by Greg Albert
the
simple secret
to better painting
How to immediately improve your work with
the golden rule of design
Greg Albert
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about the author
Greg Albert is a graduate of the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Ohio, and has advanced degrees in painting and art history.
He is the Editorial Director of North Light Art Instruction Books, and is the author of Drawing: You Can Do It (1992), a North Light instruction book for beginning artists. He has been teaching drawing and painting in the Art Academy of Cincinnati’s community education program for over twenty years. He lives in Cincinnati with his wife and daughter.
The Simple Secret to Better Painting. Copyright © 2003 by Greg Albert. Manufactured in China. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by North Light Books, an imprint of F&W Publications, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236. (800) 289-0963. First edition.
Other fine North Light Books are available from your local bookstore, art supply store or direct from the publisher.
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Albert, Greg.
The Simple Secret to Better Painting / Greg Charles Albert.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-58180-256-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-60061-500-9 (EPUB)
1. Painting—Technique. 2. Composition (Art) 3. Color in art. 4. Visual Perception I. Title.
ND1475 .A53 2003 2002033786
750.1’ 8—dc21 CIP
Editor: Jennifer Lepore Kardux
Production Editor: Maria Tuttle
Designer: Wendy Dunning
Layout Artist: Karla Baker
Production Coordinator: Mark Griffin
metric conversion chart
to convert to multiply by
Inches Centimeters 2.54
Centimeters Inches 0.4
Feet Centimeters 30.5
Centimeters Feet 0.03
Yards Meters 0.9
Meters Yards 1.1
Sq. Inches Sq. Centimeters 6.45
Sq. Centimeters Sq. Inches 0.16
Sq. Feet Sq. Meters 0.09
Sq. Meters Sq. Feet 10.8
Sq. Yards Sq. Meters 0.8
Sq. Meters Sq. Yards 1.2
Pounds Kilograms 0.45
Kilograms Pounds 2.2
Ounces Grams 28.3
Grams Ounces 0.035
Corner of Chase and Hamilton Greg Albert 20" x 16" (51cm x 41cm) Oil on canvas
dedication
This book is dedicated to my wife, my daughter and my mother: Mary Beth for her unending patience and support, Elizabeth for her spirit and Mom for her prayers.
acknowledgments
My years editing have taught me that every book is a team effort, not the product of one individual. This book could not have happened without the help of the following people, to whom I extend my deepest gratitude: Jennifer Lepore Kardux for her patient and firm direction; Rachel Wolf for her wise counsel from the very beginning; Wendy Dunning for her wonderful design work; and to all the contributing artists whose work graces the pages of this book.
Most of the ideas in this book are not my original creation, although I hope their synthesis into my concept of the one rule of composition makes them more accessible to painters. I was informed and inspired by many sources, in particular the watercolor instruction books by “the two Tonys,” Tony Couch and Tony Van Hasselt, who have made many lessons for painters clear and memorable.
table of contents
Title Page
Special Offers
introduction
chapter 1
design dynamics
design a preference test
play with design
another design game
visual tension
visual energy
visual weight
dynamics of the frame
why the ONE RULE OF COMPOSITION works
chapter 2
making things interesting
dividing the boundaries of your painting
interesting boundary divisions
dividing the space between objects
varied spacing adds interest
creating interesting shapes
interesting shapes in common objects
interesting shapes: applied
creating interesting groupings
chapter 3
achieving dynamic balance
the importance of balance
static versus dynamic balance
balancing visual weight and energy
chapter 4
pleasing the eye
path of the eye
compositional “magnets”
center of interest
focal point
placing the focal point
exploring the four “sweet spots”
lines, leads and pointers
blocks and exits
attract, entertain and retain the viewer
chapter 5
tonal value and contrast
the importance of value contrast
vary your values for interest
seeing your subject as a pattern of values
basic value patterns
lead the viewer’s eye to your focal point
use values to enhance mood
turn the ordinary into the extraordinary
gradation of value creates interest
harmony within value contrast
chapter 6
color
characteristics of color
the color wheel
color dominance
temperature dominance
intensity dominance
value dominance
color contrast at the focal point
chapter 7
still lifes
selecting your still life subjects
arranging a still life
dynamic balance
simplicity
making compositional choices
choosing textures
choosing varied intervals
chapter 8
landscapes
make use of photographs
an alphabet of landscape composition
basic value patterns for landscapes
perspective
color in landscapes
chapter 9
figures and portraits
placing the head
placing the head and upper body
placing the figure
plan a path for the eye
establish a mood
creating a dynamic figure
the figure as an interesting shape
cropping the figure
cropping a portrait
value patterns
group portraits
multiple figures
figure interaction
conclusion
introduction
How often do you look at yo
ur just-completed painting or drawing and have the nagging feeling it just isn’t right? That the picture is not as satisfying as it should or could be? And that you can’t quite figure out what would make it better?
