How much do you plan your compositions before you start to paint?

@ronniecremers2354

3 жыл бұрын

Since I have been watching you and reading your books, I have been planning more and been frustrated less! My last attempt really led my eye around the painting. Thanks so much for your time and sharing your talent!

@richardhill9801

3 жыл бұрын

I have about two years of watercolor lessons that focused on techniques. With Covid, I began painting things, but pre-planning was limited. I knew I needed to understand composition and design, and started reading. I began doing line drawings and notan, but composition didn't really click until I heard a demo/lecture you gave to my art club. Your book and weekly videos followed. Now I'm adding composition to my line drawings, adding armatures while trying to avoid making them too mechanical. Thanks!

@anniehalvorsen2469

3 жыл бұрын

I’m trying hard to simplify, using 3 value semi-notan thumbnails and 3-5 large simple shapes. Still in awe of advanced painters like you who can see a clear path for the eye, either edited in or already in the view/reference. I work in pastel, but that is, for these little gems, irrelevant, though there could be an option to do thumbnails in simplified format with various pastel colors; that is not realistic in oils. I have started trying gouache, so the color mixing has a personal fascination right now...thanks for your dedication and consistency in creating this lovely series. it’s now starting to be “oh boy, it’s Tuesday!” for me!!

@carolinebutler6341

3 жыл бұрын

A lot more than I used to!

@bibibrin5035

3 жыл бұрын

I plan my noncomposition in my head. I tend to change my mind somewhat in the middle. Then I change my mind again. Needless to say the result is a noncomprehensive nonsense. I wonder why...🥴

I think your painting is way more interesting to look at than any of the photos. When I saw the finished painting it went kapow at me lol.

I am always amazed by how you make a seemingly dull photograph come to life with your choice of colours and composition. Thank you once again Ian for a great lesson.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Javanthi. Glad you enjoyed the video. Best, Ian

Not only are your posts wonderfully informative but the time you take to comment ...it,s remarkable! I look forward to your posts. Thank you so much!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Really happy you are enjoying the series Lauraine. With best wishes.

Oh, boy I have so much to learn

Fantastic, Ian!!! Thank you.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Gayle.

Thank you Ian. I learned so much from this post - hearing you think out loud, and watching you paint. I am so grateful I stumbled upon your weekly posts. Thank you for sharing your time and talent with us.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

You are welcome Laurel. I'm glad you are finding them helpful and thank you for letting me know.

Once again, a valuable lesson.

Thank you Ian. Your videos are magic!

Best explanations ever of composition. I’m glad I found your channel. Enjoying going through your videos. I especially appreciate the thumbnail sketches where are you block and shapes and value. Thank you for all your posts.😊🌵

Excellent demo! As a composition neophyte, I find your weekly videos just what I needed to begin to understand. Thank you!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Great Richard. Thanks for letting me know.

I tuoi video sono molto chiari, veloci ed esaustivi. Grazie

He aprendido mucho a través de estos tutoriales con las demostraciones .No con las explicaciones verbales , ya que entiendo poco el idioma inglés . Quizás algún día puedas traducir estos al idioma español para un mejor entendimiento. Excelente maestro , adelante , con Ud aprendemos mucho. Gracias.

I really plan the composition every time now, due to your videos. Realize how the thinking process (including color choices - I try to learn how to get colors to emphasize and vitalize the thought proces and the result on the canvas) is vital. Nature has a plan. Everything is a consequence of something. Txs for keeping us all on track. Hope that when I learn more that I dare to paint compositions that move me, i.e. humanity and nature versus consumption and destruction, insight versus arrogance. But that might be in another lifetime. So much to learn still. :)

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Patricia, you may know the story of Titian who at 87, after a lifetime of painting, said I think I'm finally seeing how to do this thing (paraphrased of course). So my feeling is the humanity part gets embedded within the painting as the paintings get back. You can't keep yourself out of it. As you are pulled to what you want to paint, and as the skills grow, I think what you are talking about is a natural part of the process. Some paintings more than others of course. But glad you are finding the video helpful.

