Composition and Design for Artists
Ranked #376 in Arts & Design, #4,005 overall
Do you know how to design a painting?
Do you want to know more about "the rules" of Composition?
Or an explanation of the Principles and Elements of Composition and Design?
Have you ever tried to make your artwork more pleasing to the eye?
Or wanted to know what makes some paintings draw you in - or how do you achieve balance and unity in the composition of your artwork?
The answers to the above and many more questions about how you can use composition and design to help to make your artwork more pleasing to the eye can be found below
This site was created to support a project about Composition and Design on my blog Making A Mark and contains links to information and advice about composition and design for artists.
You can also consult The Best Art Books - Composition and Design which was developed subsequently.
You can find out about........
click a link to go straight to that topic
- Making A Mark - The Composition and Design Project
- Composition and Design - some basic tips
- Elements and Principles of Design
- Nancy Doyle on Design and Composition
- Bruce McEvoy on Format
- Value - an element of Composition
- Space - an element of composition and design
- Creating a focal point
- The four most important lines
- The Golden Mean / Golden Section / 'Rule of thirds'
- Pleasing Proportions
- Art History and composition and design
- Japanese Art - and composition and design
- What is Notan?
- Composition and Design - some quotations
- Landscapes and Composition
- Still Life and Composition
- Lighting Design
- Lighting - a tutorial for traditional and digital artists
- Forums and blogs discussing design and composition
- Comments and Suggestions
Making A Mark - The Composition and Design Project
January - February 2008: blog posts connected to the project
Composition and design is the topic which provides the baseline and infrastructure for all other areas of artistic development in picture-making.
I'm not trying to provide a summary of composition and design here - because that's what my posts listed below do! If you start at the beginning and read through you'll learn a huge amount about the different aspects of composition and design and how you can help yourself improve your paintings.
- Making a Mark: Composition and Design - An Introduction
- In the next two months or so, I'm going to be investigating composition and design for artists and producing an overview of what I find out.
- Making a Mark: Composition - The Elements of Design
- An overview of the Elements of Design which are Value, Colour, Shape, Form, Space, Line and Texture
You can also find out where you can find more good quality information about the elements of design either on the Internet and in Books
Also continue to read this lens to find out more about the different elements - Making a Mark: Composition - Principles of Design
- This post forms part of an introduction to the elements and principles of composition and design which are: balance, emphasis. harmony, movement, pattern, proportion, rhythm, untiy and variety
It's an overview and follows on from the previous post about the elements of design. More can be written about each and every principle - and has been - and I tell you some of the places you can find out more - Making a Mark: Greg Albert - The Simple Secret to Better Painting
- The book I always recommend to people who want to learn more about composition and design is Greg Albert's "The simple secret to better painting". This post explains why.
- Making a Mark: Composition and Design - finding and creating a focal point
- The focus of a picture should be about the reason why you wanted to paint it. "Emphasis" is one of the design principles. Providing an emphasis on a particular part of a painting will lead the eye to what the artist wants the viewer to see.
This post is about how to create a focal point in a picture. It provides a synopsis of various approaches used by artists to find and create a focal point. - Making a Mark: Composition and Design - A Digest #1
- This post lists and provides a synopsis of books about composition or books which have helpful sections about composition. This first 'digest' of book reviews focuses on those books which relate composition to art history or were written over a hundred years ago.
- Making a Mark: Composition - the four most important lines
- I have always been taught that the four most important lines in a painting are the edges of the paper or canvas which crop the image you are using as a subject.
There are various views about how to crop a subject and a lot that can and has been said on this topic. I've tried to touch on just a few of the issues to do with cropping below and have then suggested some tips at the end. I hope you find it food for thought! - Making a Mark: Composition - thinking in threes
- The 'rule of thirds' is an approximation of the 'golden ratio'. This post provides a diagram comparison - using algebra and numbers of
"the golden mean" and "the rule of thirds" plus identification of the 'sweet spot' area and how this can be used for the focal point - Making a Mark: Composition - using PS Elements to help with design
- This post is about using tools in Adobe Photoshop or PS Elements to help with your composition.
- Making a Mark: Composition - why tonal values and contrast are important
- Time and time again when entering a gallery, the painting which stands out from the crowd is the one which has a strong design and value pattern.
