Computer-aided city depiction in miniature art: Ankara example

The art of miniature, which has developed with different styles and techniques according to each period and geography, continues its development/change with technology in the 21st century like other branches of art. In light of this change, miniature artists who want to benefit from technology need research and experiences that will increase or facilitate their speed of production. For this purpose, patterns and compositions suitable for miniature style were designed with the "Computer Aided Drawing Program" and these designs were applied. Three city designs were created in the style known as city depiction in Ottoman miniature art with the AutoCAD program, whose software is suitable for architectural drawings and therefore for city depictions. Tha sample of the compositions was limited with The White Bridge, Anıtkabir, Ankara Castle, Ankara Palas, Atakule, Republic Museum, Hacı Bayram Veli Mosque and Mausoleum, Julianus Column, Kocatepe Mosque, Kuğulu Park, War of Independence Museum, Taceddin Mosque and Dervish Lodge, which were selected by sampling method from the symbolic buildings in Ankara. Three different original Ankara city designs were created with the stylized drawings of the mentioned structures in accordance with the miniature style and the patterns obtained by drawing the natural elements that complement the city depictions one by one. Drawing, designing and coloring applications of architectural and natural elements in Ankara city depictions are shown step by step. One of the designs was digitally printed and applied with watercolor. It was concluded that the steps of drawing, designing and transferring of the work to the paper to be painted, which takes a lot of time in miniature art, and through them production of original works in miniature art, were accelerated by using CAD programs. With the application, it was seen that CAD programs save a considerable amount of time and labor in miniature design and increase the quality of workmanship during the painting phase. The same design was colored digitally and a completely digital original miniature work was created and the results were evaluated in terms of their contribution to miniature art. In order to justify the suitability of Ankara city designs to miniature art before digital designs; miniature style, application techniques and city depictions in miniature were examined from sources and explained with visual elements. Key words: Digital miniature design, Form in miniature, Miniature art, City depiction in miniature, Ankara miniature