2 compositional elements to consider when creating your next painting

Values: 
Dominant
Non-Dominant
Accent

and then converted to colour concept
Colour:
Dominant
Non-Dominant
Accent



PLEASE NOTE:

Values are your priority.

Colour is less important

the % points I have placed for each value is just a figure out of my head to reduce the chance of an even split eg a painting that is 50/50 dark/light will probably be dull and visually lacking. As you can see in some of my notan sketches


Why do we need a dominance in our painting?
The principle of dominance plays a major role in where emphasis occurs in a design.
use dominance to tell the viewer what is important, what to look at.
​it adds character, visual dynamism
Dominance gives a painting interest, counteracts confusion and monotony. Dominance can be applied to one or more of the elements of design to give emphasis and should always be considered. Be aware that it is often the subordinate element that demands most attention.
Repeated elements without some form of dominance can create monotony and confusion.​
​

HOMEWORK, for your next painting design:

1. create x3 different designs incorporating value dominance concepts. no details just blocks of value
2. paint a small value sketch
3. select a palette to reflect your value concept
4. paint a small colour sketch based on your value concept
5. paint your painting!

What did you learn? 
what were your happy with?
what didn't work, what could work better for you?
write it down, comment below

​See you next week!!

It seems to me that a painting of an urban scene must have a people or two.

just like a rural scene might need a cow/goat/sheep - some life!

the problem is they must be credible, they must be drawn and painted well - if not ... well ... lets not go there!

so how to start?

start by drawing, get lots of photos of people walking/standing and drill them down to basic shapes - geometry!

I can't tell you how many pages of people drawings I have done - page after page after page, then I do more pages and pages and pages. In other words you can't draw them too much.

think of these three basic shapes U W O 
U - turn upside down, it becomes a torso
W - legs
O - head

once you've done lots of practice getting the ratios right (length of leg to body, size of head etc) you will naturally start to loosen up, let them merge, make a crowd etc. relax your hand and let your hand/eye coordination work for you. Keep your pencil marks light, fluid, gestural and lyrical (only use sharpened "B" pencils). avoid erasing pencil marks