Exactly the same thing happens when you sit viewing slides entered for a competition. Or if you visit an artist's website or shop/auction site and view thumbnail images in an online gallery.
What you see initially is the abstracted pattern . Everything else - including all the detail - is subordinate in terms of impact.
BOOKS: Foundations of Art and Design
excellent coverage of the basics of art and design
Foundations of Art and Design
Amazon Price: $109.72 (as of 02/14/2012)![]()
This is a really excellent book which introduces students of art to the fundamentals of the visual language of art and design. The structure of the book and its language both contribute to making the concepts very accessible. It includes an extensive range of examples (416 illustrations - 272 in colour) from both contemporary art and design and the history of art. It's rounded out with a useful glossary and bibiliography for further study.
Part 1 focuses on the Elements of Design:
1. Points and lines
2. Shape
3. Texture
4. Space
5. Time and Motion
6. Value
7. Colour
Part 2 covers the Rules (otherwise known as Principles)
8. Unity and Harmony
9. Balance
10. Scale and Proportion
11. Contrast and Emphasis
12. Rhythm
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BOOKS: Composition - contemporary perspectives
books on Amazon
These are books which provide some sound guidance on composition and are highly rated by readers. The first one is my favourite. Click the highlighted links to see my book reviews
Composition and Design - some basic tips
There are no rules of composition - but lots of people have written and employed guidelines and checklists, which a lot of us find useful as an aide memoire. I've been looking around for some of the better ones which can be found on the Internet and these are listed below
- ArtLex on Composition
- Composition, especially in art production and history, defined with illustrations, great quotations, and links to other resources.
- Inkscape tutorial: Elements
- Inkscape tutorial:
This tutorial will demonstrate the elements and principles of design which are normally taught to early art students in order to understand various properties used in art making. - Tutorial on Composition - by Peter Saw
- Basic overview of the elements of composition by a self-taught artist
Very accessible - Compositional Models: Art Studio Chalkboard
- A good basic composition will often either be asymetrical or will lead the viewer's eye around the work. This link discusses some standard compositional layouts.
- Gurney Journey: Composition
- Gurney Journey: a daily weblog by James Gurney for illustrators, comic artists, plein-air painters, sketchers, animators, art students, and writers.
This is the link to his set of posts about composition. - About.com: Painting - Top 10 Tips for Painting Composition
- Marion Boddy Evans says that strong composition in a painting can be very intangible, but these painting tips will help you get to grips with it.
- elements of compositional painting
- compositional elements in oil paintings: a practical guide to painting in oils with guidance from internet resources
- Composition and the Elements of Visual Design
- COMPOSITION & the ELEMENTS of VISUAL DESIGN by R. Berdan 20/01/2004
This is actually intended for photographers - but the design and composition principles he identifies are essentially those conventions which apply to painting as well - A Composition Check List - WetCanvas!
- The Wet Canvas Composition and Design Forum has a "sticky" thread for a Composition Check List Composition & Design. This has been running for some time....
- Photography Tips - Composition Refresher
- Composition Refresher by Theresa A. Husarik
- Tutorial on Composition - by Peter Saw
- A basic tutorial about Composition by Artist, Peter Saw of Leicestershire, UK
- Compose: Lists and "Thanks, Making a Mark"
- A Brief Outline of How the Visual Language Works (A Think Chart for Visual Composing)
"We construct images, we compose art work." - Robert Genn - Compositional keys
- Composition is often the 'make-or-break' of a successful painting. Eleven valuable but breakable keys to successful compositions give pause and understanding to the art.
- Composition 1: What Makes a Good Composition?
- The first of a series posts beginning an investigation into how can we approach
learning more about composition and design in a natural and organic way.
Elements and Principles of Design
I've researched and found a number of places on the Intrenet which provide good explanations about the elements and principles of design.
- Making a Mark: Composition - Principles of Design
- This post forms part of an introduction to the elements and principles of composition and design and follows on from yesterday's post about the elements of design. It's an overview. More can be written about each and every principle - and has been!
