The landscape art of Nathan Fowkes: Adventure through colour and light

When I first came across Nathan Fowkes in a search for landscape artists to study for my A-Level art coursework, I understood exactly how a picture could paint a thousand words. Fowkes, by trade a concept animation artist for major feature films Rio 2 and The Legend of Puss in Boots, also ventures into digital and fine art. Throughout his work, Fowkes specialises in using colour and light, romanticising the real and the imagined in his bright, scenic compositions.  

For his traditional landscape art, Fowkes uses a unique mix of saturated watercolour and white gouache. He primarily uses a large brush, capturing the bigger picture prior to adding detail, encouraging a carefree artistic mindset at the beginning of a creative escapade.  

The solitary figure and textured brush work create a blurred, ethereal composition

Fowkes’ painting of the Berlin Palace is a lesson in the mastery of shape, colour, and efficacy of deliberate brush strokes. The solitary figure and textured brush work create a blurred, ethereal composition, the colours of the scene producing an otherworldly effect that echoes impressionistic techniques, such as those of Claude Monet. Technique aside, Fowkes’ colour palettes are undeniably extraordinary. Contrasting blue against yellow, he draws the reader’s eye from the foreground to the sunlit background, following the path of the hazy figure to an obscured horizon. Viewers are prompted to look ahead, to follow the figure to the light beyond.  

In another landscape painting of a beautiful nature scene, Fowkes’ bleeding use of watercolour adds texture and vibrant colours to the trees. Although the architecture in the Berlin Palace painting showcases blockier brush strokes, Fowkes demonstrates variation in his watercolour technique through this landscape piece. He takes advantage of watercolour’s natural looseness, adding spatters of detail and the illusion of leaf clusters on the trees.  

Fowkes’ depiction of nature is mesmerising, brimming with nostalgia while also prompting the viewer to explore the scenery around them with new eyes

Something about Fowkes’ depiction of nature is mesmerising, brimming with nostalgia while also prompting the viewer to explore the scenery around them with new eyes. The grass alone holds various shades of greens, yellows, blues, oranges, alongside an inspirational attention to colour that adds depth to the overall piece. Fowkes shows how a scene as ordinary as some trees and a river is transformed with the freedom of a colour palette and the exaggeration of light.  

While Fowkes evokes a sense of adventure and new possibility in real places through his landscape art, he also captures this expertly in his movie concept art. By merging character and scenery, Fowkes’s art amplifies popular plotlines and narratives, quite literally bringing them to life.  

Although less impressionistic than his landscape pieces, Fowkes’ concept art for Rio 2 encompasses the same attention to colour and the contrast between light and dark. The tones grow bluer towards the background, creating a sense of depth that draws the characters in the foreground closer to the viewer. Flecks of reds and pinks are among the greens and blues, discretely unsettling the beautiful landscape by giving the impression of leaping fire in the background.  

Despite the additional focus on the characters, Fowkes maintains his attention on texture in the natural landscape, as shown by the variation in leaves and the directional brush strokes on the tree bark. To me, the contrast between the foreground, holding the safety of the tree, and the background, showing the danger of the fire, stands out the most. Fowkes demonstrates the importance of colour placement in building a narrative, creating tone, and showcasing the expansive view of the scene from the characters’ perspective.  

Overall, the feeling of ‘adventure’ from landscape art can be evoked by enhancing the world around us. Saturating colours, increasing contrast, and using dream-like compositions are only a few ways that Nathan Fowkes draws viewers into his mind.  

Personally, Fowkes’ artistic techniques and portrayals of the world have influenced my observations of nature. On campus, the bluebells in summer and the vibrant trees in autumn capture the light and colour that breathe life into Fowkes’ painted narratives. 

If you’re a fresher this year, welcome. Between the passing seasons, Warwick’s on-campus nature cycles through various colours that demand the attention of an appreciative eye.