Landscape Composition Rules

[TeAnne]

I enjoyed that, very informative. Thank you.

[henrik]

Uh, TeAnne - what is this about ???

[scottb]

Here is a link to the article, Henrik:

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles/Jo..._Vloothuis/120

[henrik]

Duh... of cource. Fantastic work by Johannes!

[Shehaub]

This article is so good! I have it bookmarked it so I can reference it often. I am using it as a guideline for my current project and I cannot begin to describe how it has made a difference in how I develop and decide how to make it work.

I think this is going to be a "tool" for me for sometime. I really struggle with composition. This article pointed out some of my mistakes. Now I hope that I can use some of the tips to improve my work.

[Johannes]

Thanks for the positive feedback. If any of you knows of a rule that I didn't post either because I don't know it or it slipped by me, please let me know at jvloothuis@hotmail.com. That way I can add it to the tutorial.

[leesmith]

Great lesson! In this case, pictures are worth thousands of words!

[ldallen]

As soon as I finished reading it I went right to my easel and worked on a landscape I had been struggling with. Much to my amazement, with the tips in your "Rules" it is much (much) improved. Landscape is definitely my weakness, so I, too, have bookmarked it and printed all the verbiage for quick reference. Thank you so much.

[Johannes]

Thanks for all the positive feedback.

ldallen

I would like to know which points of the tutorial helped you get that painting going. How about posting a picture.

[tess2000]

Originally posted by Johannes
Thanks for all the positive feedback.

Is there a way to print all this info out without the format of HTML code? I don't want to print all the other stuff on the page just the posted pages. Does anyone know how to do that?

As soon as I can get it printed, I'm going to use this information. This is great! BRAVO!!!

Also, would this work for seascapes as well or is that a differant thing all together?

Tess

[Johannes]

Yes, several points do apply:

1. Do not place the horizon line in the center. If you wish to emphasize the sky, place the horizon line at the lower portion. Placing the horizon line at the upper part will emphasize the water.
2. Make sure your clouds don't have the same look as the foam in a crashing wave.
3. Add fauna to give life. Just make sure they are looking inwards and in case of birds flying inwards.
4. Create a mood by changing the colors to sunsets or storms.
5. Blur mountains and the horizon line to help convey distance.
6. The "eye" of the wave makes a great focal point.
7. Clouds, birds, the line that forms when the water reaches the sand, etc. make great pointers and visual paths to lead the viewer to the center of interest.
8. If you have more than one wave. make sure the don't resemble each other in size or line.

Here's an example of a seascape I was commisioned to do.

[tess2000]

Dear Johannes,

I'm stuck on a seascape and your information is exactly what I needed to know. My sky is where I'm stuck, but now, I can continue on.

This is really great information. I managed to download the pages and reformat them so I can print them out. It's still in HTML format but at it will print without all the rest of the ad stuff on the page and it lines up on a regular sheet of paper as well. I hope you don't mind. This is just such good material and I surely didn't want to not have it available in case of servers going down.

I can email it to you if you like and you could include a "downloadable version link in this article for those who want to save and print it out and save some ink.

by the way, are some of the images used in instruction post your own?

Thank you Again,
Tess

[Johannes]

Yes, some of the paintings displayed are mine. By the way I edited my comments on seascapes. I added some information regarding the fauna part looking inwards.

[tess2000]

Originally posted by Johannes
Yes, some of the paintings displayed are mine. By the way I edited my comments on seascapes. I added some information regarding the fauna part looking inwards.

Dear Johannas,

Your work is beautiful. The seascape reminds me of some of the Anthony Casay or Jim Warren work.
Thank you for your extras in this post. Very helpful.

I did manage to upload a printable version of your "Recommendations" to my website. I can leave this posted here for quite a while for those who would like to print it out within thier browser. I use Netscape so I don't know how it will look in Internet Explorer or other browsers.

Here is the link if you wish to include it. It prints out into a nice booklet form of 34 pages.

http://users.ticnet.com/tess2000/lan...andscapes.html

Again, I thank you,
Tess

[T-Rex]

I enjoyed it as well and found it extremely useful, especially w/ a checklist of sorts to ask myself, so many things to remember......Thank you much......Karen