- Making a Mark: Composition - The Elements of Design
- An overview of the Elements of Design with reference to links to sources of further information on the Internet and in Books
- ArtLex's E-Em page
- elements of art or elements of design
The basic components used by the artist when producing works of art. Those elements are color, value, line, shape, form, texture, and space. The elements of art are among the literal qualities found in any artwork. - ArtLex's Pr-Pz page
- principles of design or principles of art
Certain qualities inherent in the choice and arrangement of elements of art in the production of a work of art. Artists "design" their works to varying degrees by controlling and ordering the elements of art. Considering the principles is especially useful in analyzing ways in which a work is pleasing in formal ways. How any work exhibits applications of these principles can further or modify other characteristics of a work as well. - graphic DESIGN basics - Elements of design
- These are the ingredients to any design project.....The ingredients, like those within a cake, often interact with each other to the point that the cake wouldn't exist if one of these elements were missing.
- graphic DESIGN basics - Principles of Design
- These are the tools that blend the ingredients for any design project. You can use all the design elements, but if you don't blend them with rhythm, balance, contrast, etc., then you don't have a cake.
- Design Lesson IV - Pictorial Elements in Painting and Drawing
- Visual design elements in fine art - marks, lines, shapes, color, value, texture and space in painting and drawing, description and illustrations.
- Design Lesson V - Principles - Concepts in Painting, Nancy Doyle Fine Art
- Lesson in the principles of visual art design (painting and drawing), including balance, harmony, contrast, emphasis, proportion, movement and rhythm.
- ArtLex on Value
- Value defined as an art element, great quotations, and links to other resources.
- ArtLex on Color
- Color in life and art, defined with images from throughout art history, great quotations, and links to other resources.
- ArtLex's Li page
- ArtLex defines art terms alphabeticaly - this page includes 'Line'
- The Artist's Toolkit: Explore | Minneapolis Institute of Arts
- This site includes info on: Minneapolis Institute of Arts Toolkit - Visual Elements and Principles
This has a fun and visual approach linked to basic information and examples of artworks - The Artist's Toolkit: Encyclopedia | Minneapolis Institute of Arts
- This site includes info on: Minneapolis Institute of Arts Toolkit - Visual Elements and Principles - Encylopedia
The Encyclopedia is an in-depth guide to learning more about the building blocks of composition. Here you'll see many examples of works of art that illustrate the visual elements and principles. Click on a topic below to get started. - A Brush with Wildlife: Create a Composition with Carl Rungius
- A unique site with a very interesting approach to some basic elements and principles of composition
Silver Medalist, 2002 MUSE Awards
American Association of Museums
A Brush with Wildlife design and development by Educational Web Adventures
Copyright 2001. The National Museum of Wildlife Art. - The Artist's Toolkit: Encyclopedia | Minneapolis Institute of Arts
- Visual Elements and Principles
- ARTSEDGE: Formal Visual Analysis: The Elements & Principles of Composition
- Formal analysis is an important technique for organizing visual information. In other words, it is a strategy used to translate what you see into written words. This strategy can be applied to any work of art, from any period in history, whether a photograph, sculpture, painting or cultural artifact
- Composition and Design Principles
- Some Ideas About Composition and Design Elements, Principles, and Visual Effects
Marvin Bartel formal aspects of composition and design. teaching with this page visual elements principle
Not quite the same as the usual list but interesting - The Elements of Art (Education at the Getty)
- This page provides definitions and examples of the elements of art that are used by artists working in various mediums.
BOOKS: Composition - classic books
books on Amazon
These are books by classic tutors of art and composition. The contents were all originally published over 100 years ago. They won't look the same or read the same as books produced today - however they still retain very important messages and are recommended reads.
The Elements of Drawing is a particularly important book and has remained in print ever since it was first published in 1856.
BOOKS: Practical application of design by Arthur Dow
Arthur Dow focused on finding the abstract elements and principles which underpin good design and composition and wrote a seminal work (see above) which greatly influenced many painters - including Georgia O'Keeffe.
These books demonstrate how he applied what he taught in practice - using photography as his medium.
Nancy Doyle on Design and Composition
Nancy Doyle Art Instruction
Nancy Doyle Art Instruction provides a set of lessons about composition - links to which are listed below
- Design/Composition 1 - The Meaning of Design/Composition in Visual Art
- Essay about the meaning of design/composition in fine art, its sources, elements, history, characteristics, etc.
- Design/Composition 2: History of Design/Composition in Art
- Lesson two in design and composition in visual art: History of Design and Composition in Painting.
- Design/Composition 3 - General Guidelines in Painting Composition
- Composition in art lesson - general guidelines of composition; elements and principles of design in painting and drawing, including color, space, balance, unity, etc.
