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Saturday 29 January 2011

Exercise - Reading an image


The image depicts a cavern/cave which appears to contain a sleeping dragon, which seems to be guarding a pile of golden treasure and a throne. Discarded armour and weapons litter the floor, perhaps at one time belonging to previous trespassers, who were unsuccessful in their attempts to steal the treasure or slay the dragon. In the mouth of the cave are two young adventurers, one of which is carrying a flaming torch which is illuminating the walls of the cave. The suggested narrative is that these two have ventured into the cave to kill the dragon and win the treasure trove.
The colour pallette consists of bright red which illuminates the dragon and this is also used along with yellow and orange to suggest in an abstract way the walls of the cave. Complimentary colours of purple and blue give depth and tone to the shadows and the light blue and green give a feeling of coldness to the ground and entrance. The hottest colour is the red, drawing your eye to the dominant character in this scene, the dragon, and the red and orange of the torch leads your eyes to the two figures. These two figures are noticably smaller than the sleeping giant, giving a feeling of the enormity of their task.
The use of texture in the blue floor and the jagged purple entrance of the cave, along with the way the glow of the torch has been depicted to suggest the rough walls of the cave.
The use of red seems an obvious choice for a fire-breathing dragon and the composition of the picture and connecting complimentary colours lead the eye around the scene in a circular route.

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