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February 15, 2012 at 4:36 pm #448524
Like many an artist, I’ve read a good many books, viewed many a video and studied with a quite a few experts. My initial idea was to read anything that I thought would be useful, but after I had read about 30 books and taken a few classes I was more confused than ever. So about ten years ago I decided to get organized, take careful notes (in my own words except as otherwise noted) and compile them into a single document so that I could compare what one expert said with what others said.
The resulting document was so helpful, that I have continued to edit, delete and reorganize my notes ever since. Art is so extensive that every book and every instructor has to focus, but my notes could be more wide-ranging, especially as I limited them to bullet points. Anyway, I thought others might find them useful.
The notes were for my own use, so I tried to avoid taking notes on something I already knew. Consequently, the neophyte should look elsewhere for instruction, but I think the advanced artist will find them quite helpful. They are, currently, organized into eight categories: color, composition, design, drawing, figure painting, landscape painting, still life painting, and vision and light. They are all posted on my website and, assuming WetCanvas has no objection, I will be posting them all in the proper categories on WetCanvas. What follows is the section on figure painting.[/I]
Keene Wilson
Figure Painting
Expert Advise from Contemporary, Mostly Figurative, Colorists
Henry Yan, Robert Johnson, Harley Brown, Dan McCaw, Ramon Kelley, Jove Wang and Steve HustonDan McCaw’s Oil Painting Process
1 Gather ideas
2 a) Explore Through Sketching (including hiring models, scouting location, finding costumes) focusing on the big shapes and keeping image simple; supplement with photos 2 b) thumbnail sketches asking “What if?” Try as many different designs as you can think of
3 Design with Value Studies (2 – 5 values) – Design of the value shapes is the most important thing holding a painting together, work out edges
4 Establish Color – Cover canvas with flat blocks of color (no variation, no detail), starting with the obvious b) fill each shape with lively color, c) adjust color so big shapes relate well, d) Compare: warm/cool, dark/light, gray/intense, on-going painting with design study. Don’t worry about getting the color 100% correct, perhaps go a little brighter in the half tones and shadows, start bright and tone down later if needed Focus on getting the relationships right and there will be little need to model Keep strength with value and design, use color to enhance e) slight variations within shapes to suggest three-dimensional form, BUT only to a limited portion of image (for example, model light areas and simplify shadows)
5 Modify and Interpret – Move slowly and choose actions carefully Evaluate value, design, color. Add final accents and highlights THOUGHTFULLY simplifying may be more important
Jove WangThinks thoroughly about design, mood, color and subject matter before applying paint to canvas. Follow feelings. Keep initial feeling about pose/design in mind throughout painting process.
Step 1a – Using reference photo, preliminary sketch indicating basic shapes, compositional lines and geometric elements
Step 1b – Develop value pattern, select shapes and join darks [for contrast and to imply distance] Be passionate.
Step 2 – Color sketch establishing warm and cool areas. Add color notes.
Its’s obvious that he emphasizes color variation.
Uses palette knife frequently to help de-emphasize areas (such as distant eye or side of the face, [flowers] away from focal point) Also seems to use it to develop a ghost of an image that he can improve.
Pushes subtle warm/cool differences to “sculpt” the face.
Takes great care to ensure that dark pigments (mixed with Liquin) do not include any white, a key to richness and translucency of his style.
Composition first, then color and value contrast as well paint, line and mass. Finally, subject matter and mood.
In areas away from focal point, he “pulls some of this into that”.
In some areas [scarf and flowers] he lays down thick paint [with palette knife], slightly blends [with brush], reworks adding more [remixed] paint, and reworks again, but never totally obliterating what went before.
Palette arranged with darks on one side and lights on the other – but, pulls warm and cool pigments from opposite sides of his palette and mixes them in the middle.
Often holds brush loosely at the very far end.
Often eliminates harsh brushstrokes [as for the eyes] with a quick flick of the brush with one edge precise and one feathered
Often uses thumb to blend [tone down] unwanted [usually incorrect value] brushstrokes into adjacent value.
Steve Huston’s Painting ProcessKey points:
The drawing has to be the same idea as the painting
When in doubt, simplify. Edit! in service of the idea.
Err to the dynamic (push in the direction of my idea). Lighter, warmer and more intense than you think (to depict light). We know that we’re going to make errors so make sure our errors work for us.
Whenever we render form, begin with 2 values (light and shadow). Each will have a value range which doesn’t overlap the other. Within these two values can show core shadow, cast shadow, reflected light, and highlight.
Note: Steve Huston was a student of Dan McCaw
It’s not what you put in, it’s what you leave out. When you leave something out, what’s left over becomes more important.