- Design/Composition 4 - Pictorial Elements in Painting and Drawing
- Visual design elements in fine art - marks, lines, shapes, color, value, texture and space in painting and drawing, description and illustrations.
- Design/Composition 6: Sources - Lesson in the Sources of Design and Inspiration in Visual Art
- Lesson in the sources of design for visual artists - their ideas and inspiration.
Bruce McEvoy on Format
Bruce McEvoy's Hanprint site is a resource of enourmous value and I cannot recommend it highly enough. While it is primarily of benefit to watercolour painters, it also covers the fundamentals and basics of art in a way which it's difficult to find in a book.
The navigation of his site curious to say the least. I recommend opening each link in a new tab
- handprint : format proportions
- As visual displays, paintings have the potential to be three things at once: a representation that mimics natural perception in a physical environment; a pleasing geometrical or abstract arrangement of line, texture, symbol and color; and an artful arrangement of forms within the edges of a flat surface.
- handprint : the key format proportions
- The key format proportions based on symmetrical folds across the picture space and squares constructed from these dimensions.
- handprint : constructing the format proportions
- Now I'll explain different methods for defining or constructing the format proportions on your painting surface or photographic image.
- handprint : composing with the format proportions
- If you are working at any stage with digital photographs, then the format proportions are most easily implemented as an image overlay onto the reference or original photograph, using graphics or image editing software.
- handprint : other format proportion schemes
- Many other format proportion schemes are possible and several deserve mention here. (Covers mise en scene)
- handprint : format proportions in western paintings
- At this point there will be two critical questions: Do the format proportions really produce a better design? And are the format proportions so complex as to be arbitrary? The most direct way to answer these questions is to make a review of images from western painting.
- handprint : are the format proportions real?
- These "analyses" invite the obvious and legitimate rebuttal that geometrical interpretations applied after the fact can always be made to match some aspects of a painting: that doesn't mean the proportions actually highlight key aspects of the composition.
- handprint : format proportions - use what works
- I conclude with a hazard that is obvious by now: that one can "explain" any random distribution of forms in a rectangle with some system of proprotional or geometrical divisions, provided you can use as many lines or curves as necessary.
Value - an element of Composition
Value refers to the tones of lightness and darkness. It is created by light and the absence of light and can be represented by line and/or colour.
In my opinion, value is the most important element in the design of a painting and is more important than colour - without values there is no design.
- handprint : tonal value
- "Lightness or tonal value is the light or dark of a color regardless of its hue.....Given all the space devoted to hue in "color theory," it is surprising to learn that value is the most important design element of a painting. It is hard to overstate the importance of good value structure to the impact of visual art. This page explores in depth the various ways artists think about, measure, and control the value structure of their paintings."
This is a detailed but excellent summary of aspects of tonal value - with some images. - MAKING A MARK: The Denman Ross Value Scale
- A value scale is a way of describing how values change between black and white. One of the most well known is the Denman Ross nine step value scale. This was devised in 1907 and was introduced in The painter's palette: a theory of tone relations, an instrument of expression by Denman Waldo Ross
- ArtLex on Value
- Value defined as an art element, great quotations, and links to other resources.
- Dixie State College of Utah - Institute for Continued Learning
- a class brief on value
- Grayscale and Planar Values: Art Studio Chalkboard
- information on art and art history
- The Alphabet of Art - Value
- Of all the Elements, Value is the most important in creating mood. Motion pictures and television employ value to create the proper mood for the story they are telling. For mystery, strong contrast and generally dark value is used. For comedy, generally less contrast and high values are used. For moods between the two, or mundane scenes, medium values are normally used.
- The Dimensions of Colour: Lightness and Chroma
- Lightness is technically defined as the perceived brightness of an object compared to that of a perfect white object (Kuehni, 2005). Lightness refers specifically to object colours, not colours seen as independent lights, and ranges between black and white through the various shades of grey.
