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| I have put together a
series of " rules" (I'd prefer the word, tips) of composition
that when used properly should reduce the flaws in your landscape
paintings. These are a compilation of what appears in most books
on composition plus some of my own ideas. A word of caution;
do not allow these to hinder your work. They are to help you
out when you are in doubt on where to place diverse elements
in your work. Rules are made to be broken, in which case you
should at least know what rule you are breaking and why and
not err due to insufficient knowledge. There are 23 pages so
get a cup of coffee and prepare yourself for a long haul. |
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1.
Look at the picture above. A Landscape painting should contain
a center of interest, which is the most predominant and
beautiful area in a painting. The center of interest can
be further enhanced when it contains a focal point creating
a "bulls-eye" effect by adding a touch of purer
color, and/or value contrast. This area will become the
star in your play. The surrounding area should be subordinate.
A well developed center of interest contains:
- The strongest color and if possible complementary
colors.
- A strong shift in value contrast (Light-dark or vice
versa)
- Preferably, not essentially, it should take up a good
portion of the picture plane and gradually become subdued
while withdrawing.
- Man made structures, animals or human figures will
further enhance the center of interest. They take the
role of main actors.
- The subordinate and surrounding elements should direct
or lead the viewer to that center of interest by means
of pointers and visual paths. See fig 1 &2.
- It should not be placed in the center nor halfway
in the picture, preferably in any of the 1/3 portions.
- This area should not be blocked, not even partially.
This will diminish its importance.
- An effectively designed center of interest will grasp
and hold the viewer's attention.
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Fig 2. The logs
correctly placed are great pointers that lead the viewer's
eye to the area the artist prefers. |
| Fig
3. The shore serves as a visual path that leads to the
bridge which is the center of interest. |
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| 2.
You may want to include a second center of interest. This will
add another chapter to your story. I don't condone this practice
though unless you are very skilled. There is a risk that they
will compete with each other. |
| Do not place one on
top of another. Only one should predominate in size. The best
way to place them will be across each other in a diagonal
format. In case this can't be done then placing them horizontally
is the second option. |
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Fig
4. This painting didn't need the flowers in the foreground.
However, the artist decided to add a second center of interest.
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3. Avoid pushing the viewer out of the painting. This
can be avoided if the elements don't point towards the
edge or run out of the picture, such as tree trunks, roads,
and rivers. You can add "stops" to avoid the
viewer from exiting. A rule of thumb; animals and people
should be facing and looking inwards. |
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Fig 5. Observe
the horse on the right. The artist subdued the value.
Squint your eyes. See how it merges with the trees.
If this horse were lighter in value the viewer would
mount the horse and ride right ou |
| Fig. 5a. Observe the
first painting. See how the log is too straight and pointing
towards the edge. The one in the middle has been edited. Some
broken off branches were extended to slow down the speed as
well as a branch added at the end (a stop). (Last picture)A
better alternative might be to remove the log completely.
Now the viewer will follow the shore line. |
| 4.
Rivers, streams, roads, etc. should enter the picture with
an "S" movement. The second option, not as good, in a curve.
Straight lines should be avoided at all costs. The velocity
is too fast. Allow the viewer to take a slow visual "walk". |
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Fig
6. This stream in this composition has a nice lazy "S"
shape". |
| Fig
7. The visual path is a curve. Compare the both pictures
and see which one takes you for a slower ride, more
enjoyable ride. |
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Fig 8. Incorrect: The
road enters in a straight line. The visual path is too fast. |
| Fig.
9. The image to the right shows a much better approach. |
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| 5.
Logic doesn't apply to art. What counts is the visual impact.
Sunlight on a field of grass may appear even if it is a
cloudy day. Linear and atmospheric perspective can be distorted
if the result is a better look. Cast shadows can be longer
than they would appear at a specific time of day. Feel free
to use your artist's license.. |
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Fig. 10 Observe
how the trees give the appearance that the wind is blowing
from right to left. However the direction of the rain
shows the opposite direction. |
| 6.
Group your subjects of importance within the center of interest.
Don't scatter them around where they would compete for attention.
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| Fig.