Thank you for another valuable demonstration Ian , you have taught me a lot over these past few weeks . I look forward to every Tuesday now knowing I will learn from your tutorial , Many , many thanks for taking the trouble to give your valuable advice which must take up a lot of your time .

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Judy, so glad you are enjoying the videos. I'm getting faster at making them. Best, Ian.

Nice outside color palett and, composition, demo... Thx a lot

Just recently found your videos, loving them!

I am learning... Thanks 👍 to YOU.

I love the way you paint.

Thank you for sharing these valuable information.. very much useful for beginners..👏

Awesome, thank you Ian.

Yet another great video… thank you sir

Great lesson. Thanks from Italy

Excellent. My favorite lesson you”ve given. Thanks a ,million.

Always so inspiring.

Thank you Ian ! Great demo both for the explanations on value and for composition. We learned so much from you. Have a great week and stay well.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

You are welcome Hannah. Glad you liked it.

Fantastic as awlays!

I like it because it makes you think the point of it is the tree, but then your eye gets taken away from the tree. At the beginning of the vid I thought the tree would surely be left out :)

Thanks Ian. To the point, clear instruction. So helpful!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for letting me know Ruth.

I am loving these.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Great Geoff. Glad you are enjoying the videos.

learning to plan before drawing... thank you very much for this great tutorial.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

That's great Meena. Best wishes, Ian

Great explanation about composing! I am showing your demos in my class, thank you! Please, never stop!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

That's great Evgenia. Glad you are finding them useful. Best wishes.

Fantastic, Ian. Now I must look again at all my photos with buildings in the middle! Best, Alan

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Alan, await posts of Maine.

I learned a lot! Thanks

Thanks so much Ian! I so value your weekly videos. This one in particular hit home for me this week. I'm struggling with trying to create a larger painting from a plein air study, with a little help from photos. This is a great reminder for me to get all those ducks in a row, mainly with thumbnails, before putting any paint down! The generous gift of your painting wisdom each week is deeply appreciated!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Mary, so nice to hear from you. It's been too long. You are right. It is so, so much easier to make the painting work if you've got a good sense of the big value masses before you start. Saves a lot of time and heart ache. My very best wishes to you, Ian

Absolutely love that demo what I got from it that detail is far less important then values. That painting just jumps right out at me thank you

Thank you. Now I CAN see! Your drawing method is excellent. I’ve been workin on the three tones and then transfer to the canvas and it works.

These tutes are so great. I'm going to inform my art society friends about them, for sure.

You are talented, sir :)

Very nice! thanks

Excellent video. Really clear how you planned the composition and translated it to the canvas. Thankyou. Love this series.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you are enjoying the videos Jane. Thank you.

a great inspiration, this is something we must learn,

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you Shehzad

Each time I am watching you painting, i feel i should do so. Really love your channel 😍😍

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

maybe you should start!

Very helpful, Ian. The painting is really beautiful.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Jane and best wishes, Ian.

Interesting place you placesd your focal point. Videos like these helped me to understand , what I'm missing in my painting and how to plan.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful Deborah.

That was inspiring Ian!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Peter, so good to hear from you. Hope all is well in the new house. We'll have to talk again soon.

Very appealing composition and good palette solution. Overall, very representative painting, conveys the atmosphere and the feel of the environment enveloping the church. Thank you.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Svetlana!

Wow! You really know how to pull it off! Great demo oh how to use the hues and values to shift the attention off the center of the painting. I really like your teaching. You make it simple to understand for a novice like me. Thank you!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you Marie for letting me know you are enjoying the videos. I really appreciate it.

Well u got it, didn’t you?! Thanks for drumming the principles into our hard heads. 🤗👍🏻

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

You are welcome.

I have learned from you over the years. I start planning when I take photos and continue through the photo edit process. Then in the studio I usually do a sketch. But always I know where I want the Eye to travel throughout the composition. It now is habit.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

That makes me happy to hear Robin. So many people thinking is all expression and happenstance, when more often than not, at least in representational painting, there has to be a good deal of planning before hand. All the best.