- The Dimensions of Colour: Basics of Light and Shade
- Specular and diffuse refelection - and how it affects values
- ValueTips | ©Aldridge
- Tips on Values by Donna Aldridge
PSA M-MAPS
©Donna Aldridge - Richard McKinley - Seeing Red
- This post on Richard's Pastel Pointers Blog is all about values and the use of grey scales and red acetate to see values when working plein air. It includes a neat tool which provides both grey scale and red acetate (see below)
- Picture Perfect Viewfinder
- Better paintings, less guesswork, with the Picture Perfect "3 in 1 Plus" Viewfinder
* 3 VIEW FINDERS with composition guides. Find the best compostiion, sketch with greater accuracy; know instantly what standard surface sizes are appropriate.
* VALUE FILTERS neutralize color without obscuring details. Compare value range of colors, develop contrasts with ease.
* 2 VALUE SCALES, one that is an integral part of the viewfinder unit, and a second separate scale for added flexibility in determining values. - Gurney Journey: Drawing Shadows, Drawing Light
- Shadow is what we look for when we draw. Once we establish the outline, we begin to shade the drawing. Only at the end of the process are the illuminated areas revealed.......What if we could reverse that thinking and explore the structure of the light masses from the beginning?
- The Pastel Pointers Blog - What does "simultaneous contrast" mean?
- Simply put, simultaneous contrast teaches us that everything is affected by its opposite. Something will look lighter when placed next to something dark, and warmer when placed next to something cool, and visa versa.
- The Pastel Pointers Blog - Determining Value
- Relating value (the relative lightness and darkness of things) to color can be a tricky exercise. When color is intense (high in chroma), this becomes even more of a challenge. Since chroma is easily related to brightness, it's common to associate lightness to it as well, leading to value confusion. This is usually the culprit when we're having a hard time associating a proper value to a given pastel stick. Grayed tones become much easier to identify. The color is diminished, allowing for the value to be easily distinguished.
- Value Scale
- How do we measure the differences in light or dark necessary to recognize values with our eye or realize in paints our intended value design? We use a value scale or photographer's grayscale. Demonstrates how to create a value scale using different marks
- The Dimensions of Colour - Lightness and Chroma Lightness - THE DIMENSION OF LIGHTNESS
- Lightness is technically defined as the perceived brightness of an object compared to that of a perfect white object (Kuehni, 2005). Lightness refers specifically to object colours, not colours seen as independent lights, and ranges between black and white through the various shades of grey.
- Grayscale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Grayscale images are distinct from one-bit black-and-white images, which in the context of computer imaging are images with only the two colors, black, and white (also called bilevel or binary images). Grayscale images have many shades of gray in between.
- The painter's palette; a theory of tone relations, an instrument of expression : Ross, Denman Waldo, 1853-1935 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
- Explains the origins of the Denman Value Scale
Space - an element of composition and design
Space refers to the distance or area between, around, above, below, or within things. It can have two or three dimensions.
Positive space is the space taken up by objects. Negative space is the space inbetween objects. Focusing on the latter often enables us to see the true relationship between different objects.
- Sanford & A Lifetime of Color: Study Art
- Space is one of the elements of art. Space is an empty place or surface in or around a work of art. Space can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, negative and/or positive.
- ArtLex - negative space
- Negative space is an aspect of one of the elements of design. Included on this "Ne-Nz" page
- positive and negative space - Google Image Search
- Image results for "positive and negative space"
BOOKS: Elements of Composition
books on Amazon
More books about composition and design
Creating a focal point
See also the module on the 'rule of thirds'
- The Artist's Magazine - Learning to Focus - By Patrick Seslar
- Learning to Focus - By Patrick Seslar
Strengthen your center of interest by exploring the compositional options. - The Artist's Magazine - Focal-Point Power by Greg Albert
- Greg Albert - author of 'The simple secret to better painting' - discusses the function of a focal poin and the focal point power of a painting submitted to the Art Clinic
The four most important lines
all about viewfinders
The four most important lines are the edges of paper or canvas which crop your subject matter to create an image.
Photographers are often urged to 'fill the frame' and this section also includes examples from photography of this approach to framing an image.
- Fill the Frame Challenge Results
- Weekly digital photography contest site, featuring active forums, tutorials, photographer profiles, and more. Enter and/or vote -- fun learning for ALL skill levels.
- composition versus design I Channeling Winslow Homer
- Includes a list of different sorts of viewfinders
The Golden Mean / Golden Section / 'Rule of thirds'
This is probably the most well known "rule of composition" so much so that my camera now allows me to overlays a grid in thirds when I look at the viewfinder
- Golden Section
- The Divine Proportion, or Golden Section, has many unique, intriguing relationships and properties found in nature, art, music and mathematics.