Work in mass rather than plane, because it allows for more dynamic stroke interactions at the edges where values/colors meet.
There are no absolutes in art only relationships.
The masters would often refine their basic shapes and design and then simply draw back into it.
Generally, don’t want to use extremes of what we can do, but hold a little in reserve.
Break art into segments to learn, but the artwork needs to be one complete whole.
The halftone has gradation and determines the speed the form turns.
Usually Steve Huston deals with design and realism in the first sitting and deals with the abstract paint quality in the second sitting. For at least half the painting, he is an abstract artist.
Sargent would place a dark stroke parallel with the hairline and then come back with a parallel flesh color to get the transition from flesh to hair.
Each layer of space should have its own value range, but may have 5 or more layers.
Each object in a painting needs to have its own character. eg Each apple needs to have its own color even if they’re all red.
You can’t have it all, so you have to give up something the get the result you want. Not “This is what it is”, but “This is what it means”.
For the real darks, corrections can be made just by drawing, but be careful it doesn’t get spotty.
Shadows most important job is to be dark, then cool, then gray, in that order.
Almost no value change in light until we get to a really big structural change such as the nose or eye socket.
Step 1 Severe grouping into 2, 3 or 4 values and 5 or 6 shapes.Make choices, edit.
In 3 value grouping, usually better to make middle value closer to one of the other 2 values than the other
Make a choice and stick with it
Be very disciplined and consistent with your choices
Strong, usually simple, choices.
Easiest to separate lights and darks, then reinforce lights with highlights and reinforce darks with core shadows.
Whenever you change your value, change the color and intensity
As a first step, make all your shadows the same value. As a second step you can slightly lighten the reflected light and slightly darken the core shadow.
When things are about the same value, make them the same value.
Step 2 Refine values/shapesStart to develop the form by default
Use the colors in the basic value/color structure to create your minor colors
When laying in color and value, don’t move too quickly to finish, muck around until they are just what you want before you proceed further. Also, you may want to leave it with the unfinished/abstract look.
Initially, the three values are separate and distinct and not ranges, but ultimately the three values become three distinct value ranges. Within the separated values there can be subtle value differences, but the ranges are distinct. Maintain the distinction with each plane having its own value and temperature relative to other planes within the value range.
Use corners (core shadow and highlight) to define structure.
Find the beginning, the ending, the shape and shadow of the form.
Often adds “ribbon of color” to light side of the core shadow.
Before you get too careful in the drawing, see what you can loose, where you can fade off, blend, what can be softer, rounder, subtler, more gradated.
Step 3 GradationBefore you do “stair step” of form
Step 4 EdgesOnce you have the shape (value/color/temperature) as well defined as you want
Step 5 RenderingWhen you get into rendering, what you really want are temperature shifts.
Do middle lights and middle darks before highlights or deep shadow. Look for big “stair steps” of form.
Every time you change the value, change the temperature. Don’t, however, loose the initial color structure.
Better to loose all the detail than to destroy the silhouette.
Go down a little bit then work across, down, then across, etc.
At the edges is where you can bring in a little extra color.
What to think about while paintingMake clear decisions up front: What are going to be the lightest/darkest, richest/grayest, warmest/coolest areas of the canvas? Sergei Bongart
Museum quality
How do I paint this “beautiful” color, landscape, etc.?
Steve HustonWhen deciding values, compare with one lighter and one darker.
Is it lighter/darker, warmer/cooler, greener/redder? Then, think about painting emphasis: contrast, moody, high key, what happens to the light? Be consistent.
Different plane = different value, different temperature, but don’t loose the color structure
Make sure that you are painting with your idea.
Only two choices: what do I group, what do I separate?
Once you get the color and value structure laid in, what you pay attention to is not the subtle changes of form, but the principles of structure.
Jove WangBefore starting spend time setting up and thinking about model (the feeling [melody] you want to retain). Retain that feeling throughout the painting. If you loose your feeling, go to another area to recapture, then return when you recapture feeling.
“Don’t be so calm when you paint, bring your passion into it”, but understand form and structure without treating mechanically.
For his brushstrokes he is “thinking about power and variety”. Also, evidently, using thick paint to portray form by contrasting thick (coming forward) with thin (pushed back). For variety he uses a multitude of brushstrokes (calligraphy, big, small, tiny, forcefully pushed in/delicate, slow/fast, thick/thin, jagged/sharp/broken/soft) but the basic contrast was between scraped (over all of an area/plane such as the front of a face) vs thick (in those areas coming forward, but not in the scraped area)
Jove WangKeys: composition, interesting point of emphasis (as the gesture or the way glasses sit on the nose), rhythm, contrast
Jove follows his feeling while he is painting, does most of his thinking beforehand.
