Home Forums Explore Media Pastels Soft Pastel Learning Center The Spotlight – January 2016 – Simplifying

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  • #993684
    Don Ketchek
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        Welcome artists!

        [FONT=Verdana]Here is a quick recap of what The Spotlight is all about!
        [/FONT]
        The Spotlight is an activity thread for pastel artists of all experience levels working from photos chosen by a monthly host. Most months, the host will choose photos from only one subject, putting that subject into “the spotlight,” so to speak! For example, one month the subject will be painting water, another month will spotlight flowers, etc.

        Some months, rather than spotlight a subject, the focus will be on a challenge of some sort. In those cases, we might have a wider variety of photo references, but “the spotlight” will be on the challenge itself.

        Since this is a group activity, we can pool our knowledge and resources, and grow as artists in a fun, “no-pressure” atmosphere.

        And, remember, no critiques unless specifically asked for.

        The intent is to have fun, try new things, experiment, and perhaps most of all, to see what our friends and colleagues are painting from the same reference material!

        Please note: The photos this month were taken by me or are from the Reference Image Library. You have permission to use the photos as reference to create your artwork and to sell them and/or exhibit them. The actual photos still retain the copyright of the photographer. So you cannot copy the photo to your blog, for example, without the permission of the photographer, or digitally alter or reproduce the photo for any purpose other than for your personal use, with the exception of crops, digital alterations and posts of these photos within “The Spotlight” thread.

        This month’s Spotlight is on…Simplifying!

        I’m sure you have heard it many times. One of the tools that an artist needs to have is the ability to simplify. Rarely do we come across a scene – whether in real life or in a photo – that has exactly the right amount of elements to make a unified, cohesive drawing or painting. Plus, unless we are photo-realists, we won’t be putting in every detail. So, in a sense, we all simplify or paintings compared to the actual scene. But what’s the best way? What’s the approach one should use?

        Well, it’s difficult to say that “this is the best way,” or “here’s the approach that always works!” And that is why the subject of simplifying is a difficult one to approach with any type of certainty. I’ve been thinking about doing a Spotlight on Simplifying for a few years, actually, but it’s not the type of subject where you can find examples of what painters left out of their paintings or how they rearranged the elements! All we see is the final result!

        But, luckily, lots of art books talk about simplifying and make a number of suggestions. But, again, these are just suggestions and the actual choice of what to simplify, what to leave out of a scene, what elements you might combine, are all at the individual artist’s discretion. Two artists looking at the same scene will undoubtedly make different decisions, so keep that in mind.

        Also keep in mind that the examples I am using in this Spotlight on Simplifying are specifically chosen to best represent what I am discussing. The painters represented have done many paintings that are not simplified to this extent and may have also done paintings that are quite complex. Using these techniques and principles is a choice – certainly not a rule. The extent that you decide to simplify is totally up to you!

        Massing

        The importance of designing our paintings starting with the large shapes or masses is a common topic in many of today’s art instruction books. Reducing your composition to a few large shapes is a good way to simplify right from the start so that your painting has a strong foundation.

        From The Eye of the Painter by Andrew Loomis:

        “In choosing our subject, we should first consider how effective it would be in a small sketch…. Even though in a small sketch we would normally only suggest the outlines and forms of the subject, the patterns should be simple enough to make the design carry 10 feet or more (in a sketch that is about 5-by-7 inches).”

        Many books on composition will discuss those design patterns in terms of values. One way to simplify your composition is to mass your elements into large masses of a similar value. A large group of trees may be massed into a dark value mass. The more distant mountains might be grouped into a middle value mass. The foreground field might be a light value mass, etc. As you progress the painting, some value variety will appear in some or all of those areas, but starting out with large value masses will set up a good foundation for your painting.

        One easy way to work out those value masses and the overall simplification of your subject is to start with that small sketch that Loomis mentions or with a thumbnail sketch or a notan. Designing your composition with 3 or 4 values – and large designed shapes – will help simplify!

        While many paintings are not designed with 3 or 4 large value shapes, here are a couple Monet examples:

        It’s possible that Monet could have started with simple 3 or 4 value thumbnails, simplifying the elements into value shaped masses, like this:

        In his first painting, notice how little value variation there is in the foreground. Aside from a few darker greens in the immediate foreground, the rest of the colors are all a similar value. Presumably, Monet wants you to move over that foreground to the more important part of the painting – the row of trees. Within those trees, he depicts light and shadow values and more details (even though they are quite small). And then, the background blue mountain is once again depicted with little variation in color and value. By using a narrow value range within the larger mass, the mass retains a unified general value and is simplified. If you squint at the painting, the value masses should be quite clear!