11 . All the people appear in the same radius within the center
of interest which is located at the bottom right. |
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Fig. 12. The horse is
wrongly placed. Had the artist positioned it near the bench,
the composition would've improved. |
| 7.
You may wish to allow the viewer to interact and become a
participant. Let him look for the pot of gold at the end of
the rainbow instead of you providing all the visual information.
Set your painting up for the viewer to wander around using
his own imagination. |
| Fig.
13. What is around the bend? Will there be a lake? What
about a town? Here the artist left it to your imagination.
The path doesn't go anywhere. You tell me. |
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8.
Depth. An artist is limited to creating the illusion of three
dimensions on a flat two dimensional surface. We are to trick
the people who see our paintings to believe that what they
see looks real. Sometimes I have heard people ask me when
they see my paintings. "Is it a photograph?". How far from
the truth they are! There is nothing real about my work, just
a representation of reality. Here are a few gimmicks that
will work to create the illusion of depth.
- Place objects so they overlap.
- Atmospheric perspective. Colors get cooler (bluer) and
lighter in value as they recede into the background. They
get warmer and the dark values become darker as they get
closer. Note. In nature this doesn't always prove to
be right. When we look at a tree that is 100 yards away
it will still be dark and a warm green. The value shift
will be very subtle in comparison to a tree right next
to you. This slight difference wouldn't even show in a
photo. If you paint it this way you won't be creating
the illusion of depth. However, If you add more mauve
or blue to your greens as well as lighten them, this will
push them farther into the distance. The more you apply
this concept the further they will recede. Simulate it
is a humid day with a lot of moist in the air. This has
to be exaggerated to a point.
- Elements are smaller and less defined in the distance
than in the foreground.
- Create at least three planes. Each should have a predominant
value. Usually known as foreground, middle ground, and
background.
- Linear perspective.
- Subtract texture from objects that are in the background.
See Fig 13 on the previous page. There is a good feeling
of distance. The pine trees are placed in front of the
mountain which in return is behind telling us they are
farther away. The intensity of the yellow that appears
on the highlights in the foreground is much warmer, whereas
in the background some mauve was added to cool them. The
shadows in the far mountain are lighter and bluer than
in the middle ground. There are three planes.
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Fig. 14. You can add
more planes which will enhance the feeling of distance if
you darken the foreground. |
| Fig.
15. Fog is a great way to create distance. |
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| 9.
Reserve your strongest value contrast for the center
of interest, very dark against very light or the reverse.
Keep the contrasts subdued everywhere else so as not
to compete for attention. That is mid values against
darks or mid values against lights. |
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Fig. 16. Wrong The tree
on the left is competing for attention. There is a dark against
light contrast on the left. |
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Fig. 17
Better. The tree was cropped out and the value contrast is
now reduced. It is easier to focus on the buffalo now. |
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Fig. 18. The dark
clothes on the man readily make him stand out. There is
a dramatic value shift. The door on the shadow side of the
house is also dark but it is surrounded by a mid value so
it won't attract the viewer to the wrong area. Think of
the spotlight shinning on the actor on a theater stage |
| 10.
Your painting will look less busy if you include a rest
area, preferably just before the center of interest. This
will allow some breathing space. |
| Fig.
19. The snow bank just before the pine trees provides
for a nice rest area. |
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11. If possible include a vertical,
horizontal and diagonal movement in your painting. Only one should
be predominant in length though. Diagonals are the most preferable
because they never run parallel to the frame. These contour lines
should not be straight rather just give the sense of direction.
| Fig.
20. The pine tree trunk offers the vertical.
The grass is placed diagonally. The
shoreline is the horizontal. Note: The smaller pine trees
help break up what would be otherwise a blue triangular shape.
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| 12.
When including elements whose nature is usually in movement,
if possible indicate their movement but without putting them
into compromising positions that would make them feel that
they are posing. |
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Fig.
21. The artist is indicating that the horses are walking.
This was achieved by showing the dust they would kick up
by dragging their hooves. Also observe fig above. None of
the horses are in midair in which case would make them appear
that they are flying. The latter would be captured on a
photo but don't paint them this way. The same concept appears
to a waterfall. When viewed in a photo it will appear that
the water suddenly froze. Some painters copy this from the
photo giving an unrealistic hard look. It is better to paint
running water blurred. This will give it movement.