Composition – should have “melody” (feeling), proportion, different spaces/sizes, gesture
Rhythm – flow, not just rigid, formal pose.
Don’t copy what you see, just relationships (seems to use close value range)
Careful with placement of each stroke, lots of “dancing” strokes, hesitates before assertively placing each stroke
Sometimes paints tight, then scrapes out (thus looks loose, but is tight)
Doesn’t paint everything as tight as he sees it.
Always tries to figure out the grays within a painting
“Good paintings have lots of variety within content.”
Morgan WeistlingDarkest dark should usually be a warm
look for halation (glow) coming off head
top planes in shadow will be cooler than underside – look for, don’t just use formulas
internal forms not as sharp as external
Xaoming Wushadow side – focuses more on color than drawing; light side – focuses more on drawing than color
think about flow of marks and use interesting, but not necessarily accurate, lines
Kevin Macpherson’s Painting ProcessPaint the lightest light
Paint he darkest dark
Paint the easiest color
Establish a colorful shadow pattern – It is easier to gain control of the light family colors, by first placing all the shadow shapes accurately
Fill in the lights
Put it down and leave it alone using thick opaque color with simple strokes.
Mike Svob’s Painting ProcessApplies watercolour techniques to other mediums. Paints matter in whatever colour he wants. His paintings are abstract in the sense that nothing in them exists in reality but uses “real” appearance to tie the painting together.
Svob’s usual way to start a painting is to pick a dominant colour like warm orange and as he goes along he uses colour to bring out interest in different areas of the painting. He will often underpaint in one colour to provide the finished painting with a greater impact. His palette is limited and made up of warm and cool yellow, red and blue usually topped with orange or violet to provide transparency or opaqueness. Some characteristics of his work are that he focuses on edges and how they melt in with one another and uses layers of paint to create an opaque or transparent glaze.
“It’s a battle… between making it look interesting and making it look real. Sometimes real is boring, so it’s more important to make the painting look interesting, so I ask what do I leave out and what do I put in to improve the painting?” Svob wants his work to look like it’s painted by a human hand.
[FONT="]According to Svob: [/FONT]As a general guide, visually transparent passages of paint are more appealing than opaque passages.
The main elements that make a strong painting:-
[*]Subject
-
[*]Composition and direction
[*]Tonal map
[*]Edges
[*]Colors, warm and cool.Colors are not that important and therefore you can play with them without destroying the belief in reality. We understand the world by shapes and tonal values alone. Color is not necessary. As a result, you can allow yourself total freedom when it comes to colors: “Only use colors you like – no other”
You have to understand how the human eye behaves when it views a scene for the first time. Work with that knowledge, and your paintings will have more drama and will evoke strong reactions.
If some characteristic of a subject appeals to you make sure you drive that message home in the painting. The more elegant and simply stated your message, the more positive will be the response.
Make your darks really dark to achieve strong contrast
Step 1 Select a study photo.
Step 2 Make an outline drawing.
Step 3 Start with the darks. Ignore the color and small tonal value changes
Step 4 The glaze and the middle value.
Step 5 Re-establish the lights with opaque paint.
Henry Yan’s Painting ProcessGray gesso underpainting helps for one-day painting, doesn’t use for longer paintings
Uses Turpenoid to thin underpaintings, doesn’t use much as too much Turpenoid makes it dull, adding a little linseed oil counteracts, dammar also adds shine
Liquin tends to smooth out the brush strokes, but will help brush strokes go further
50% Turpenoid to 50 % Linseed Oil is the most popular; add more linseed oil to make shinier
The juncture between two shapes looks more natural if you paint the first shape larger than necessary, then overlap slightly with the second shape
Distinguishing between cast (hard edge) and core (soft edge) shadows will enable a 3-diminsional look right away; often need to sharpen cast shadows
Sometimes exciting brushstrokes are actually very carefully laid in
Be especially careful when using light yellow and white so you keep it clean
Exaggerate color and drawing, but based on accuracy
Shouldn’t show brushwork everywhere because you need some areas more finished
Adds more greens to his palette when he paints landscapes
When you see highlights, core and reflected light you can show a little bit, but don’t overdo. Its easy to overwork and loose the lighting structure
Generally doesn’t clean his brushes with Turpenoid – wipes with a cloth, stores in coking oil
Always have a portion that is mysterious
Choose how much detail to paint, how much to loose, but some detail may be saved until the “finish”
Subtlety is power: make clear, loose, but with some areas really loud
As he paints each portion of a painting he asks himself: “Is there any different color I can use?”