        Take a closer look at the painting with the boat and notice the large mass of background trees. Whether or not Monet actually is depicting this tree mass as he saw it (or perhaps it was more individual trees), notice how the mass of trees is simplified by using very little detail. There are enough smaller shapes depicting branches or clumps of leaves to give us the impression of many trees, but the trees are not painting as individuals, but rather as one mass. Once again, those smaller shapes and the mass in general has very little variation in value, and in this case, color as well. Again, enough variation to give the impression of detail, but not enough variation to break up the unity of the mass.

        Of course, finding a balance of how much variation and how much detail to put into the mass while still keeping it unified and simplified is the hard part! Generally speaking, masses that are farther away – and/or masses that are of secondary importance can have less value and color variation and detail. Masses that are of greater importance and/or the focal area will have more variation in color and value and more detail.

        Using large, designed shapes is not restricted to value studies. You can lay out large shapes of color, too. In his book Fill Your Oil Paintings with Light and Color, Kevin McPherson suggests the following:

        “Think of building your scene with sheets of colored construction paper. Imagine cutting out the shapes very simply. Use as few shapes as possible to get your canvas covered.”

        Needless to say, since many of Monet’s paintings are based more on color contrast than value contrast, we can find examples of large color shapes in his paintings as well! Below is another Monet and beneath that, the painting reduced (by me) to simple color shapes.

        The nice things about simplifying your initial sketch into color shapes is that it can give you a road map for your actual painting. In other words, you can start your painting with these big color shapes! It’s a great way to simplify and to keep your basic color shapes from becoming too fragmented. There are many books that recommend starting a painting – whether it be pastels, oils or acrylics, with large areas of flat color. Once the flat color has been established, then it is easier to add only as much detail and as much variation to the areas of color as is needed. There’s no rule as to what your flat color should start out as – since you can paint light over dark, dark over light, or both light and dark over mid value. The key is that it gives you a foundation. Then you can decide how much variation in color and value you want to add to the color/value masses.

        It is also easier to change your design at this early stage when working with big flat shapes. Changing the shape of those shapes, or even adding or eliminating shapes can be done easily at this early stage to design and refine your composition.

        Monet, for example, may have started with big flat areas of color like this version on top:

        And with the foundation in place, adding highlights and shadows or slight gradations of color should be much easier. Adding a slightly darker blue at the top of the sky and a lighter blue at the horizon was simple to do as the basic sky color was already established in the initial block-in. When choosing additional colors for the tree and foreground masses, any color chosen that may be too light or too dark, or a color that stands out too much, will be immediately recognized since you can compare it to the color and value of the mass already established. Since you are adding detail and accents at the end stages rather than at the beginning, you can choose exactly where you want those details to be and only add as many as you need. And you may find that you don’t need many details after all!

        Linking Darks and Lights

        One way to create larger, simpler masses of value and/or color that is often mentioned is to link darks and/or lights in our paintings. This can be a merging of shadow shapes or highlights – or can be the merging of larger areas as well. Linking darks and/or lights can do a lot to simplify your painting into stronger, clearer, simpler shapes.

        Massing and linking not only simplify the painting by reducing it to larger shapes, but it prevents creating paintings with too many scattered elements. Too many scattered elements can over-complicate your composition and create confusion as to where your focal point or focal area is.

        Here’s a link to the Daniel Smith site. Take a look at example 2 and the painting by Caroline Buchanan where she links her subject figure to two dark shapes to create one large dark shape that extends through the painting.

        http://www.danielsmith.com/content–id-94

        Here is a watercolor by Winslow Homer. Since we don’t know what the original scene looked like, we can only speculate if he changed it much, but he has created a dark shape that connects all of the palm tree leaves – and in fact, connects that dark shape at the top of the trees to the dark shape that extends all the way to the left edge. Did he link all these shapes intentionally? It’s hard to say, but they do create a very simplified and bold painting!

        Most of the books I have that discuss Massing and Linking are about landscapes (and so are my examples), but the same principles can be applied to any type of painting. Here’s a link to a blog with a nice still life by Craig Shillam. Notice that his step 1 is a very simplified sketch of 3 values.

        http://www.cashartblog.com/2012/10/01/still-life-painting-with-fresh-peppers/

        And here is a nice figurative painting by the great Sorolla! I think you can see how he used fairly flat shapes of color to begin this painting.