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13. If you are uncertain from
where you want to start your visual path such as a river
or road you may want to consider this concept. Most of
us read from left to right, so by sheer habit the eye
will follow this sequence. |
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14. The visual entrance may
also begin at the top left much like reading a book.
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| 15.
Do not start your visual path from a corner. |
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Fig. 22. This is bad
design. As you can see, the river originates from the bottom
left corner of the canvas. |
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Fig. 23. By widening
the mouth of the river, we've solved the problem of originating
from the corner. |
| Common
Errors and How to Avoid Them
16. Avoid duplicating forms,
lines, movement, and size. This will make them compete
and conflict with each other.
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Fig. 24 .Observe
these two paintings. (Left)The birch tree on the left
has a twin. One of them should've leaned a different
way and their width should vary. Fig. 25. (Right) the
two horses are the same size and in the same position.
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| 17.
Avoid grouping animals and people in even numbers. In case you
wish to depict a pair, change their size and position. |
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Fig. 26. Incorrect.
Here the deer compete with each other because they are placed
in similar poses. They are also about the same size. |
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Fig. 27.Better. The
deer on the right is different in size and is in another
position. |
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Fig. 28. The painting
looks even better when a third deer is added to the background.
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| 18.
Never lean your objects outward. Always have them lean inwards.
Do not line them parallel to the frame. That applies in vertical
or horizontal format. |
| Fig.
29. Incorrect. The telephone pole is leaning in the wrong
direction. |
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Fig.
30. This is bad design, as well. The telephone pole is
now parallel
to
the frame.
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| Fig.
31. This is a much better design. The telephone pole leans
inwards, keeping the viewer in the
painting. |
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| 19.
Avoid straight lines unless they are quite short.
Disguise them or modify them to curvatures. |
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Fig. 32.
Most of the straight lines have been concealed
with flowers. Observe the curved stone wall. |
| Fig.
33. The tiled roof houses are curved. This is
very common on American barns. After all, wooden
beams sag over time. |
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20. Do not show geometrical
forms such as, squares, rectangles (doors,
windows) triangles, (pine trees) ovals, or
circles. (Trees, clouds) Even when these appear
in nature. For example, if you include a window,
break up the form with an overlapping tree
branch or a flowerpot. |
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Fig.
34. Incorrect. The shadow at the bottom
is in a triangular shape |
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Fig. 35. This is much better! By
breaking up the shadow, we've solved the problem
easily. |
| 21.
Never divide your painting into equal parts. This
will make it look too deliberate and artificial.
The horizontal line should not go across the middle.
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Fig.36.
Left.The horizon line runs right through the
middle. Fig.37. Right. Better. A portion of
the sky was cropped. |
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22. Avoid "kissing"
the edges. |
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Fig.
38. Left. Incorrect. The cowboy's hat touches
the top of the background hill. Right.
Fig. 39. Better. Everything fits in place
now. |
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Fig. 40. Incorrect. The tip of the
pine tree is touching the top. Since you can't add
more canvas, you'll have to lop off part of that
tree! :-) |
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| 23.
"X" forms are unpleasant. |
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| 24.
Do not close the viewer out. Invite him in. A do not trespass
sign does not apply to paintings. |
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Left Fig. 42. Incorrect:
The artist by closing the door is telling us that we are on
private property. Right. Fig. 43 . Better.
Doesn't this composition make you feel more welcome? |
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| Recommendation.
When you depict an area with no light such as a entrance
to a building with the light off. Don't use black. The color
of absolute darkness is purple. |
| 25.
It is not necessary to indicate every brick, stone, board etc.
unless you are into hyper-realism. By suggesting a few will
convey the idea. It is better to do this in an impressionist
manner. |
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Fig. 44. The viewer
easily reads the texture of the chapel's roof. |
| Recommendations
on How to Improve Your Landscape Paintings |
| 26.
Keep the corners subdued with little texture and the values
dark. |
| Fig.
45. The both bottom corners are dark with minimum texture.
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| 27.
When painting cast shadows add holes where the light peeks thru,
otherwise the shadow will appear pasted on. |
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Fig. 46
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| 28.