Do not paint something in a color very different from the color system or you will destroy the harmony
He seldom blends colors with their complement in realistic painting
LightStudio lights are generally warm; window lighting cool
Sometimes sky causes blueness [on upward facing surfaces]
Three things affect color: light source, local color, environment
With a warm light source, if there are some warms in mostly cool shadows, paint warms for both lights and shadows then come back with cools
Be careful about the light source on your canvas and palette. If its too yellow you will paint a yellow painting
Reflected lights on the figure are often very warm
FigureDraws with warm color (burnt umber) and turpenoid a little wet, but not too wet. Darker = less Turpenoid, lighter = more turp
Can use dull green as a cool color in the figure, but be very careful using blue – Doesn’t always paint green shadows – depends on what he sees. Don’t use much blue or green in figure
One way to start in warm light is with warm underpainting, but could start with cool colors
He draws accurately [and directly; that is top-to-bottom with only a few markers] then carefully follows shapes so he doesn’t loose shapes
Can either paint all lights then deal with subtlety later or paint each tone directly from the very beginning
He paints lights [first before painting the adjacent mid-tone] much larger than he sees, then blends the majority of what he laid down with the flesh color
Muscular model` – need to be very careful with shapes
When the background is really crazy [with lots of invented color] you can borrow from the background and add to the figure but you still have to keep the form
Make painting 85% one thing; not half and half (of, say, complements)
When loosing the figure into the background, paint the background first. Still need to find something, usually a joint, so you can show more structure pp 90 and 109 of his book
Color logic in warm light: warm lights, cool core, reflected light warm – highlight = value 1 cad yellow, form = warm skintone (cad red, yellow ochre and white, core = cool (veridian and yellow ochre), reflected light = warm (orange), darkest cast (alizarin with a little cad red), cast = greenish as it gets farther from the darkest area
Wrong shapes for highlights and you won’t get form. Also need to show core shadow shapes carefully
Darker skin tones – yellow ochre, and Terra Rosa or Transparent oxide red
Can always use a red for very dark cast shadows – Cad red is not dark enough so use alizarin with a little cad red
Fine if some brushstrokes don’t follow the form, but not too many
Brushstrokes that look cool may take many tries
When he hires a model, he just takes photos
Clothing: Need general strategyPaint overall mid-tone, but not too thick so you can add darks
Solve problems within the 20-25 min of a single pose
BackgroundsShould put in early and borrow some of the background color for the figure
Think about what suits your painting best; sometimes just modify reality slightly
Don’t bring in inharmonious color. If a color you see is not what you want bring into painting a color you do want.
If you have a generally yellow ochre painting with a turquoise background, add a little yellow ochre to the background [and turquoise to the foreground]
In a vignette of a female back with a blue shadow, he painted the background blue because he wanted to explain the blue shadow. Similarly, in a vignette with touch of red showing below a seated figure, he showed a small amount of the red cloth to explain the red reflected on the figure.
With a generally harmonized painting, you can add a little out of harmony to make it more interesting, but don’t overdo
Possibly (l to r) foreground warm to cool with background cool to warm
Sometimes cover a portion of the figure with the background color.
GraysUses complement to gray colors but not necessarily exact complement; rich grays are what determine the best paintings
Exaggerate saturation of grays to make the painting more exciting
Change plane = change value and temperature
Learning ConceptsFollow the rules when you’re learning, but not as an “artist”
Copy master paintings
Has students paint with: 1 a limited palette for several weeks; 2 later adds cadmium yellow and cadmium red, possibly burnt sienna or burnt umber; 3 then full palette, 4 then premixed colors
Pastels are very helpful for getting used to oil painting with color
Spend time on the difficult areas, not much on the easy stuff
Students tend to make everything clear – need to move beyond that stage
Limited Palette ProcessDraw with burnt umber on a grayed canvas
1 yellow ochre, 2 tera Rosa, Venetian red or transparent red oxide and 3 dark [burnt umber] plus white
Shadows one color, skin tone another, then add lights
Full Palette ProcessThree primaries, plus white and earth tones. Can add yellow ochre, alizarin crimson, sap green, cobalt blue, cerulean, etc.
1 Gray ground
2 Drawing including darks, using burnt umber
3 Indication of background so you can judge color against color
4 Highlights, leaving the ground as a mid-tone
5 Tries to mix correct flesh tone right away
6 subtle greens [depending on what he sees] for shadows
7 As plane changes, adjusts value by using more flesh color
8 Pick a few areas as focal points – more carefully rendered, exaggerated color
Pre-mixed ColorsHenry uses often
Harley Brown’s Painting ProcessStart by putting gestural marks on the paper
Select a dominant value and a dominant color and as an initial step create a monochromatic painting
Block in largest shapes (shadow and light, but mostly shadow) as you see them
Link lights and darks with interesting angles and edges to create a flowing dramatic design
Always do hair and the background at the same time
“Picking the right valued color means that you have picked mostly the right color.”
