Can I Learn How to Paint Good Art?

Yes certainly, you can! If you’ve been painting for a while but feel stuck, learning how to paint good art usually comes down to one thing: mastering the fundamentals of art.

On this page, we’ll walk through the core fundamentals - composition, focal point, color, and values. How they work together and simple ways to practice each one.

Brand new to painting? Start with my Beginner’s Guide: Learn How to Paint Art, then come back here to strengthen your fundamentals.

You can paint good art!

You can paint good art!

How to Paint Good Art

The good news is that you don’t have to fix everything at once. If you improve even one fundamental, you’ll see a difference in your paintings.

Let’s start with composition, because it decides how all the pieces in your painting fit together.

How Do I Create an Inviting Composition?

Focus on clear, distinct shapes and a variety of sizes so the eye moves naturally. Use three main areas; large, medium, and small.

Avoid dead‑center placement, and provide an entrance (path, line or object) from the bottom edge to lead the viewer in. Test layouts with quick thumbnails to pick the strongest option.

Each area is a different size.

Paint the composition with three parts.

1. One part of the painting will cover a large area. In this painting the land and ocean are the largest part of the painting.
2. The sky without the lighthouse, takes up less space.
3. The lighthouse is the focal point in this painting. It covers the smallest area.

We are looking for a variety of sizes to keep the viewers interested.

Once you start seeing your paintings as arrangements of big parts/shapes, you’ll notice opportunities to make small changes that have a big impact.

Let’s look at another composition example to see this in action.

Another Composition Example

Composition is simply the way you arrange shapes so the painting feels balanced and inviting. It invites the viewers into the painting. 

Variety is interesting.

Once again, this painting has three main areas, each a different size.

1. The horse covers the largest area.
2. The middle-sized background is smaller.
3. The foreground is the smallest area.

Should we center the subject?

Notice the horse is not exactly in the center. He has more space in front of him than behind.

We rarely put the subject dead-center in the middle of the painting. That's boring.

See essential techniques of good composition in art.

Think about composition as clear shapes that make your painting easier to read. Once that's in place, the next step is deciding where you want people to look first - the focal point.

What Is a Focal Point and How Do I Make a Strong One?

A focal point is the area of your painting that you want people to notice first.

Strong paintings rarely try to give equal attention to everything. Instead, they gently insist - Look here first, then explore the rest.

The viewer's eye should land at the main subject first. Make a strong focal point by:

•  Contrasting values and/or colors.
• Use the rule of thirds or off‑centered composition to position the subject.
• Provide leading lines or shapes pointing toward the subject.
• Reduce the competing details, so the focal area stands out.

Now, where do we put the focal point so it feels interesting? Let’s look at a simple way to position the subject.

How Do I Position the Focal Point?

A good composition guides the viewers to the focal subject.

The focal point is the subject.

In this painting the viewer's eyes are automatically drawn to the lighthouse.

Many artists use the rule of thirds, as an easy way to position the subject of their paintings.

It automatically creates a balanced, interesting composition.

But how do the viewers arrive at the lighthouse?

Notice the rainbow arches down to the lighthouse from above. And the hill rises up from the bottom edge - leading to the lighthouse.

These are a couple of ways to create an entrance that gently leads the eye toward your focal point.

Provide an Entrance to Your Painting

A common way to invite viewers into a landscape painting is to paint a road, a path, a stream or river running up into the painting.

Provide an entrance to the painting.

Start the entrance at the bottom of the painting.

Make it a little above or to the right of the bottom left corner, not directly out of the corner.

Still life paintings may have a tool, a flower or other objects pointing up into the painting from the bottom.

A long object across the bottom of the painting, such as a fence or a rock wall makes the viewers feel uneasy and keep them from entering the painting.

Paint this mountain landscape with a step-by-step tutorial.

A clear focal point gives your painting purpose. Once you know where you want people to look first, you can use color to support it.

Glorious Color!

Color is often what first attracts people to a painting, and it’s usually what we artists fall in love with.  Where would the artists be without color.

Yes, we could paint with black and white colors, but I don't think that would be as much fun.

In this section, we’ll look at tips on color harmony, avoiding mud, and expressing emotions in our paintings.

Think in threes again. - Use the colors in 3 different amounts.

Each color covers a different sized area.

1. In this painting red is used in a small amount in the clouds.
   
2. Blue takes up the medium amount of space in the sky and parts of the water.
   
3. The greens in the land and much of the ocean water take up the largest area.

Again, it doesn't matter which color takes up how much space. Just paint each color in different amounts to keep the painting interesting.

Colors look best when they feel like they belong together. That's where color harmony comes in.

How Do I Create Color Harmony in My Paintings?

A painting color scheme of three to four colors will create a harmonious painting.

Many additional colors can be mixed from the three or four colors. The mixed colors will all harmonize because they are based on the original colors.

Select a color scheme for harmonious paintings.

Double complements are popular.

Complementary colors are very popular with artists. They are perfect for mixing both light, dark, and neutral colors. 

A double complement painting scheme provides more variety.

Analogous colors are neighbors.

Analogous colors join each other on the color wheel. It's impossible for them to be out of harmony.

They may be cool or warm, or a mixture depending on where they reside on the color wheel.

Once we have harmony under control, the next challenge is keeping our colors clean. 

How Can I Avoid Mixing Muddy Paint Colors?

Many painters struggle with mud at some time, so let’s talk about how to avoid dull, muddy colors.