It is preferable not to place animals sideways to avoid
a flat pasted on look. When positioned at ? they will have
a three dimensional volume. |
| Fig.
47. Preferably not. |
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Fig. 48a and 48b.
Better |
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| 29.
Buildings and other man made structures such as concrete, wood,
etc. will be more interesting if you make them look weathered
by adding texture such as cracks, parts peeling off etc. After
all they would have more of a story to tell. |
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Recommendation. Only indicate texture
closest to the viewer's stand point. Texture diminishes
in the disstance.
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Fig. 49. The artist
used the dry brush technique to make the side of the building
look old. |
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30. Add some drama to your landscapes
by creating a mood. Late afternoon paintings with orange
colors in the sky are much more interesting to see than
the average blue sky. Examples of this could be rain,
wet streets, wind blowing, leaning palm trees, etc. All
these special effects will enhance your work.
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Fig. 50. This simple
composition looks more interesting because of the rain
and the sun peeking through the clouds. It even looks
mystical. |
| 31.
Unless your intent is to create hyperrealism, paint the landscape
as if you were looking at it with a squinted blurred vision.
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Fig.
51. Surely the real life subject material has much more
detail in the foreground than the final painting. The artist
picked the most essential elements and simplified to the
utmost.
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| 32.
Soft edges in the background will enhance the illusion of
distance. Leave hard edges in the foreground and/or within
the center of interest. |
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Fig.
52. The trees behind this convent were done on wet on
wet watercolor paper. This technique diffused all the
edges, making the foliage appear way back in the distance.
The foreground tree was painted on dry paper resulting
into hard edges, bringing it much closer in the picture
plane.
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| 33.
Don't abruptly end a portion as it runs into another area.
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Fig. 53. Left Incorrect. The highlighted
grass suddenly stops when it reaches the foliage. Besides,
the picture plane is divided in half in this area. Right.
Fig. 54. Better
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| 34.
Vary your forms. If you have round summer trees don't
have round clouds in the sky. On another note, the peaks
of a mountain or pine trees will look nice when surrounded
by round clouds. |
| 35.
Balance is another key factor. There shouldn't be that
much difference of mass on any of the four sides of
the painting; either right, left, top, or bottom. This
will make it feel like it's leaning. The painting will
appear it is hanging lopsided. |
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Left.
Fig. 55. Incorrect. The heavy mass on the right
tends to make the painting want to lean towards
that direction like a see-saw. Right.Fig.
56 Better. This composition is more balanced now
that some weight has been added to the opposite
side.
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| 36.
Brush strokes should be done with an inward motion and towards
the center of interest. |
| The
color palette is to the artist like the music notes to a
musician. They should play harmoniously. |
| 37.
Don't waste time mixing pigments on your palette; rather
mix them on canvas or watercolor paper. This will give
you many more variations of color instead of a dull premixed
outcome. Allow the colors to mix in the eye by variegating
them. Avoid having more than three hues in one area. |
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Fig. 57. Observe
all the variations of color that appear in the stone
shadows. Instead of mixing blue, sienna , and orange
on the palette, the artist slightly decreased the chroma
from the colors that come directly from the tube and
applied the colors to the shadow part of the rocks.
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Fig
58. The blue door is practically the only place where this
color appears. This creates the focal point in the center
of interest.
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Recommendations:
I won't go into color harmony deeply because that takes
a whole book to cover. If you intend to take art seriously,
it will be extremely helpful to read up on this and apply
it to your work. I personally prefer to intermix colors
with their complements instead of black. The more colors
you mix together the muddier they will get. This will happen
after three colors are intermixed and will worsen as more
colors are added to the pool. Vary the color slightly every
2 inches to avoid monotony. Most people prefer paintings
with predominant warm colors rather than cool ones. Only
one hue and temperature should predominate in your painting.