Lose edges into the shadows.
Emphasize the diagonals that are always present
Color and value appears truest in the core and is where many artists hit color most strongly.
Use the Munsell color system
May introduce the Munsell complementary color occupying a much smaller space at full intensity, or more area if “grayed”
Approximately equal amounts of discords, used sparingly
Graying (or watering) down a complement will allow you to use more of it
Robert Johnson’s Floral Painting ProcessSpends a lot of time painting with the canvas upside down
Step 1 – Toned canvasyellow ochre with some transparent red oxide, and cobalt blue
Step 2 – Design StageThin, loose massing using turpentine, moroger medium with transparent red oxide and French Ultramarine to loosely design on canvas
Thinking about abstract organization of space: relationships, negative space, size, placement, variety of shapes
Holds brush very loosely
Frequently uses turp to thin and wipe away with cloth
Think ahead as to what will be light/dark
Step 3 – BackgroundDark, thick background (with ground showing through in places) using large Badger brush (with hairs going every which way), moroger medium, Ultramarine Blue and transparent red oxide
Loose, artistic, design essentially got lost
Step 4- Pick out lightsPick light shapes out of background with a cloth
Should be done with an aesthetic sense. Even at this stage, should look like an artist did it.
Step 5 – FoliageAdds slight suggestion of foliage (viridian)
Every stroke you do now should be put in as if it is going to be a final statement
Step 6 – Place Lightest LightLight areas thicker than dark
Very carefully places each stroke
Anchors lightest light and darkest dark so he knows where values will go from then on
Step 7 – Mass of FoliagePaint the mass of foliage with sensitivity to flow/direction
Later will select a few leaves and branches to do with the utmost care. “Don’t ignore details, but be very selective.”
Step 8 – FlowersDon’t stylize flowers, do not just block in, but paint them detail by detail in a painterly way
Often places just little specs of paint in the right place
Painted all flowers of each color concurrently before proceeding to next color
Step 9 – ShadowsAnchor roses with shadows
Step 10 – FinishRefinement, details, accents
Shadows:Key Points:
Light and shadow should intertwine with strong linked dark shapes, equally strong linked light shapes and with interesting edges and angles.
No texture or details or strong colors in the shadows.
Cast shadows are usually darker and sharper edged than form shadows.
It’s often interesting to have less detail in the light side than the shadow side, but only if it’s just a sliver of light
Ramon KelleyLay in washes boldly, but put on impasto strokes slowly
Often maintains sharp distinctions between warm and cool areas, to the point of using a different palette for each areaMaster’s
Zorn’s Palette
white, black, yellow ochre and brick red
Fechin’s TechniqueFechin would start with an abstract and bring it back to realism in select areas such as the face and hands, but basically an abstract composition
Generally Fechin used casein tempera for the underpainting. While the pigment was being reduced of its oil content, he would block in the basic values in casein tempera, using a brilliant white, gesso-type porous ground. He often remarked that it was a shame to spoil such a beautiful surface. The porosity of the ground which was first prepared with cottage cheese, rabbit’s skin glue, and other ingredients, and then with Merck casein ground, further absorbed oil so the end result has a true matte finishAfter the ground and the casein had set sufficiently, he would apply oil colors. At times he became impatient to begin work; he did not allow the adequate aging of the first two and the results were disastrous. The ground dried at one speed, the casein at another, the oil at still another; thus, considerable chipping and cracking occurred. When two dry substances are made to adhere to each other (the ground and the pigment), they will remain intact as long as there is a sufficient bond – in this case, oil. Fechin would be greatly annoyed with his own impatience. Usually, he did respect the chemistry of his materials. The use of two types of paints, one more plastic than the other, the dry brush technique, the juxtapositioning and layering of colors, and the purposeful omission of color to expose the white ground are the essentials of Fechin’s technique during this Taos period. As in Russia, he applied his color with brush, palette knife, and thumb. Once he developed lead poisoning after repeated moistening of the palette knife on his tongue; however, this moistening was the added touch which gave a special sheen to the skin tones
In Fechin’s words: “Also for myself, I do not like to use medium. This dissolves the paints too much. The pigments mix up together, do not retain their individual distinctness and thus again lose much of their fresh intensity.”
