Use the Painting Fundamentals to Create Great Artwork

Each area is a different size.

Quick Start
Composition studies: Sketch three thumbnail layouts and choose the strongest.

Note: It doesn't matter which part of the painting is what size.

The subject could be the smallest area or the background, etc. It doesn't matter.

What we are looking for is a variety of sizes.

We want three different sizes to keep the viewers interested.

Variety is interesting.

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 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.

The rule of center lines is the most important rule for creating good compositions.

Read about the rule of center lines and other tips for creating a good composition in art.

The focal point is the subject.

A good composition guides the viewers to the focal subject.

That's how we paint good art.

The viewer's eyes are automatically drawn to the lighthouse, the focal point.

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

It automatically creates a balanced, interesting composition.

Find out the various techniques of using the rule of thirds.

Provide an entrance to the painting.

Start the entrance at the bottom of the painting.

Make the entrance 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 directly across the bottom of the painting, such as a fence or a rock wall will make the viewer feel uncomfortable and keep them from entering the painting.

You can paint this mountain landscape with a step-by-step tutorial.

Each color covers a different size.

1. 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 fill up the most space.

Again, it doesn't matter which color takes up what amount of space. Just paint each main color in different amounts.

When each color covers a different amount of space, the painting is more interesting.

Select a color scheme for harmonious paintings.

Mix natural looking colors.

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

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

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

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

Quick Start
One color mixture: Mix a single realistic green from two pigments to feel color bias and harmony.

For example, mix Lemon Yellow (cool) with Ultramarine Blue (warm) to get realistic greens like in the Egret painting.

There's a whole page about using color bias for mixing clean, clear colors.

Colors can bring joy.

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

Colors carry emotions that artists use to make our artwork speak to the viewers.

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 colors and how can we use them in our paintings?

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 different 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.

Variety is interesting.

1. In this painting the light flowers and vase are the largest and the lightest.
2. The background is medium values and middle sized.
3.  The table is the smallest and the darkest value.

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

How do we create distance in our artwork?

Values look lighter in the distance because of particles in the air that block our view.

Colors also appear cooler, farther in the distance.

Quick Start
Do a value study: Block in light, mid and dark areas to see how contrast affects depth and focus.

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.

Contrasting values make impactful paintings.

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

Paint with the principles of art.

It was painted using the big three painting fundamentals of a composition with a specific focal point, color, and values.

Color and values are both important elements of art.

They are a big part of this painting along with the composition.

See the details of how I used the principles of art to paint the fundamentals.