Reserve the strongest chroma for the center of interest
and add a touch of its complement to make the surrounding
color stand out more. Do not repeat the same color that
appears in the background in the foreground. This will give
the feeling there is a hole in the painting. Place warm
colors against cool colors (also complements)because they
enhance each other. (See fig . 61) Cool colors recede warm
colors bring things closer. Leave your blues or violets
for the background. Use this concept to create depth. One
way to help balance your painting and make it harmonious
is by repeating the same hues in all areas. (See fig. 57)
For those who do know about color harmony, I can offer this
piece of advice as a trick to create a bull's effect in
your center of interest. If you add small touches of color
that are out of your color scheme it will strongly draw
the viewer's attention to that area.
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Fig.
59. The color harmony is off in this painting. Don't you
feel that the mountains belong to another picture? The
blue-violet color only appears in the mountains and not
repeated anywhere else.
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Fig.
60. In order to intertwine the colors, the artist was
wise to bring the blue from the sky into the puddles.
Observe the amount of variegation of ochres and greens
in the tree highlights.
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Recommendations:
If your painting is predominantly green, a bluish
green sky is better than a blue one. Here are a few
gimmicks to bring down the sky colors onto the bottom
portion of your painting: Bounce these colors on the
shadow sides of rocks and tree trunks When leaves
in the shadow portion of a tree are at a 90 degree
angle to the sky they will reflect the sky colors
due to their shiny polished looking surface which
act like mirrors. Some discrete hard to detect with
the naked eye touches of green in the shadows of clouds
will further ensure color harmony. Bounce colors that
result from direct sunlight hitting an object into
its surrounding objects. It is uncommon to apply white
paint straight from the tube. This would be a cool
white and unpleasant too look at. Add a touch of orange
or yellow to warm it up. That's the reason why manufactures
of watercolor paper add an orange pigment to their
product so the areas left blank will be warm whites
even though no pigment has been applied.
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Fig.
61. Observe the green added to the shadow side of the wall.
This avoids the house from looking pasted on. If anybody asks
him why that area is green he can say the foliage in front
is casting green light into that area.
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Fig.
62. Purple and ochre are complements on the color wheel.
They enhance each other and help separate the background
from the foreground. Observe that the mountain in the middle
ground is warmer because it contains more red than the very
far one, which is bluer. The cooler (and lighter) the color,
the more it pushes the subject into the distance.
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| 38.
One way to make a color even brighter is to apply it thick
(called impasto). This blob of paint will receive more light
from the gallery light making it even brighter than if it
had been applied thinly. |
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Fig. 63. Harvey
is a master at depicting light emanating from street lights.
The paint in the light area is applied on very thickly.
By contrasting it with darks you get a strong contrast
thus the illusion of light. You need the darks to get
the lights. |
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39. When painting we can only rely
on a few values. In nature there are many more values because
of the intensity of sunlight that can never be imitated under
studio conditions. Three ways to create the illusion of sunlit
areas is by contrasting those areas with exaggerated darks.
I.e. It will be necessary to darken the cloud shadows more
than they would appear in nature to create the effect of the
sun peeking through the clouds. Or the cast shadow over grass
will have to be much darker in your painting than in nature
to make the sunlit areas appear bathed in sunlight.
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Fig.
64. When applying color visualize they way they would look
on a gray scale. These values are enough for landscape painting.
The differences of the in-between values are so subtle that
it wouldn't make much difference. There are actually 10
values on the value scale but it is a very hard task to
paint in color and match all those values.
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| If any of you would
like to add another brick to this tutorial, please email
me.There could be a rule or tip that I have overlooked. |
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40. On a last note, it has been
said that nature is the best teacher. This is true for
textures and forms. When it comes to color and distance
however, sometimes nature fails to come up with a good
lesson. For example, trees can be very round or triangular
in shape. When copied from nature will result look amateurish.
Many colors in nature are quite monotonous such as foliage
and rocks being the same color. Some trees grow the
same height. Nature has several big advantages over
us. The sunlight will give us a much wider value range
than a gallery light. Nature's paintings are huge and
three-dimensional. We have to give an appealing equivalent
on a flat small surface. In conclusion we should take
from nature what looks good and improve what doesn't.
I believe talent is not essential to be a good artist.
Hard work is. My definition of talent is the following.
Talent is the ability to spot what looks right or wrong
in a painting. Knowledge is knowing out to correct what
doesn't look right.
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Published with permission of the author. Original article can be found here:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/135/120/
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