“To avoid murky results, it is necessary to learn how to use the three basic colors and to apply them, layer upon layer, in such a way that the underlying color shows through the next application. For instance, one can use blue paint, apply over it some red in such a manner that the blue and the red are seen simultaneously and thus produce the impression of a violet vibration. If, in the same careful manner, one puts upon his first combination a yellow color, a complete harmonization is reached – the colors are not mixed, but built one upon the other, retaining the full intensity of their vibrations.”
Miscellaneous ArtistsCaravagio left out all the shadows.
Sorolla used a rainbow of colors but left out the very darks and very brights.
William Merritt Chase used to block in his colors, then clean his palette and brushes to keep his colors really clean.February 15, 2012 at 5:15 pm #526192This is one heck of a lot of info, and some mind- Exersizing thoughts it wil bring about.
Its a book in itself–
Thanks for your post– I am copying it to save.[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Carol Sometime's failure is the opposite to success~ but sometimes failure can be the pathway to successFebruary 15, 2012 at 5:46 pm #526194Lots of information here, you may also want to cross post this in the figure forum. Thanks.
Solvent = Leaner Oil = Fatter Drawing is the basis of art. A bad painter cannot draw. But one who draws well can always paint. (Arshile Gorky)February 15, 2012 at 6:06 pm #526197Carol,
I’ve been a WetCanvas member for a number of years and, until now, it was my one and only post. Saved it all up I guess It could be a book, but in many ways its more helpful as notes. No excess verbiage to impede connections.
After I’ve had time to receive feedback on this thread, I’ll start posting the other sections which I think you’ll find just as valuable.
KeeneFebruary 15, 2012 at 6:39 pm #526198Freesail,
That’s probably more appropriate, I didn’t find it when I first checked the list of forums. Is there a way to just move it?February 15, 2012 at 7:38 pm #526190Keene: A (belated, I guess) welcome to WC! Thanks for the extensive info. I’ve copied it and plan to study it further.
[FONT=Arial]C&C always welcome ©[/I] [/font]
[FONT=Palatino]
“Life is a pure flame and we live by an invisible sun within us.” ― Sir Thomas Browne [/size][/font]http://s3.amazonaws.com/wetcanvas-hdc/Community/images/29-Jul-2007/85002-sig-thumbnail_composite_2.jpg]/img]
February 15, 2012 at 8:10 pm #526199Annie,
Thanks for the welcome. Belated I guess, I joined WC years ago. I see it says I joined in 2010, but that’s way off. I joined before I moved to Norcal for 4 years and I’ve been back in SoCal for almost three. I think I must have re-upped or something when I moved back south and had a new e-mail address. Anyway, hope the notes help.February 15, 2012 at 9:58 pm #526193Hey Keene , Great Info …. of course we should post this in there, Im a Guide from Figures , so Ill post this in our staff thread and one of the mods can link it to our Library , I think it should go in there ….Cheers !!:D
February 16, 2012 at 4:49 am #526189Fantastic! Thanks for taking the time to compile all of this useful information.
Cheers, Donna
My Blog My Website
My Etsy My Flickr PageFebruary 16, 2012 at 9:57 am #526195That is a lot of info to digest, thanks for the feast.
Kathie :February 16, 2012 at 12:43 pm #526188Amazed to read that Caravaggio left out all the shadows.
Lawrence Humphrey
Torrelles, SpainJuly 9, 2012 at 9:57 pm #526191Love to read all the info!I am following all your threads, thank you for posting!!:clap::clap:
C and C are welcome!
July 10, 2012 at 3:08 pm #526187Caravaggio would disagree with that statement.
Quite a lot of contradictory opinions.
Painters who say color is not important do not know what they are talking about.
Shadows are not always cool by comparison to warm colors but are often warm compared to a warm colors.August 20, 2013 at 9:37 pm #526200Foundation
The two most important things in painting are value and design. If the foundation is strong, painting will stand up.
Ambivalence in your approach to painting will lead to an ambivalent response in the viewer.
Visualize the finished painting, know the color harmony, how the painting is to vibrate.
All paintings must have: a sense of space, design (masses must hold together abstractly), and artistic blend of strength and subtlety.
Have a general direction in mind, but don’t try to have all the answers
Chose to see in a particular way and with a consistent structural unity
Follow your feeling while painting, do most thinking beforehand
Beginners paint objects, experienced painters paint passages
Learn to subdue the natural tendency to see detail and value changes. Edit out that which doesn’t help clarify.Relationships
Focus on getting the relationships right
Temperature and value relate to what’s next to it, harmony relates to the whole painting, composition relates to masses, soften edges relative to the focal point,
A color is what it appears to be only because of its relationship to the surrounding colors. When we paint, we really aren’t copying the colors of nature, we are painting the color relationships. We don’t have the color palette that nature has, so we must give the illusion of truth through the relationships of the colors we choose.
