Sim Art: Grant Wood, Hopper, Vettriano, Kroyer
I made more Sim Art, just for fun, but I thought I'd share it so anyone who wants it can download it . It's all packaged together, as before, and everything is clearly labelled so you can keep what you want and discard what you don't:
Boxnet Download Link right here,
And check it out I made an actual, relatively non-failtastic preview pic for it too! (No I am not expecting you guys to be impressed by my ability to put text on pictures, as it is a skill that has been mastered by toddlers, but you know... I felt it needed pointing out anyway, as I am on many levels, less skilled than some toddlers ;) )
This set was going to be the Americana Edition of Art, as I decided to do "American Gothic" and Some Edward Hopper and then somehow two non american pictures slipped into the mix...and it was going to be 20th Century, but one of them is 19th so...it's now a mish mash which I thought I should do a really quick break down of anyway:
So the first two are actually the two same, they're Grant Wood's 1930 classic "American Gothic", one is a recolour of GLS "The Muse" and one is a recolour of the basegame's "Lady in Red". They're sliiiiightly different, the size thing for one, the slight stretching on the larger one for another, but pick and chose as you like from them, that's why there are two.
Anyway, for the sims version I used PT9 and Jenny Smith to kind of turn the whole soul crushing normality of the original painting on it's head in an ironic way. Reading up on the painting (which I knew nothing about before doing this) I found out that opinions on whether the woman in the painting is the man's wife or his spinster daughter difer. I went with wife because that is what I have always assumed she was, so Jenny it is rather than a grown up spinster Jill Smith. The house in the back of this was an absolute pain in the butt to build, it may not seem like it but day-um, especially as I have never been good with rooves and the house is mostly roof. But I think it came out ok in the end.
The other five paintings are recolours of the same canvas "LIving Room with Man and woman by Peter Lighten", because I'm pretty sure the Maxis one is meant to be inspired by Edward Hopper anyway, and so it made sense to put Hopper Sim Art on them, and then they were the perfect size to fit an in game pic onto with minimal cropping, so I used it for the other two as well. However I'm not sure what EP this came with though my gut says FT or AL? But anyway, if you're a Mac User and this is the case let me know and I can easily make a version on something from the basegame or NL if anyone wants any of these.
Anyway, the basic breakdown of these four is:
"Morning Sun" 1952 Edward Hopper, Using Generation 5 member Elise Olshfski
"New York Movie" 1939 Edward Hopper, Using Alexandra Legacy, who the lovely dicreasy was nice enough to lend me from her Victorian Legacy.
I don't want to blab too much, but I just have to say I love love love love love Edward Hopper. He's one of my favourite, artists, if not my favourite artist, and I've never actually seen any of his paintings for real. (Unfortunately it's all over states side and I've only been to the US once). I studied Hopper only very briefly in high school, and from what I can recall he was painting at a time when Urbanisation in the US was increasing, with a lot of rural cititizens relocating to a big city and finding themselves lost in them. And that's sort of an overwhealming theme, the lonely solitary figure, even when he has characters together they're never speaking or making eye contact, he uses alot of roads that go nowhere that cut across the canvas, alot of windows as well, in a semi voyeuristic way, the idea of looking in from your loneliness onto someone else's life... Nighthawks has nearly all of these elements combined (groups of figures not talking, road, window seperating the viewer from the subject like an alienating aquarium etc.) And the loneliness and the way they work so perfectly on an emotional level and connect are what I love so much about them.
So basically I needed some characters with more than a touch of lost vulnerability about them. Em would have been my go to, if it weren't for hair colours. And while normally I'm not bothered about hair colours, they're such an important part of the painting, particularly in "New York Movie" where the blonde stands out against the darkness of the rest of the theatre, I had to use someone who was blonde. Di suggested pre-Anthony Alexandra for "New York Movie" which was perfect, the glamorous blonde with a heavy dose of insecurity and lonely lost feeling that she hides from everyone else, caught in a moment of vulnerability. And then Elise...a lot less thought went into her choice when I decided on a whim to make "Morning Sun", but, while I haven't had a whole lot of time to spend on this idea in the story, for me Elise being adopted has always given her a bit of uncertainty, and isolation from the rest of the group, because she doesn't quite fit any Bohemian mold, which is why she's always trying to fit herself into another predetermined role (Cheerleader, Doctor etc.) So I decided to go with her for Morning sun.
The lighting's not as good as I would like, but there are limitations working with in game pictures, and I actually tweaked lighting and saturation and what not on a few of these for the first time, I'm still learning where Paint shop is concerned so, bear with me if it's not perfect.
Yes I am incappable of not rambling.
And finally the last two I did were:
"The Singing Butler" by Jack Vettriano 1992, with David and Tara Doran (and Kaylynn Langerak as the maid)
Basically, just had a lot of fun with it, again, I know nothing about this painting except that I like it. Using David and Tara is a throw back to the ballroom scene in Part 2 of the RR.
And "Summer Evening on Skagen South Beach" P.S Kroyer 1893, with Requiem and Rhapsody (Dee's the one in the hat...I thought I should say since they're identical and hard to tell apart in the same hair even when they're facing the camera)
I had never heard of this artist until mountainshade1 suggested I do this painting last time I posted about sim Art, and when I saw it, I immediately thought of the girls, so the girls it was :) It's very simple, and I'm glad Shadey pointed it out to me.
Next time I'll probably take a look at some of the Pre-Raphelite artists like Waterhouse and Godward and Rossetti that a few people suggested that I take on, in my last post about Sim Art. And again, if anyone has any more ideas for paintings I could do, that aren't too epic or difficult, let me know and I will add them to my file of sim art projects :) Aaaanyway, I hope anyone who wants these likes them and that they work!