Thank you

Thank you again and again . Our eyes move peacefully from left ,the center and then to the right and the spot as a conclusion ( le climax )

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

That was the idea. So, glad you felt it worked. All the best.

Hi Ian, Nice job and well explained :)

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hey Bernard, hello. So good to hear from you. Hope all is well and painting is going well!

Fascinating to watch, I am never likely to pick a paintbrush up however, seeing how you work your composition out will help my landscape photography out, thanks for your help. And I for one will slow down and plan that composition.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Iain, I remember reading about a photographer, whose name of course I've forgotten, but he only shot Hong Kong in black and white film and he described himself as a gunslinger with only one bullet. Meaning of course, unlike shooting hundreds of digital images and then selecting, he took his time before.

@iaincphotography6051

3 жыл бұрын

@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Fang Ho by the sounds of it, who I admired more than Cartier Bresson. I used film in years gone by and you got good quick and you didn't waste shots.

Great videos! I feel that acrylics are going to give me problems due their quick drying time. I am learning so much from your videos.

This was very helpful. However, this brings up a question I tend to struggle with, which is the idea of a focal area/center of interest which drives people through the painting vs putting my focal area on what my painting is "about". For example, I would have said that the painting is about the church in Provence and then struggled to make some part of the church (probably the top part of the church) the clear focal point - this causes me endless frustration. Can you explain a little about the difference between the focal area that helps move the viewer through the painting vs what we think the painting is about. Or said another way, can the painting be about something that is not in the focal area? Thank you so much.

@catherinepaquet1346

3 жыл бұрын

Great question

@richardhill9801

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Debbie, exactly my struggle. I've been reviewing acclaimed landscapes to understand how composition was used, and often struggle to understand.

@dfw6773

3 жыл бұрын

@@richardhill9801 I'm so glad I'm not the only one LOL

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Debbie, I use an expression - subject driven and design driven. You could say that was a painting of a church, the subject, so that is the center of interest. I was trying to show in fact that the composition was using the subject, which I placed in the middle intentionally to help explain the point, but I was in fact using the church as part of the composition so we would move through the whole picture plane over to the right hand side of the church. Pat above said she thought her eye was going to the left hand side of the church. And I would say indeed it does go there first because of the great contrasts of light and dark. But then I think, or at least my intention was, that we then get pulled to the right hand side. Meaning we have used the subject to drive the design of the whole composition. Does that make sense?

@dfw6773

3 жыл бұрын

@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Hi Ian, Yes, that makes sense, thanks so much.

Ian, you did explain in one video your colour wheel. When you next do a video or a live session could you please go through it again as I can't find that video. Thank you.

VERY helpful

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Glad it helped Loretta.

Ian another wonderful painting session. It’s so fascinating to me to watch you cover so much surface so quickly. Question about your choice of color for the building shadow side....How did you decide on it? It looked gray but you chose to push it more towards the blue side. Just curious. I’ll be back!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Candace, I once saw an exhibition of paintings done between 1860-70, just as the impressionist ideas were starting to take hold. One room was all dark brown shadows, the way they had been for ... well forever really. And then the second room were paintings, done in much the same way only now the shadows were all blue. And they filled the paintings with so much more light. So pushing the warm (sunlit) and cool (shadow) contrast in a painting gives it more sense what sunlight does to the landscape in sunlight. Hope that answers your question.

love this Demo Ian...would be great to add it to our color course, Maggie

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Maggie, we could do it one week.

I would love to hear you talk out how you came up with the different options on the legal pad paper. Thank you - wonderful video!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Joani, I had a dozen photos and was thinking of doing a drawing of each so I just jotted down the big shapes of each of the twelve on that legal pad. It wasn't different interpretations of the same image. I was trying to figure out which one appealed to me the most, just in the biggest value shapes.

@joanistotler8804

3 жыл бұрын

@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Thanks! Good idea to take lots of pictures!

Soooo genius! Omg. I finally understand this whole "you should never CENTER anything" - issue. Of course there will be things in the center. Point is, according to you, to have the FOCUS off-center. Duh. THANK YOU Ian! P.S. Do you have an online course?

