Lapa - Rio de Janeiro. Patrimônio Histórico, alegria e calor.

Escolhi o bairro da Lapa, no Rio de Janeiro para fazer meu projeto nesse curso. Pela distância e pelo período de pandemia não pude ir no local para registrar com maior fidelidade a área que queria desenhar, tive que contar com as imagens encontradas no Google e Street View. Essas ferramentas são incríveis mas não substituem a presença no local, de onde podemos retirar pontos de vistas que não são encontrados online. Apesar desse obstáculo persegui transparecer no desenho a sensação de estar lá, no meio daquelas ruas arborizadas e de prédios antigos, com gente se vestindo de maneira informal e muitos bares onde sempre podemos encontrar samba e muitos outros estilos da música popular brasileira.

Foi complexo ajustar o meu repertório de desenho e construção de imagens à forma proposta por Carlo Stanga, onde os objetos são desenhados com vastas possibilidades de cores e composições. Isso cria vários caminhos mas também nos insere em várias dúvidas e indecisões. Uma delas, e a mais crucial, foi a escolha entre o desenho com traço à caneta ou manter o traço à lápis. Escolhi o lápis grafite e aquarela para os elementos da cena, misturados a formas coloridas feitas dentro do computador.
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I chose the Lapa neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro to do my project for this course. Due to the distance and the pandemic period, I couldn't go to the neighborhood to get a more accurate picture of the area I wanted to draw, so I had to rely on images found on Google and Street View. These tools are incredible, but they are no substitute for being on-site, where you can get points of view you can't find online. Despite this obstacle, I tried to convey in the drawing the feeling of being there, in the middle of those tree-lined streets and old buildings, with people dressing informally and lots of bars where you can always find samba and many other styles of popular Brazilian music.

It was complex to adjust my drawing and image construction repertoire to the form proposed by Carlo Stanga, where objects are drawn with vast possibilities of colors and compositions. This creates various paths but also leads to multiple doubts and indecisions. One of them, and the most crucial, was choosing between drawing with a pen stroke or keeping the pencil stroke. I chose graphite pencil and watercolor for the scene's elements, mixed with colored shapes made on the computer.

Le grand avantage de ce processus, parfois fatigant, est la flexibilité d'ajuster et de modifier l'image. Mais en cours de route, j'ai dû constamment me préoccuper de garder le langage en ligne de mire, afin de ne pas me perdre dans des chemins qui ne m'intéressaient pas et que Photoshop présente. L'une des erreurs m'a donné l'idée de faire les Arcos da Lapa (le bâtiment jaune au centre de l'image) uniquement avec la silhouette réalisée sur l'ordinateur, et d'abandonner l'esquisse initiale. Une autre découverte, à travers la recherche d'éléments fantastiques, a été que je pouvais faire voler le tramway, ajoutant au dessin un autre élément de lyrisme et de poésie auquel je n'avais pas pensé.

Je pense que le processus de cette méthode m'a beaucoup influencé et je crois que j'aurai bientôt l'occasion de la mettre en pratique dans mes projets personnels.
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The great advantage of this process, which was sometimes tiring, is the flexibility to adjust and modify the image. But along the way, I had to constantly worry about keeping the language in focus so that I didn't get lost in paths that didn't interest me and that Photoshop presents. Contradictorily, the wandering path also presented me with new possibilities. One of the mistakes gave me the idea of making the Arcos da Lapa (the yellow building in the center of the image) only with the silhouette made on the computer and abandoning the initial sketch. Another discovery, through the search for fantastic elements, was that I could make the tram fly, adding another element of lyricism and poetry to the drawing I hadn't thought of.

I think the process of this method has influenced me a lot, and I believe I will soon have the opportunity to put it into practice in my projects.