaborate hair, and delicate, well kept clothing. Their facial expressions are also worlds apart, with The Champion’s face full of anguish and pain, and The Prince being calm, compassionate, and caring.