Composition
Group darks and lights and separate into a large, clear pattern, group/gradate within the pattern.
First find the nice thing about a composition, then hide it.Click to view 20 Compositions (on Pinterest)[/URL]
Design
Underlying principle: Balance of vitality (contrast and opposition) with harmony. Vitality comes with use of brilliant colors, opposition of light with dark values, complementary hues and warm and cool colors. Harmony is achieved with the use of a pervading color, modifying complementaries with their opposites, and gradation of value and hue.
Think abstractly
A main objective in the art of painting is to disguise the use of methods or the influence of principles.
Be a little bit sloppy
Vary shape, direction and position, color; dramatize; sharpen points, large areas immense, small areas tiny, etc.
Design is critical – simple pattern, light/dark, color harmony, shapes, clarity/mystery, variety, contrast
Everything has gradation.Richard Schmid’s[/URL] paintings are considered highly realistic, but note how conscious he was of the abstract pattern in “Sketch of Nancy”.
presented up-side-down to emphasize the designEditing
It’s not what you leave in, but what you leave out.
Think about editing and design all along
Edit out that which doesn’t help clarify
Everything for one thing
Look for the minimum visual information then add any detail on top of that. Yet, edit out that which doesn’t help clarify
Make a decision rather than mindlessly copying what’s there
For every painting you have to decide what it is about and what kind of reaction you want.Shapes
Law of fine shapes – a dynamic oblique with different measures and interlocking edges (“incidents”) – Edgar Whitney
Think big, medium, small throughout paintingColor
Harmonize the whole canvas as you go – no matter what’s out there
Look for contrasts of color that you can make both interesting and believable.
Alternate warm/cool within color family throughout painting.
Color and value appear truest in the core.
Use specific colors to express specific planes. Paint complexion tones in regard to the planes assigned to them: X planes warm; Y planes cool.Click to view 20 Artists Showcasing Color (on Pinterest)[/URL]
Creativity
Art happens somewhere between clarity and ambiguity, concept and intuition.
Make something clear and recognizable, then tantalize with something left to interpretation
The best art amazes us because of what the artist left out, not because of what he or she put in. Provide just enough information to start perception in the right direction, let the mind of the viewer fill in the rest. A certain lack of clarity makes paintings more interesting because if everything is revealed at a glance why look longer. The viewer will complete the painting better than you could
If your goal is technical correctness, you will probably paint tightly. Set goals such as “paint quality”, “the effect of light”, “exciting color and shape organization” to allow for a more creative approach.
It’s not about making it correct (copying) but about making it interesting“Old Man” by Andrew Wyeth
Exaggerate:
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[*]pattern,
[*]shadows,
[*]gesture,
[*]perspective/recession,
[*]color harmony/passages,
[*]the effect of light,
[*]planes,
[*]separation between light and dark
[*]structure
[*]Don’t exaggerate the variation – look for the clear simple statement firstPalette Management
Keep the palette mixing space organized.
For greater intensity, mix cools with cools and warms with warms.
Make an “octopus of colors”. Given a base color you wish to modify, blend the base color with each of several options. Create a range of value options.
Mix the color needed next to a color already used and when an intense color is needed, keep it uncontaminated with other colors.
Find the value and color on the palette, then place it
All the harmony is created on the palette.mixing area, after useDrawing
Emphasize structure. Don’t allow reality to destroy structure.
Overlap is the most powerful conveyer of depth
Get the gesture right (action, proportion and balance) before moving onValue
Color is mostly a matter of personal choice, but value is factual.
Don’t try to paint the values you see, but the value relationships you want.
When you’re chasing color, often it’s not the color that’s wrong, but the value.
Use as few value differences as possible, make warm and cool color changes rather than value changes
All the color within a shape value must live within that value
Initially, limit your value choices to two, three or four separate and distinct values, but later there can be subtle value differences within each value range, with each plane having its own value and temperature relative to other planes within its value range.Value Painting Process
Group darks and lights and separate into a large, clear pattern, then group/gradate within the pattern.
Structure/construction; then values, “tonal solution”, initially everything flat; then draw into the tonal solution to pick out just enough to clarify what is happening; then color
Exaggerate planes and push the contrast between light and shadowValue painting demonstration by Vadim ZangDepicting Form
Light and shadow will each have a value range which doesn’t overlap the other. Within these two values can show core shadow, cast shadow, reflected light, mid-tone and highlight.