        Here is an online article about simplifying and massing that may be of interest:

        http://blog.mitchalbala.com/excerpt-from-chapter-5-simplification-and-massing/

        Next month we will discuss some more simplifying strategies, but for now we have a lot to digest! So let’s concentrate on simplifying the subject by using large shapes to design our compositions. Feel free to do value and/or color thumbnails or sketches that experiment with those simplified shapes. Start with large areas of flat color! Post the thumbnails and sketches if you wish, as well as your final paintings! Remember, there are no rules when it comes to simplifying. How much, and how you approach it, is totally up to you!

        References:

        (All photos by me)

        As always, feel free to crop and otherwise modify the references.

        And have fun!

        And Happy New Year to all!

        Don

        #1244808
        Judibelle
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            Happy New Year!
            Great lesson once again, Don. I seem to have trouble with composition, so I think this will help me improve on that. Thanks for all you lessons!

            C&C always welcomed and appreciated
            JudiB

            #1244879
            Still-trying
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                Lots of work here! Lots to digest. Thank you Don for doing this for us. And thank you, Sammy, for posing so nicely!! Going to be a good month!! Happy 2016

                Happy to say "hello". C and C always welcome.

                JAY:wave:

                #1244814
                water girl
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                    Happy New Year! Great choice of subject, Don!

                    [FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Karen, IAPS/MC, PSA WC Moderator-Pastels

                    web site , Getting started in soft pastels., What you need to know, Critique Guide Lines

                    #1244822
                    Ruthie57
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                        Happy New year Spotlighters! Great and timeous lesson Don. I’ve just signed up for a challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. I NEED to simplify as I really don’t have time to spend all day every day in the studio (much as I’d like to).
                        I may not be able to do any of these as my 30 day theme is based on my own trips and therefore my own photos. I am very tempted by the snow one though….and the Lake one is a fabulous photo, way too good to use as a ref IMO!

                        #1244786
                        Don Ketchek
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                            OK, well, things are a bit quiet here in the Spotlight! So, I will give it a go and I’ll be asking a few questions, too!

                            As I mentioned, simplifying is difficult to do and each person can quite legitimately have their own reasons to simplify very differently from someone else. In some ways, I know that this makes it an annoying subject! And as I mentioned in the lesson, it is not something where I can say “Do it this way”, or “This is better than that.” Perhaps some instructors and teachers can give more concrete answers, but for those that visit the Spotlight regularly, you know that:

                            a) I like people to experiment and discover their own answers, and

                            b) the answers you discover may be much better than my answers!

                            Of course, whenever we deviate from the reference, we are faced with the question – “Does this make things better or worse?” And that is why changing, modifying, simplifying and re-designing the elements is difficult! For some, those that have a natural design sense, they may find it easier. For others, like myself, design is the hardest thing to do!

                            And that is where preliminary sketches or thumbnails can help!

                            As I look at the photo reference of the little puppy (yes, my little puppy Sammy), I think there are two possible design alternatives. I can try to create masses of the differently colored objects (very light sheets, very dark comforter, etc) or masses of the patterns of light and shadow. As we saw in the Monet landscapes, most landscapes are massed by the color of the objects not light and shadow. But figures, still llifes (and yes, the occasional landscape) are sometimes more about light and shadow. In this case, this seems to be my first design and simplifying decision. First let’s look at a grayscale:

                            My first thoughts: There are a lot of smaller shadow shapes and creases in the sheets that are somewhat distracting. Also, the area behind the bed can probably be simplified quite a bit.

                            Let me try a thumbnail that is about the colored shapes first. This doesn’t mean that I won’t eventually paint some shadows, folds and creases, but they will be subdued – possibly staying within the same value range as the overall larger shaped mass. For now, the thumbnail will concentrate on the larger masses of the object’s shapes.

                            Here’s my 4 value thumbnail. The dog – as the focal area – gets more values (in this case all 4, but it can be a narrower range). I’ve made the entire background area one value mass. The dog stands out pretty well, I think, and the paintings seems quite simple in thumbnail view!

