You mention how an artist's skill is reflected in their sketch work, and this can be true. Sometimes. Sometimes it's all about the idea, and it can literally just be nothing to anybody except the person who made the marks. Sometimes the construction looks rigid and gross until the whole picture is formed. When I mention Solas' process I don't mean his planning. I mean his actual process of mark making (one could argue you're supposed to do the whole picture equally, but artists rarely do that. They work on the part they want until their brain tells them to step back).
Err.... holistic picture composition and work distributed roughly equally is a pretty important skill for any aspiring artist to master, in my experience. True that many work on a part until their brain tells them to step back, but that's either a bad habit OR that part usually happens in advanced rendering stage - not in the planning, sketching and initial refining, where parts of the image still "float", ESPECIALLY in a large, intricate design/composition, and not the vague idea that appears out of a sudden, and an artist just molds it, until something comes out of it.
All in all, we're not talking about sketches on such level of abstraction that only an artist can see the picture he/she wants to draw in it. It would make no sense if Solas left something SO vague, especially if the picture supposedly leave a message, which in itself is part of a massive painting spread all over the rotunda, with established rhythm, flow and particular type of imagery and symbolism.
The horizontal lines you see aren't any more defined than other horizontal lines in the collection. Add in the diagonals roughed in and you have a recurring theme. In fact the horizontal created by the dragon is located in the same division (roughly following the rule of thirds) as the windows behind Celene.
Yes they are. Just look at it - the entire weight of the picture (beasts and sword) is put on that particular line; something that simply doesn't happen in other parts of the fresco, where horizontal lines are delegated to be part of the background (btw. the window behind Celene is barely visible - it's not even an integral part of the picture, as the design changes based on which quest we finish first) and are broken throughout the picture and are overwhelmingly dominated by diagonal and horizontal lines.
You're ignoring the most convincing argument of mine, though... Nick probably dumbed it down to make it look rough. That solves the whole "doesn't look like Solas' work" quite solidly... if it doesn't carry the same skill, in your eyes -- that's because someone had to purposefully paint something that didn't look finished.
Um, no, I'm not ignoring it - I'm simply pointing out what I've already pointed out before: whether the picture was 'dumbed down' or actually painted by someone less skilled in BW base, it's been made to look significantly off, in terms of everything in it, which is exactly why I have issues with it in the first place.
Now in the real world, you'd need tools to get as high as the frescos reach, yes. And your guys' imagery of a bounching Solas is hilarious, but... but this is Dragon Age. That ladder set up has never moved a single inch, but Solas still manages somehow. And let's not forget that he is an ancient elf with magics we can only dream of -- who is to say he doesn't know something or other to help him out, mm? This is a fantasy universe, so I never nit pick little physical details. It's futile, really. Rules are broken and bent and enforced all the time for no more reason than it suits the story.
Sooo... he can use magic to float above the rotunda and paint, but doesn't know enough tricks to make his painting look better?
I'm sorry, I'm just not buying it. For me this argument is a cop out - "it's a fantasy world, and therefore ANYTHING's possible".
Well no, not in world of Thedas. This world as an established set of rules, and many of them quite close to what we know from real world - and even if some of these rules can be bent by either magic or game-play elements/budget restraints, we can't explain anything that sounds bizarre and unlikely by claiming that it's a fantasy world/kind of magic whenever it suits us.
....ESPECIALLY that we've traveled quite smoothly from an argument that the couch might be the reason of strange last panel's composition - which, while still implausible in this particular scenario, presents a simple and painfully realistic assesment - to a proposition that Solas either uses magic or we don't see that the ladder setup has been moved there (together with the couch itself, I presume?)....
Furthermore, this is only addressing the post-ending scenario -- there's no logic against Solas doing this before the final battle. I'm on the fence as to whether it was done pre or post ending, but I definitely think Solas did the painting
Um, I actually pointed out the logic against Solas doing this before the final battle....
In any case - I hope you don't find my comment as confrontational or dismissive or anything of the sort. I quite enjoy the discussion, especially that it contains 'artsy' stuff 
) - especially if he's supposedly done in a rush. I know that Solas can be put into category of people who over-complicate their life, rather than make it simpler or easier, but that's quite a stretch^^; 
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But that's why saves were invented, and wouldn't it be nice if choosing whether to drink from the Well mattered?