Once you get the color and value structure laid in, think topographically using the principles of structure (not the subtle changes of form); this area goes in, this area comes out.
Use the shadow shape corner (always the “edge” nearest to you) to tell viewer where and how much the form turns.
Find the largest shapes possible within a form, simplify the form, then reduce the number of value changes needed to suggest it.
Establish the form from the model, but decide on your own color scheme. Use drawing skills and knowledge of value and temperature shifts to depict the form, but don’t paint the color you see, but rather establish the design using all aspects of color, then exaggerate color shifts to depict the form given the design.
All lighted areas should hold together as one group, as should the shadow areas. When distinguishing shadow forms, first establish how they belong together before showing how they are different.
Use value and color to describe topography (instead of copying the values and colors you see)
The right bone structure or topography will give a likeness.Demonstration painting by Henry Yan
Brushwork
Have one area with precise edges and strong value contrast (focal point), and another with compatible values and lost edges
Blend a lot but keep the colors clean in spots. Look for opportunities for lost/found edges where shapes of the same value meet.
Soften edges relative to the focal point
For brushstrokes think “power and variety”.
Use “markers” (line, shape, value, color) to keep track of where you are on the canvas without resorting to “paint within the lines”
Scraping with palette knife contrasts with thickness of brushstrokes and provides luminous and transparent effects
Contrast tight areas with loose.
Thin shadows, impasto lights.
Slow down, apply brushstroke with a descriptive purpose, and leave the stroke undisturbed
Apply each stroke as its best and final statement.
Lay in washes boldly, but put in impasto strokes slowly.
For brushstrokes think “power and variety”.
Use “markers” (line, shape, value, color) to keep track of where you are on the canvas without resorting to “paint within the lines”
Contrast tight areas with loose.
Use turpentine to thin, then wipe away with cloth
Hold brush very looselyFrench gate demonstration by Ovanes Berberian
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Pushing Color HarmonyFirst establish the value range, then you can bend the temperature any way necessary
To push color, keep the value and temperature, but the color can be any color. Shadows won’t be intense even when the color is pushed.
Connect hues throughout in ways which improve the design
Palette management is critical. Complements with a blended range connecting them are harmonious whereas unblended they contrast.
Harmony is created by limiting the color choices and blending.
Harmonize a painting by either adding a touch of the light color to each element touched by the light and add colors of the opposite temperature in the shadow, or have every color lean toward a common color direction.“Gray Whale Cove” by Elio CamachoWhat to Think About
Should it be lighter/darker, richer/grayer, warmer/cooler?
Different plane = different temperature and different value. Don’t, however, lose the initial color/value structure.
Paint with your idea (contrast, moody, high key, what happens to the light?) Be consistent.Rules of Thumb
Blending creates harmony,
Warm/intense comes forward,
Dull/grey recedes.
Use shifts in value and temperature to convey how the form turns, but not the color you see
“Mostly, some and a bit” is the basic formula for pleasing color schemes.
Use/invent a single light source.
Analyze, Don’t Copy
When in doubt, simplify.Initially, the two, three or four values are separate and distinct, but later there can be subtle value differences within each value range, with each plane having its own value and temperature relative to other planes within its value range.
Design, using severe grouping into 2, 3 or 4 values and 5 or 6 shapes.[/LEFT]
“Last Road of the Day, Study 3” by Steve HustonProcess
Start
Take care of patterns before any details.
Start with flat shapes. Just focus on accurate values and color temperatures.
Lay in the darks with variation between warm and cool darks with spots of great, pure color, yet surrounded by subtle grays. Blend a lot but keep the colors clean in spots. Look for opportunities for lost/found edges where shapes of the same value meet.
For as long as possible, focus on passages, no detail and no modeling
Search for the correct color relationships.Middle
Blend frequently to get the correct colors and values. Later lay thicker paint on top with obvious brushstrokes where emphasis is needed
Refine shapes with temperature, not value.
Look for gradation and core shadows
Keep the lights as near the same value as possible; keep the mass that is in shadow, always in shadow, and make differences by gradations in color“Rest in Harvest” by William Adolphe BouguereauFinish
“Paint the painting” purely to improve the design and enhance the effect
Make creative choices using the scene merely as a reference.
“Finish” is not more detail, but a little bit of enhancing and a lot of softening/subtlety.
“Backlit Flowers”, “Exuberance” and “Gonna Get Wet” by Keene Wilson[/URL]Further Reading:
Plein Air Painting Concepts and Techniques
Artists Revealing Their “Secrets”
August 20, 2013 at 10:01 pm #526196Love this! Gonna save this as a favorite post
Kathie : -
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