‘Penguish’: New Animated Painting

‘Penguish’ is a tribute to L. S. Lowry’s ‘Man Lying on a Wall’ (1957), and the 6th artwork in my growing surreal animated paintings collection.

L. S. Lowry’s ‘Man Lying on a Wall’ (1957)

I start each of these pieces by exploring paintings online until one resonates. In this case of Lowry’s painting I was drawn to the easy composure of a man enjoying his cigarette on a workday, and I found the context of the city smoke in the background striking in its minimalism.

It made me think about how difficult it can be to schedule pockets of rest in our modern lifestyles.

The clear complementary background-foreground split gave me the idea of juxtaposing the two—could the background in my piece represent the subject’s daydreaming, i.e. reality vs. desire? And how could I extend the industrialisation suggested in the original? Perhaps bleeding it into the desire.

All these thoughts metabolised into ‘Penguish’, built and animated in Blender, and composited in After Effects.

Explore the full collection of animated surrealist paintings here.

Take care,
Zuhair