You look at your painting and study it. The proportions are right, the perspective is fine and the colors match what you see. Still, something makes the painting look a bit wrong. It doesn’t look balanced, or something about the arrangement of the shapes is distracting. It just doesn’t “work.” You’re at a loss as to what is exactly wrong or what to do about it.
This book will not only give you a tool to identify what is wrong with a painting that isn’t quite right and what to do to make it better, but it will give you a simple tool to make better paintings from the start. The secret is in designing the painting so it is a great composition.
Like Goldilocks, we want to create a composition with shapes, colors, textures and other elements that are not too dull, not too distressing, but “just right.”
The secret for designing great compositions
Much has been said about how to design great pictures. Whole books have been written about the art or even science of pictorial composition. Some of it is surprisingly complicated, using the geometry of the ancient Greeks as its base.
But much of what has been said about composition is utterly useless when you’re standing in front of a blank canvas. All the formulas and theories don’t help you then. In fact, they can just make you more confused and bewildered, adding frustration to an already daunting challenge.
Applied consistently, one rule of composition will eliminate all the most subtle design flaws. The ONE RULE is:
Never make any two intervals the same
Intervals that are the same are boring. Intervals that vary are interesting. In this book, you will learn how this rule can be applied not only to intervals of distance, but also to shape, tonal value, color and just about every other element in your painting.
You will be surprised how often the ONE RULE OF COMPOSITION can be used and how easy it is to remember. You can use it when you begin painting to avoid mistakes from the start. You can use it when you are in the midst of painting to make the right decisions about color and value. You can use it when you’re done painting to analyze the picture to determine how it could be improved. You can also use it to critique any painting to learn how you could have made the picture better.
This book is designed to be read quickly and remembered forever. Once you see how this one rule of composition is so far-reaching and effective, you will find yourself applying it automatically. You’ll wonder how you ever made a well-composed painting on purpose without it.
So, with an open mind, let’s begin.
Near Knowlton’s Corner Greg Albert 16" x 20" (41cm x 51cm) Oil on canvas
Barn Owl Tom Gallovich 30" x 22" (76cm x 56cm) Watercolor on paper
design dynamics
Never make any two intervals the same.
Why?
Simply put, we crave variety and abhor monotony. We humans get bored pretty quickly. We get tired of the same old thing in a very short time, be it what we eat, hear, feel or see. Think how tiresome eating the same foods at every meal would be. It is in our nature to seek change, to introduce variety in our lives. Good composition is based on this fact of human nature. Just as we find an unchanging diet unappetizing, we find unchanging pictorial elements uninteresting.
In this chapter, we will explore why the ONE RULE OF COMPOSITION works and why it is the foundation for the remaining chapters in this book.
design a preference test
Let’s start our exploration of design and composition with a look at how we respond to certain visual stimuli. Complete the following exercise. It is in no way scientific, but no less revealing. It is not a test of your aesthetic sense, your personality or your worth as a human being. It’s just a good way to start thinking about how we respond to pictures.
Below are five pairs of designs. Look at each pair and mark which one either attracts your attention or appears more dynamic and interesting. Go with your first impulse. Pick the one you like more or think is better for whatever reason. You can’t make a wrong choice. Do it now before reading on.
Which designs do you find more interesting?
