Crash Course – (Almost) Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About

How to Paint

Rules of Composition, Steps of Painting, Using Sighting to Measure

Perspective & Proportion

Rule of Thirds: Try to create a balance of 2/3 positive space (subject) with 1/3 negative space (background)

Steps of Painting Loosely sketch the basic shapes with pencil Set up a strong composition Use sighting to show accurate perspective and proportion

Block out large areas and shapes with light paint Use contrasting values or colors to clearly define positive and negative space

Begin adding value Create edges with contrast – not outlines

Outlines = NO

Edges with contrast = YES

Continue adding value If you make a mistake, let it dry and paint over it Paintings happen in layers

Carefully observe highlights and shadows to create a painting with realistic value and volume Value is a range from light to dark Volume describes objects with space or mass – they are 3-Dimensional Artists use value to create the illusion of volume

Add final details and clean up edges Make sure values are true to observation

Our still lifes are made of white forms in a dark room Your painting should show light forms on a dark background

Steps of Painting - Summarized

Sighting practice: • Hold your arm straight out, close one eye, and rotate your pencil until it lines up with the left edge of the cone • Rotate your pencil to estimate the size of the angle you see • Now sight the bottom edge of the cube • Rotate your pencil to estimate the size of the angle you see • Those are the angles you draw on your page!