Overlapping Forms to Create Depth

Poster for New Mexico Museum of Natural History

by Greg Newbold - acrylic on board

From Creative Illustration by Andrew Loomis

Continuing  a bit further with my Look at Andrew Loomis' Creative Illustration. I pulled a page that discussed the importance of overlapping form and contour in the arrangement of objects in the picture plane. Loomis insists and I agree that almost any subject can make a compelling picture if the forms are arranged in a visually pleasing way. I was looking back though my work to find a piece that strongly illustrates this principle and I found this piece I did for the Natural history museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They held an exhibit of artifacts discovered by William Flinders Petrie, considered by many to be one of the fathers of modern archaeology. The character of Indiana Jones was based partially on his persona, including the fedora. I used a lot of overlapping objects in the composition both to add depth as well as compress the picture space enough to allow numerous objects to be shown within the frame.

Loomis PDF