- Golden mean (philosophy) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- The philosophy of the golden mean
- Rule of thirds - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article fails to refer to the mathematical concepts which lie behind the rule of thirds
- ArtLex on the Golden Mean
- The golden mean / section defined with images of examples from throughout history, great quotations, and links to other resources.
- Fibonacci Numbers and The Golden Section in Art, Architecture and Music
- The golden section and Fibonacci numbers in art and architecture (and poetry and music)
- muddy red shoes: After the Sketches
- demonstration and explanation of the use of the rule of thirds in preparation for a painting
- Golden Section and Rule of Thirds (Golden Mean, Golden Ratio, Golden Spiral, Golden Proportion, Golden Triangles).
- What is the Golden Section, Golden Mean, Golden Spiral, Golden Ratio. How to use them in the photography. Rules of Composition. Examples, articles, software.
- Pencil Shavings
- I will make an attempt in this posting to take some examples of works that have appealed to my eye and talk about what makes them interesting to me. In so doing, I will hope to bring in and emphasize some of those basic elements of good design that I hinted at in the earlier posting and make a more specific reference point for readers.
- Exploring Color & Creativity: Revisiting the Golden Mean
- Not having a scientific bent, I've never tried to analyze the whys and wherefores of the Golden Mean, but I have read that in design tests, this proportion is almost invariably selected by subjects as the most pleasing proportion of a rectangle. It is found in nature (for example, a chambered nautilus) and was used in art by the Greeks and some Renaissance artists. It has always been a mystery to me why watercolor paper manufacturers don't make their standard sheets in this proportion.
- John Singer Sargent and the Golden Section - Barnstone Studios
- Music Made From Overlapping Golden Section Root Four Rectangles
VIDEO: Composition - The Golden Mean (Golden Section)
the simple version with Ronald Swanwick
Professional Artist Ronald Swanwick explains the principles behind 'The Golden Mean' rule of composition. This is an accessible and uncomplicated explanation.
VIDEO: The Golden Section
the more complicated version with Myron Barnstones
Myron Barnstones introduce the Golden Section - and probably makes it a bit too technical for some people. Try watching it twice
Pleasing Proportions
llinks nature's symmetry to art and architecture created by man
- Jay Hambidge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Jay Hambidge (1867-1924) was an American artist, born in Canada. He was a pupil at the Art Students' League in New York and of William Chase, and a thorough student of classical art. He conceived the idea that the study of arithmetic with the aid of geometrical designs was the foundation of the proportion and symmetry in Greek architecture, sculpture, and ceramics.[citation needed] Careful examination and measurements of classical buildings in Greece, among them the Parthenon, the temple of Apollo at Bassæ, of Zeus at Olympia and Athenæ at Ægina, prompted him to formulate the theory of "dynamic symmetry"
- Stapleton Kearns: Jay Hambidge
- a post about Jay Hambidge 1867-1924, a Canadian born artist and mathematician who wrote Elements of Dynamic Symmetry. It's about the theory and principles which underpin pleasing proportions.
BOOKS: Art History and Composition
books on Amazon
Art History and composition and design
- The Gombrich Archive
- The Gombrich Archive, presents previously published material by Professor Sir Ernst Gombrich that does not appear in other collections of Gombrich's work, as well as a forum for its discussion. This website is being constructed by Richard Woodfield [Emeritus Research Professor at Nottingham Trent School of Art and Design
Japanese Art - and composition and design
This module contains links to the Japanese Art Project posts on my blog which relate to composition and design
- Making a Mark: The concepts and characteristics of ukiyo-e
- This post focuses on the key motifs and subject matter of ukiyo-e
- Making a Mark: The elements of ukiyo-e
- This post aims to provide an overview of the different elements of design typically used in a Japanese wood block print during the Edo period.
- Making a Mark: Principles of design and composition and ukiyo-e
- This post tries to relate a Japanese way of making pictures to western concepts of what's important in terms of Principles of Design (as discussed in the last project).
As we'll see as this project progresses, there's an awful lot of western art which adopted conventions which originated in the East. - Making a Mark: Japanese Art - drawing the Chokushi Mon in Kew Gardens #1
- I attempted to draw the Japanese Gateway (the Chokushi-Mon) in Kew Gardens while at the same time trying to remember all the things I'd been learning as part of my Japanese Art Project.