                            Now I’ll try the other approach. Here my 4 value masses are more about the light and shadow values:

                            Again, I’ve totally simplified the background. I’ve also simplified those shadow and light areas, trying to ignore the small shapes at this stage. I kinda like this one, too. A bit more complex than version 1, but not too complex. I could simplify it a bit more, linking the very dark shapes along the bottom left and also linking the medium-dark shapes at the bottom right.

                            Let’s take a look at them at a smaller thumbnail size. As Loomis mentions, a good design should be noticeable small and far away!

                            As you can see, my light and middle gray values are a bit different in the first versions, but that doesn’t matter. I do think the 3rd version, where I simplified a bit more by linking, is better than the second. I think the first version could work also. I think reducing the entire background to one mass was a pretty easy decision, but that may have been the only easy one! It could still be simplified even more by cropping, another decision to make!!

                            Let me know what you think! Are there areas that could be simplified more (or less)? Try some thumbnails of your own! As you can probably see, these thumbnails were done on the computer – making it very easy to change and modify them! You can, of course, do thumbnails on paper, too!

                            I hope this helps generate some experimentation! Or maybe it just makes things even more confusing!

                            Don

                            #1244823
                            Ruthie57
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                                I thought I’d try simplifying one of the refs too! A bit laborious as I had to do it in windows paint. I started out with 5 values but then reduced it to 4. Then I tried to work out where my focal area would be and how the shapes and tones related to each other. I did quite a bit of tweaking and kept the lightest light to a relatively small area, bringing it up to part of the darkest dark where the stream goes round a corner. I may alter it some more tomorrow. maybe my focal area should be where the narrow stream of dark meets the shadow of the trees…I’d have to add something there to really draw the eye though.
                                Now, of course, I feel I must actually paint this one! But before I do I’ll do a small sketch too, with trees and a few pictorial notes. Each value shape will be intercepted by other values so I need to plan that well. Then maybe I’ll aim to paint from this block in plus my sketch, only referring occasionally to the photo. Maybe that way I can simplify the whole scene without resorting to detail everywhere! Wish me luck, I’ll need it :wink2:

                                #1244824
                                Ruthie57
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                                    I hope you can tell which ref it is!! :D

                                    #1244813
                                    water girl
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                                        I wish you luck, Ruthie, and can’t wait to see your finish.

                                        [FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Karen, IAPS/MC, PSA WC Moderator-Pastels

                                        web site , Getting started in soft pastels., What you need to know, Critique Guide Lines

                                        #1244785
                                        Don Ketchek
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                                            Hi Ruth, So glad you are joining us and have started on the winter scene!

                                            Don

                                            #1244821
                                            Ruthie57
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                                                I did a sketch…very sketchy, won’t be able to get much info from that! So I did a colour study, tiny 3×2.2″, as well.
                                                I will probably use the photo to start with but I must try not to get into detail, so I will place the photo as far away from me as I can in my small space. :)
                                                I’m going to use terracotta colourfix paper for this one, love it with blues and oranges. had to use a brown for the colour sketch as I don’t have any small pieces of the terracotta.

                                                #1244771

                                                Don this is a great thread!!

                                                Lady Mars Orange Marmalade Stapleford
                                                Moderator: OIls, Pastels, Plein Air

                                                Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. -Oscar Wilde

                                                #1244878
                                                Still-trying
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                                                    So did I read the latest part? No. Did I simplify? I don’t know. Once I get in front of a subject…I think things fly out of my head. I did value sketches. DON, POUR YOURSELF A DRINK BEFORE YOU SCROLL DOWN. My first dog. Mostly done upside down. Now I have to go back and read the wonderful stuff Don put up since I read the thread.
                                                    All comments welcome. (She would NOT sit still for me!!!)

                                                    Happy to say "hello". C and C always welcome.

                                                    JAY:wave:

                                                    #1244877
                                                    Still-trying
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                                                        Forgot to say the paper is Uart 240 and the pastels are Nupastel and Cretacolor and some Caran d’ache pastel pencil. I will do another to follow the lesson better. The painting is 8 x 10

                                                        Happy to say "hello". C and C always welcome.

                                                        JAY:wave:

                                                        #1244930
                                                        Norma46
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                                                            Is there a way to use photoshop or some other tool to do value studies in 2,3 and 4 values? I thought photoshop had that capability but I can’t figure out how to do it. Or is there another tool that I can use. I have done notans which are basically value studies using tombow ink brushes but would like to try to do them digitally by playing with the original reference photo using different value levels and various crops to see which way I would like to take the painting.

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