Mix natural looking colors.

There are two or three reasons our mixed colors may turn out dull looking.

1. Using more than two colors in the mixture. We get cleaner colors by mixing only two colors together. 
2. Use single pigment colors. If a color contains two pigments and we mix it with a third color, that's three colors in one mix. That often makes mud.
3. Mixing paints with opposing color biases. Mixing warm and cool colors together may create dulled colors.

How do we mix life-like, natural looking colors?

That's when we would actually mix cool and warm colors together.

The mixtures are more life-like, instead of artificial, garish colors. There certainly is a place for bright flashy colors in artwork, but probably not in a nature painting.

Identify common warm and cool bias colors for mixing clean colors.

After harmony and mixing clean colors, you may be wondering: What do I want this painting to feel like? That’s where using color for emotions comes in.

Artists Use Color to Paint Emotions

Colors convey emotions and can symbolize different things.

Colors can bring joy.

Artists use color to make our artwork speak to the viewers.

Why do some colors make you feel calm, while others may jazz you up?

Yellow and orange are happy, energetic colors.

The color of a blue sky is calm, restful and peaceful.

Colors can have multiple meanings.

Red is often considered a romantic color, but on the other hand it also means anger.

Nature paintings are filled with green, but green may also portray envy.

What is the meaning of specific colors and how can we use them in our paintings?

Color is exciting, and it’s easy to let it steal the show. But under every successful painting is a strong pattern of light and dark. That's where values come in.

What Are Values and Why Do They Matter in Painting?

Values are the relative lights and darks that create form and depth. Even if we painted in black and white, strong values could still make the painting read clearly.

Paint at least three value groups; light, middle, and dark. Each covering different sized areas to avoid a flat result.

Paint the values different sizes.

1. One value will cover the largest area. The land, ocean and the blue sky are all medium values.
   
2. Another value would cover the light part of the painting. The lighthouse, clouds and the ocean spray are the lightest values.
   
3. The third value covers the least space. The rocks on the left are the darkest values.
   

Think: three values - in 3 sizes.

It doesn't matter which value takes up how much space of the painting. The point is to have three values and make each value a different size.

There will be other in-between values taking up less space.

Another Example of Using Values

Here’s another example that shows how changing the value pattern can change the mood of a painting by creating distance.

How do we create distance in our artwork?

Variety is interesting.

Values look lighter and colors appear cooler in the distance in the distance because the particles in the air block our view.

Looking at the flower painting: The flowers are warm. The background is cooler, thus pushing it back, behind the flowers.

Once again, we paint the 3 values (light, dark and middle) in three different amounts.

1. The flowers and vase are the largest and lightest.
2. The medium background is middle-sized.
3.  The table is the smallest and the darkest value.

A good contrast between light and dark values is very important concept.

Now, let’s look at the most frequent value mistake and how to avoid the situation.

How to Avoid Common Mistakes with Values

Values are the fundamental that can make or break a painting.

Use values to create good artwork.

An artist may use a wide array of colors, but their paintings still look dull and unappealing.

What's the problem?

Poor paintings are basically all the same boring middle values.

Most paintings normally have a lot of medium values. That's okay.

But, don't ignore the light and dark values.

Paint a good contrast between the lights and darks. That's how we paint good art.

Read more about values and how to use them in our art.

Even small improvements in values can improve our paintings. When we combine stronger values with thoughtful composition and color choices, everything starts to work together.

Wrapping Together the 3 Fundamentals

Now that you’ve seen composition, color, and values on their own, it’s time to bring them together.

Values, color, and composition complement each other and work together.

I can't emphasize enough the importance of values in our artwork! Values can make or break our paintings. 

The values are clearly visible in the grayscale of two paintings from up the page.

Notice light, mid, and dark values.

This piece also has 3 major values.

• Values: We want 3 main values in a painting, (light, medium, and dark). The flower and horse paintings above, both clearly have three values.
• Composition: Each area of values is a different size, thus providing variety in the 3 parts of the composition.
• Color: Use 3 colors in a painting - in different amount (mix additional colors).
  
  Flowers: Looking at the original painting, we see a brown table, white flowers with a green background. Go up to the flower painting in color.
  
  Horse: The horse is brown and the grass is green against a blue background. View the horse in color.

All three fundamentals work together to create good art!

Continued Learning

At this point, it’s very easy to be swimming in ideas.

To keep it simple, here’s a short 3-day sprint you can use to try one small exercise for each fundamental.

You don’t need to master everything at once. Just practice in small, focused sessions.

Those small exercises will start to change how you see your own paintings.

As you practice, a few questions may come up, so let’s look at some of the most common ones.

Frequent Questions

Summary: How to Paint Good Art

If you’ve read this far, you want to improve, and that’s important. So, let’s quickly review the big ideas so you can remember what to focus on next time you paint.

Variety is the key to painting attractive artwork.

Use each core skill: composition, values and colors with three parts.

1. Composition - Compose the painting with three main areas. Each part is a different size; a large, medium and small.
   
2. Values - Paint three values; light, medium and dark. Each value will cover a different amount of space in the painting.
   
3. Color - Paint each color in different amounts. We often use three colors in a harmonious painting color scheme. Sometimes it may be two or four colors.

We all have an innate knowing of what looks good. Tune in and listen to your inner artist voice.

If you are brand new to painting, find out How to Get into Painting.

The Fundamentals Create Good Art!