Moving the cypress on the left over to the right and having the belfry overlap it was a really good move. If you had left it as is, the belfry would have stood out too much and drawn too much attention to itself. Good planning.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you. In one of the 12 photographs that cypress does sit in front of the belfy and it just jumped out as a better use of both the cypress and the belfy.

So Ian, would you say the light on the tree in the mid ground and the sunlight on the front of the church were a secondary focal point? Or did you just use them to lead the viewer to your ,focal point at the back of the building?

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Generally you want the eye moving through the picture plane and not just sucked to one spot. So pulling the viewer to the left and then all the way over to the right moves the viewer through the picture plan.

Thanks for another helpful video Ian. Do you usually use a certain type of board or canvas? Generally it seems like there isn't a lot of tooth to the surface, but it's a bit hard to tell.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

I like smooth oil primed linen, Claessens. I don't always use that. Sometimes I just something I have that's the right size. But that's is my preference. It allows each brush mark to stand, rather than a second or a third to "fill" the canvas.

@shopley5255

3 жыл бұрын

@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Thank you.

Hi Ian I re-watched this today. Its a good video. Can you tell me how you prepare your boards for painting? Is the board made from what we in the UK call MDF or is it a shop bought canvas board? If you gesso boards yourself what kind of gesso do you use? And do you always paint on the same yellow base colour or do you choose a base once you know what colours you are painting? I know this isn't really a question on composition, but choosing your surface is important for us painters ... Many thanks Caroline

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Caroline, I'm planning one week to do a "studio tour" discussing paint, brushes and stuff, that would include canvas and boards. But for now, I order Ray Mar panels Claessens linen double oil primed smooth. If I am just doing a study I might use a sheet from one of those pads of oil painting paper and put a coat or two of gesso (Liquitex or Golden) to get rid of the texture on those things which I hate. When I paint larger I use an acrylic primed canvas 10 oz and give it a coat of oil prime. Gamblin. I often put a toned ground of yellow ochre, raw umber and ivory black. Just a bit of each with lots of mineral spirits and then wipe it all off with paper towel until I get a color about like raw linen. I don't like colored grounds in general. Hope that helps and stay tuned for the studio tour. Not sure when that will be. With best wishes.

What size and type of brush are u using for the block in?

Hi Ian When is the next start date for mastering composition? Thanks

What camera was used for these photos. Also, I really enjoy your teaching style

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Larry, I don't remember now. Probably a Sony RX100 but now I just use my iPhone.

I don't use oil paint. I use watercolor. But I always enjoy your videos.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Ngoc. All the best.

Great video, but.... I'm confused. A point of high contrast is at the left edge of the church, and the path leads to the corner of the building. But there's not much there. And "if" your path continues up the hill (and it might), I like the little bell tower, but I'm not sure why I should be drawn to the center of interest you indicate as your goal. Nothing there really intrigues me. The tree in the foreground is wonderful, but how does it help the composition (if it really needs to)? The tallest cypress has a point of high contrast to the right of its base, but why should I go there? Am I all wet here? Confused.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Ralph, I think you, the viewer, are getting pulled to the top right because of the strength of the contrasts there. But you pass along the path on the left, past the tree and past the light on the left. I think you are in fact describing the very path your eye took, and what I had envisioned, for the painting. You may not be sure why you might go over to my goal, but I think your eye just does it. Because of the contrast there. Make sense or am I all wet?

Can you share your reference photos, 😬? I usually do some visual/in my mind editing. Sometimes followed by a thumbnail sketch, sometimes not. Then I often do value study using ArtGraph and a juicy / whippy brush (I'm a watercolorist) so I don't tighten up and get too precious with anything, yet . . . staying open to possibilities, change ups still. When I'm happy with my VS, I proceed to my color study. Everything is a CS actually. If I start out doing a 'painting', that's too much pressure from the get-go. Anyhow, then I repeat the process as desired, if desired, until I get a version(s) that I like. Which all begs the question - how often do you work in a series of paintings on one scene? Oh, thank you - very informative demo!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Brenda, I put the twelve images on the video so I think you could just stop the video and use it or take a screen shot. I'm not sure how i would link an image to youtube. I find I get ideas for series lots of times. I find in practice I get tired of the series after 2 or 3 images. But I was intrigued by this church and really was thinking it would make an interesting sculpture.

