Abstract ocean waves drawing series#

The vessel that is in the center of the painting appears to be on the verge of being swallowed by an incoming rogue wave. The artist also includes ships that are also dwarfed by the huge waves around them. The mountain has a strange resemblance to the ocean waves in color, it’s snow-capped peak appearing much like the crest of the waves in the sea. Mount Fuji is actually visible in the crest of the largest wave as a small, distant landscape that can barely be distinguished from the rest of the ocean’s waves.

Hokusai chose to paint the work in a gripping blue coloration that mostly features the giant, roaring waves rising and crashing. This particular painting was the most famous as it depicted the ocean near Mount Fuji in all its famously unpredictable anger, which filled many sailors with an extreme sense of trepidation at having to sail near this area.

Abstract ocean waves drawing series#

Hokusai painted this work as a series of scenes he labeled Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. This painting is also known as The Great Wave off Kanagawa and focuses completely on the unpredictable and often raging seas near Japan’s famous Mount Fuji. Painted in 1831, Katsushika Hokusai’s work titled The Wave was one that quickly garnered significant attention throughout the world despite Japan being under a strict period of isolation from much of the world. Here are 10 of the most famous ocean paintings ever done. Regardless of how the sea is portrayed, there is a significant level of mastery in being able to accurately depict the ocean in its many different forms. Some artists have found it most challenging to depict the calm, still water and its reflective properties while others have sought to show the sea in all its raging glory with giant, dangerous waves and boisterous winds. Painting the ocean has presented many different challenges in its own right. Many great artists have sought to portray the ocean and how it interacts with the many different actions and decisions of mankind.Ĭapturing the sea in all it’s individualistic glory is a tall task for many painters, but the most skilled have found ways to portray the sea and it’s lofty waves in a manner which adds as much intrigue and amazement as any social dynamic that can be imagined by a playwright or other creative artist. The ocean, like any other creature of a person, seems to have its own personality with characteristics like anger, excitement, calamity, gentleness, and other qualities. Selecting a region changes the language and/or content on Ocean covers almost three-quarters of the Earth’s surface and has long been a central focus and source of inspiration for many of the most famous painters throughout history. “But the smaller ones are going to be superseded fairly quickly by the larger ripples.” “All of these forms as they interact with each other are going to flow into one another,” says Case. While you avoid straight lines and defined forms, remember the general shape and flow of your drawing. Wavy lines are more the norm, and if a single line continues unimpeded, add in something to interrupt it and make it more organic. Straight lines are products of architecture and engineering, but natural shapes tend to bend, develop, and branch into other things. Whether it’s water pouring onto something or water on the surface, you want to find ways of organizing small and large forms to make things look more organic.” Avoid uninterrupted lines. “One of the most important things is to use a variety of shapes,” says Case. They are complex, temporary, and always unique. Those waves and splashes are not singular geometric shapes. A calm, rippling surface, though, is often interrupted by waves and splashes.