In this exercise, each pair has one design that has more complexity created by differing intervals of dimension, spacing, distance or some other characteristic. The other design has less varied intervals, producing less complexity. Go back now and see which one of each pair you chose to be more interesting or dynamic: the one with greater variety of intervals or the one without.
classic influences
This exercise is based on a test first presented by Maitland Graves in his classic book The Art of Color and Design (McGraw-Hill, 1951). I’m not sure how scientific his “standardized” test was, but it was a useful tool for getting his students to think about design and composition. Graves’s ideas about design influenced art teachers in the latter half of the twentieth century. His list of the principles of design have been adopted or adapted by instructors and have found their way into numerous books.
play with design
Let’s do another exercise that is more of a game than a test like the one on the facing page. In this exercise, look at the ten black-and-white designs below, labeled A through J. After looking at all of them, answer the questions at the right. As in the previous exercise go with your first impulse. Use your imagination here. There are no right or wrong answers. You will most likely pick different answers than someone else, but neither of you would be wrong. You might also select the same design for several of these questions.
design decisions
Which design would you select to be the most active?
Which design would you select to be the most inactive?
Which design would you select to be the fastest?
Which design would you select to be the slowest?
Which design would you select to be the heaviest?
Which design would you select to be the lightest?
Which design would you select to be the loudest?
Which design would you select to be the most quiet?
Which design would you select to be the most boring?
Which design would you select to be the most interesting?
another design game
Now, let’s be a little more playful and imaginative with your choices. From the ten designs below, pick the one that you feel best answers the questions at the right. Again, there are no right or wrong answers. Don’t think about this too much. Go with an impulsive choice.
You can play this game for a long time. Try it with different people. After they make their selection, ask them why they picked what they did. Try it with a group—it’s an interesting party game.
design decisions
Which design would you select to be the happiest?
Which design would you select to be the saddest?
Which design would you select to be laughing out loud?
Which design would you select to be a shrill scream?
Which design would you select to be relaxed?
Which design would you select to be tense and nervous?
Which design would you associate with the taste of a vanilla ice cream?
Which design would you associate with the taste of tart cherries?
Which design would you associate with a bad headache?
Which design would you associate with a thunderstorm?
Here are a few more associations that will stretch your imagination:
Which design suggests flight? Monday morning? A tax audit? Sauerkraut? Groucho Marx? High anxiety?
visual tension
As we discovered with the previous games, we naturally associate various characteristics with abstract designs. Imagine arranging these designs in an order such as slowest to fastest, relaxed to nervous, lightest to heaviest or even sweet to sour.
Some designs will gravitate to
ward the slower, quieter, heavier side of these orderings, and others will be toward the faster, louder, lighter side. We could also arrange any designs in a scale with the most boring, predictable, dull design on one end and the most chaotic, busy, unpleasant on the other, as shown below.
Dull-to-distressing designs
This scale measures the amount of visual tension in a design. Here are two series of designs arranged in a scale or spectrum of visual tension. The dullest and most boring designs are on the left. These designs are orderly and predictable and are the least interesting. The most distressing and chaotic designs are on the right. These designs are so irregular and busy that they are unpleasant to look at. On either extreme, the designs are not appealing.
Somewhere in the middle of the dull-to-distressing scale of visual tension are the designs that are generally pleasing. They are stimulating to the brain without being overwhelming.
visual energy
We are all unique individuals with different experiences, beliefs and associations, and no two people will read the same associations or interpretations into the marks that we make. The design games on the previous pages show that people will have different responses to the same configurations. However, as distinct as we are one from each other, we also share much in common. There are some generalizations about the designs on the previous pages that are sufficiently broad to be useful to the artist.
One concept we can use to discuss the reactions most people have to certain marks is that of visual energy. Some marks and patterns are seen as having more energy than others, appearing to be more active or even in motion.
Horizontal lines appear less energized than vertical, vertical less than diagonal. As order decreases, energy appears to increase.
Passive
Horizontal lines exhibit little energy. They appear passive.
Active
Vertical lines exhibit more energy because they resist gravity.