Is the brush a Hog hair brush

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

2 жыл бұрын

Yes hogshair filberts.

My eye keeps going to the left end of the church with the different rooftops and the wall instead of where you wanted it to go. Why is that?

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Pat, well I guess the lights on the left hand end of the church have more contrast and so your eye gets pulled there first. But my intention is that then your eye gets pulled right to the other end of the church. It isn't that I just want your eye to go right to the center of interest. I want your eye to pass over more of the canvas. Also the perspective of the church itself pulls you right. Look at the image again and tell me if this isn't what your eye is doing. Pulled up the path on the left, goes to the left hand end of the church and then travels right, over to the other end of the church.

@patjeffers9431

3 жыл бұрын

@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Thank you for your answer and despite what doesn't seem to be working for me I do appreciate the painting. Given the size of it, 11x14, my eye easily takes in the whole painting at once. Then as with some of the eye-tracking experiments, my eye gets drawn to the left hand side of the church due to the contrast. From there I glance around at anything else that might interest me, but because of the contrast, I keep coming back to the left hand side of the church. Of course, that's subjective to me. The traditional idea of composition, that you as the artist can direct my eye, doesn't seem to work as well if by use of significant contrast you've got something that really competes with the intended center of interest. This post by James Gurney sort of elaborates. gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2018/07/what-does-eyetracking-tell-us-about.html Even though it's not true to nature, it would seem that you, as the artist, might want to decrease the contrast a bit on that left-hand side or boost the contrast or make it warmer or use some other device to clearly communicate that the right hand side is the center of interest. Is that a legitimate idea?

@vivaldirules

3 жыл бұрын

@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition I think it’s interesting that you saw something worth focusing on from the photo. I, too, was drawn to the back of the church on the left side of the photo but was pretty much done except perhaps for the odd shape of the cypress and the bare tree almost annoyingly “in the way” in the center. But you saw something more that could be done and, of course, expertly created a painting that led me from left to right and was engaging along the way. I’m learning. Thank you.

Why didn't you omit the tree in the foreground?

I think this was a great subject for a demo; both the photo and the idea of being able to distract the viewer , sort of, from a big object in the center of the canvas. I think its important that we don't just Identify the evil we've all been warned against ie 'Don't ever put your focal point in the center of your picture' but realize where our eyes are actually going in the painting, and where we can make them go when we are painting something. I do have one question, though. Why did you blur the purple back vertical edge of the building? I would have thought you could have made even more out of the place you wanted us to end up by making that a sharper edge. My eye goes there and then I think why is, what I think should be a hard edge, not hard? is there a vine growing there or something? I assume you didn't want to be too obvious?

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Ramona, well on the first part of your comment I should just get you to do the commentary for the videos. Stated very clearly. Now for the question. I wasn't sure what you were talking about so I went out to the studio to check and sure enough that edge is sort of fuzzy. I do not have a good reason for that. I should probably clean it up. So I'll have to send my paintings to you now too for final approval!

@rsbagley3451

3 жыл бұрын

@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Ian, you’re a good sport😊

A cypress on a hill..

That looks rather like Chapelle Saint-Sixte just outside Eygalières. It may not be, but I spent some time painting in that area. Wonderful light but boy is it hot in summer!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Good eye! I think it was. I was staying in Maussane just down the road.

@martinedickerson5446

5 ай бұрын

It definitely is! The photo was taken before the bell was stolen.

@rumblef1sh

5 ай бұрын

@@martinedickerson5446 c'mon - fess up... who stole the bell?!! I was there again last year - no bell. But first time there was way back. Must check my photos.

You've spotted a lovely little church, then proceeded to paint a lovely little 'building'? This type of political correctness is just so sad, pedantic on your part, and very disappointing.

@zzodr

3 жыл бұрын

someone is off their meds