I'm a seventy year old wannabe painter and you have shown me the way I can achieve this dream I have of painting. I'm a retired studio/band musician of fifty years and now have lots of time to indulge myself. Your concise method is finally breaking through my mental block. Thank you Ian, you're a mensche.

I Appreciate your creative drawing skills. Thank You.

I really enjoyed seeing/hearing your process on this one. Cropping out the right side but keeping in all the trees in the foreground, I love it! I live in south Florida and am always finding tall palm trunks in between me and what I'm looking at drawing or painting, and there's some sort of indistinct sense that I have to remove those trees. But I like them! And here you've shown me how that I can just maybe shift them a bit left or right to get a composition that works and I love what it does to the sense of place in the picture. Those trees, even if they are mostly just tall tree trunks, place me in there in a way that feels comfortable and now I'm going to have a fresh look at some of my reference photos and think about leaving the tall trees IN! Oh, and also, I love relaxing with the pencil and working out my painting plans beforehand. I do find it difficult to do line drawings; I will tell myself to draw first and shade later but 5 minutes in I'm usually already realizing, oops I forgot and started shading... which messes with changing up the composition mid-stream, but I've started trying to do thumbnail sketches first and that helps a bit. Thanks so much for the great video!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Christine, it's interesting coming to terms with the place you live and figuring out how to paint it. At least I have that problem here in LA. So maybe getting the palm trees in will help. And I can't say enough about solving problems before starting to paint. Well maybe I can! Glad you are enjoying the videos. Best wishes.

Thanks Ian. I love your videos - they are fast becoming a highlight of my week AND they are so very informative. Looking forward to next Tuesday & wishing you & yours all the best for the festive season.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Francesca, delighted you are enjoying the videos. Planning a Christmas special for this Tuesday. Santa, elves, sleighs. Well, actually no. But wishing you all the best for the holiday season as well.

Thanks Ian. This is a very useful tutorial 🙏

Excellent videos, thx so much for uploading them.😊

Thanks Ian for another demonstration emphasizing the joy of the planning process. You video teaching series in this format is really hitting home for me - thanks!. All my best to you and your loved ones for a wonderful Christmas!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Dale, glad you are enjoying the videos and my very best wishes to you and your family for Christmas as well.

Thanks for another great demo/discussion. Looking forward to seeing the painting. Gotta say, seeing this pop up in my KZread really made me wonder what day it was😅 I always look forward to your lessons on Tuesday so I had to stop and think.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Brenda, I don't know how it happened actually. Confused me too. Glad you liked it and all the very best for the holidays. Best wishes.

Thank you for the wonderful year of so interesting learning that you shared with us. You succeeded in giving us every week a new idea or aspect of the big central theme of structured composition and this week again . Best !

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much Hannah for your year end summary of the videos. I am delighted you enjoyed them. With best wishes.

@orlane219

3 жыл бұрын

@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Thank you

I just feel so happy whacth this course, Thank you so much!!

Thanks as always Ian, I love your art, your lessons and your way of teaching. I often want to skip the project drawing stage to put the brush on the canvas right away, but I recognize its importance. Thank you for reminding me. Best wishes for a peaceful Christmas to you and your loved ones!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Monica, I'm glad you are enjoying the videos and finding them helpful. All the best to you also for Christmas. Best wishes, Ian.

Thank you, great info, and yes very important to sketch first,....have a wonderful holidays w your family and stay safe...until next Tuesday!,

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

HI Veronica, glad you liked the video and all the very best to you and your family as well. Best wishes.

So helpful - thank you! Your encouragement to sketch first is so helpful and I am trying to better about that. I think part of my problem is that I am not great at drawing and somehow think that if I go straight to painting I can "figure it out" - but I am starting to see the error in that crazy logic lol. Thank you!!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

I think you draw just fine. Maybe you're thinking drawing should be fast, when it is actually sort of slow and meditative, if you are actually figuring stuff out. All the best.

Love your videos. My Tuesday inspiration.Hope you get some more blue shirts for Christmas!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Kathy, why are the shirts looking ragged? Glad you like them (I mean the videos). With best wishes for the New Year.

Thank you

I so enjoy your videos, you are so humble and kind. You are amazing Ian and have taught me so much. I wish I could have continued with your class. Maybe one day!!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Christine, so delighted you are enjoying the videos. I'm going to start teaching the drawing course again in March I think so maybe it will fit in then for you. But I plan to keep going with the videos too. All the very best to you.