This post is about I designed my sketch and the things I now need to do to translate it into a more formal drawing using the design and composition devices of Japanese drawings and prints.
What is Notan?
Notan is a Japanese concept involving the placement of lights and darks next to the other to read as flat shapes on the two-dimensional surface. This use of lights and darks differs dramatically from the means by which artists had traditionally manipulated these elements to create seemingly three-dimensional forms on the picture plane.
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Arthur Wesley Dow and American Arts & Crafts
- Making a Mark: Georgia O'Keeffe Month: Learning about Notan #1
- The aim of understanding more about Notan is to know more about how harmony can be created within a composition and how every line and shape (positive and negative) can contribute to the perfection of the whole .
This post introduces the concept of Notan - Making a Mark: Georgia O'Keeffe Month: Learning about Notan #2
- Arthur Dow identifies Notan as a way of identifying visual harmony.
This post highlights what has identified as being the key learning points for appreciating two value Notan - Making a Mark: Georgia O'Keeffe Month: Learning about Notan #3
- An example of trying to produce work according to the principles of Notan - and the problems I encountered
- Making a Mark: Georgia O'Keeffe month: Two white irises (and three buds)
- This discusses Georgia O'Keefe's work and introduced her approach to cropping and composition
Composition and Design - some quotations
Quotations about composition and design from all sorts of people
- Claude Monet Quotes
- No one is an artist unless he carries his picture in his head before painting it, and is sure of his method and composition.
- Vincent Van Gogh Quotes
- Those Dutchmen had hardly any imagination or fantasy, but their good taste and their scientific knowledge of composition were enormous.
- Andrew Wyeth Quotes
- It's all in how you arrange the thing... the careful balance of the design is the motion.
- David Hockney Quotes
- Art has to move you and design does not, unless it's a good design for a bus.
- Robert Rauschenberg Quotes
- So that ideas of sort of relaxed symmetry have been something for years that I have been concerned with because I think that symmetry is a neutral shape as opposed to a form of design.
BOOKS: Applying the basics - books on composition and design
books on Amazon
The application of principles of composition and design to landscape art
Landscapes and Composition
- Basic Landscape Composition by L. Diane Johnson
- Diane covers the basics
- Johannes_Vloothuis: Landscape Composition Rules (1 of 23)
- WetCanvas!: Cyber Living for Artists
- AskArt - Essay on Tonalism
- Tonalism, a distinctive style of low-toned atmospheric landscape painting, developed a sizable following among American artists in the 1880s.
Still Life and Composition
How does the idea for or purpose of a still life affect its composition?
- Making a Mark: What is a still life?
- This blog post discusses different approaches to still life. This tends to focus on different concepts for and constituent parts of a still life. It includes links to examples of how artists have composed a still life across the centuries.
Lighting Design
How to use lighting when setting up your composition
- Rembrandt lighting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- The key in Rembrandt lighting is creating the triangle or diamond shape of light underneath the eye. One side of the face is lit well from the main light ...
- Studio Lighting Techniques
- Lighting Techniques - by Chuck McKern
Most photographers are interested in portrait lighting but most seem not to understand how to do it.
The fourth style of lighting is Rembrandt Lighting. Rembrandt lighting is obtained by combining short lighting and butterfly lighting. The main light is positioned high and on the side of the face that is away from the camera. This technique produces an illuminated triangle on the cheek closest to the camera. The triangle will illuminate just under the eye and not below the nose. - eHow: How to Use Rembrandt Lighting In Portraits by ejayway
- How to Use Rembrandt Lighting In Portraits.
- Chiaroscuro and Rembrandt Lighting in Photography by Rolando Gomez
- The key in Rembrandt lighting is creating the triangle or diamond shape of light underneath the eye usually furthest from the camera lens. One side of the face is lit well from the main light source while the other side of the face uses the interaction of shadows and light, also known in college Art 101 classes as chiaroscuro, to create this geometric shape on the face.
- Portrait Lighting Styles » StudioLighting.net
- A portrait lighting system usually includes at least two light sources, the main and the fill light. Other light sources such as background lights and accent lights can be added, as well.