Thankyou for your very interesting and informative videos in this crazy year we have had merry Christmas to you and your family can’t wait to see what you teach us in the new year ....

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Yvonne, I am delighted you are enjoying the videos and wishing you and your family my very best wishes for Christmas as well.

Stay well Ian, and happy Christmas !

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Same to you Christine. All the best.

Hello Teacher Painter Ian Roberts. Beautiful drawing, wonderful composition. 2020 was a horrible year, finaly we are next the end of this year. I would like to send you now my message of happy Christmas. Nowadays to be alive is a Grace. My best regards. Davi.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Davi. let's hope for a better 2021. And a year of courageous creative expression. I wish you all the best for Christmas as well. Ian

Love how you make straight lines look awesome and deep for the drawing. I am one of those naughty students who does not like the graphite stage and just want to get painting, but I am hearing your voice in my head more and more and have pulled out my pencils. Not surprised it works! Thanks you for alllll you are sharing. I am excited to hear how my friends who will be receiving your book this Xmas respond. I will link them up with your KZread also. Happy holidays!!! Love the bookshelves! Oh quick question what softness of lead do you find help you make the best range of value? I have tried 2B and 4B so far and perhaps think my lack of practice is the problem not the pencil. 🤣🤣😖

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Alison, I did this week's with a 2B. I really like Blackwing Matte (like a 4B but really smooth ) also. Glad tohear you are seeing the light on drawing first. I do find most people are so eager to get brush to canvas. Delighted you liked the videos and thank you for getting the books and links. With very best wishes to you for the holidays.

Interesting composition choice......I look forward to your completed painting! Again, a very good presentation on compositional structure, achieved through a preliminary sketch, to develop the map for your painting. I struggle with creating, rather drawing, the structure. You make the sketching look so easy, when I know it is quite difficult. Your drawing can stand on its own; I do not have that skill level. My chicken scratches are hard to decipher, despite my best efforts. What determines the type or direction of the marks you make in your sketches? Any recommendations for good drawing references or practice activities to improve my sketching skill? Thank you!

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Ann Marie, the structure part is really the big issue, over and over. I have to sift through a lot of images to find ones that really excite me. That is just part of process. It's behind the scenes so maybe it seems that an artist you like just magically has good compositions fall in their lap all day long. BUt I will say that definitely is not my experience. Drawing most people think is fast but my experience it is slower and more meditative as a way to enter an image before painting. And truth be told I have a drawing course starting in March that addresses exactly this. How to take chicken scratches to a functional tool to craft better compositions. I'll talk about it in a month or so. All the very best to you for the holidays.

@annmarielopiccolo-carlsen7263

3 жыл бұрын

@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Thank you for your response. I, too, pour over photos, though not my own, for that just ‘right’ scene. Since looking at things from the strong vertical/horizontal perspective, I have learned to discern the difference from a very “pretty” picture and one that has compositional merit. It’s the drawing part that is the weak link. Practice, practice, practice.....I know! I would be very interested to learn more about your upcoming course in March! March seems so far out in the distance, though; I will be counting the days⏳ Have a safe Christmas and healthy start to the New Year! All the best, Ann Marie

Wonderful subject! I'll be interested in your final painting. I wonder about all the verticals on the right that seem to obscure the building. Why did you keep them all in your composition rather than simplify more? What's your thinking on this? Thanks so much for this series of videos. It's really helping me! Blessings. Ralph

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Ralph, it's been a delight having you along for the ride on these videos. And your early help. I'm really glad you find them helpful. I just liked the density of the verticals on one side contrasting with less on the other. Like so many aesthetic decisions, there probably isn't a "good" reason, just leaning in that direction. And maybe a different decision would in the end be better. But I liked it.

Reminds me of our evening talks in Provence... Stay Well, say Hi to A..

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

All the best to you and Sandy. An evening walk in Provence would be welcome now wouldn't it.

Lately i am finding more and more that after I draft my image I have to admit it just won’t work and abandon the idea. My heart says forget it and paint but I continue my search.

@IanRobertsMasteringComposition

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Robin, I go through so many images like that too. I just don't know how I'd pull it off and put that one aside and look for one that excites me. That one of the chapel, I have looked at for years and never quite knew how to do it. I'm not sure why exactly. But it didn't feel right. Then I came across the same image a few weeks ago in a pile of old photos and said hey let's do that. It'll be featured in tomorrow's video. Go figure.

Do you take online individual sessions in perspective, mainly one point and two point perspective.