- Lighting and Portrait Questions & Answers
- Contents include:
Lighting the round face; Broad, short, loop and Rembrandt lighting; Fill light for subject lying down; Window light decisions - Good Lighting is an Art
- This has very good demonstrations of different types of lighting and the impact on a subject plus diagrams of how to set up lights. It also contained detailed explanations about colour temperature
- ArtWise - Art Wisdom & Commentary for Painters: Shedding Light on The Subject
- STUDIO LIGHTING ON A STILL LIFE setup is usually taken for granted - given a second thought rather than the first. So many times, the subject is carefully orchestrated in assembly; then a light poised at a 45 degree angle and painting commences. Indeed the position of the light at this angle is traditional and standard - just fine and safe.
But, why have your light positioned in an ordinary way when your setup could be extraordinary, lighted for optimum drama, beauty, or any number of moods?
Lighting - a tutorial for traditional and digital artists
By Itchy Animation
- Itchy Animation - Light Tutorial - Part 1
- This tutorial is aimed at artists who want to understand the behaviour and appearance of light. It applies both to traditional and digital artists
- Itchy Animation - Light Tutorial - Part 2 Light Direction
- The direction that we view a light source from has a profound effect on our perception of it, and on how the objects in a scene will appear. Choosing which direction your main light is coming from is one of the most important decisions you can make since it will have a great deal of impact on how a scene will appear, and also on the emotions your image will conve
- Itchy Animation - Light Tutorial - Part 3 - Natural Light
- Natural light comes in a wide range of different flavours, and the difference between them can be enormous. The source of all our natural light is the sun, however it takes on different characteristics at different times of day and in different weather conditions, turning this one source of light into essentially many different ones ranging from hard and warm to soft and cool
- Itchy Animation - Light Tutorial - Part 4 Artificial and Indoor Lighting
- Light indoors has a very different character to that found outside, mostly down to the lack of direct sunlight found indoors.
BOOKS: Compositional tips for taking reference photographs
Forums and blogs discussing design and composition
- WetCanvas! - Composition and Design Forum
- This is a very quiet forum on Wet Canvas! Henrik is usually around providing good advice if you ask.
- composition and design 2Channeling Winslow Homer
- A discussion of some approaches to composition and design
- Picture Composition Practice with Arthur Wesley Dow
- Can picture composition be learned? Can it be practised effectively? I think it can. This post describes my regular, daily composition practice method.
Making A Mark
Artist and author Katherine Tyrrell draws and writes about art for artists and art lovers.
Topics include: artists, art exhibitions, art blogs; art history; art techniques and tips; art business and marketing; art economy and making a mark with pastels, coloured pencils and pen and ink.
Making A Mark is #3 in the top 25 art blogs in the UK
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a consumer's guide to quality and value in art books, art supplies and services to artists
This blog highlights:
- book reviews (art instruction and art history)
- reviews of art media, art materials and art equipment
- reviews of places where you buy (art shops, online art suppliers and art bookshops)
- reviews of other products or services used by artists
- summaries of good quality and relevant reviews by other practising artists
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curious0927
Feb 6, 2012 @ 3:15 pm | delete
- Yet another great thorough lens. I have a few of the books you suggested from Amazon, but I think I need to buy the "Elements of Drawing", John Ruskin , hard copy. Your review has me hooked! Thanks again for a great lens! Blessed!
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Porsgemed
Dec 25, 2011 @ 1:53 pm | delete
- cool design !!
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efcruzarts
Oct 22, 2011 @ 10:30 pm | delete
- great lens for infos
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Poetryman
Aug 27, 2011 @ 6:27 pm | delete
- the skill required to use this lens is beyond be but still, interesting lens.
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TrixiJahn
Jan 31, 2009 @ 3:37 am | delete
- Super lens! *5
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RolandTumble
Nov 11, 2008 @ 3:38 pm | delete
- Five stars, favorited & lensrolled
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Sheona
Oct 5, 2008 @ 12:03 pm | delete
- Loads of helpfull and good links. One of my favorites.
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llanlew
Aug 12, 2008 @ 2:40 pm | delete
- I enjoyed the site so full of interest,but I really need to know which pencils to use for sketching I do not understand the differences between HB or 2B and wish to learn the value of each in order to improve.
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thomasz
Feb 12, 2008 @ 6:03 pm | delete
- Interesting lens. Nice info.
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