My painting needs a little guidance

[Ashtonw]

This is the best painting I've ever done. Even though the colors are really ugly and it was painted in 15-20 minutes, it has form, which is something my longer paintings lack.

375682

When I start considering color my paintings turn into a horrible pukey mess. I'm still trying different things out, seeing what works and what doesn't, but some input would be great.

375688

375689

[Nigel_Robertson]

I dont know who said it, but I read it somewhere... I dont know, but it really helps me when I paint... but I was told that

"every painting should start off good, and finish better."

And how I apply that to my work is a make sure I build the painting slowly and surely, and I try to make every brush stroke reveal the form light and shadow all in one. If you look up the trailer of shawn barber's foundation painting, it may help you alot. youtube has many great videos on starting paintings too. I hope this helps.

-Nigel

[Chris Bennett]

Think of painting as if you were writing:
As you put down each mark it should say something new. So often what happens is that one merely undelines what has been already stated believing that by repeating the sentence, things are being made stronger.
This is why at the start of paintings things are nearly always better - the first marks covering the canvas are going to be saying something new by default.

Your first painting is good because all the marks are stating clearly what you have to say about the form along with a clear statement of colour. The second painting is not as good because at some stage you have stopped making statements and have just gone on 'underlining' things in a vague idea of making what you initially said more striking.
Although you think that the first painting's colours are garish, they are, as you have stated, more beautiful. They are more beautiful because they interest us with their clear statement of intent.

Don't be disheartened Ashton, I went through exactly the same thing myself many, many moons ago. It's a tough dragon to slay, but the sword I give you will work. Take it!

[Art_Addict]

Color can be very tricky indeed, but I wouldn't worry about it too much for now.

It is important to remember that to make something look like it has depth, has volume, appear round, etc... the key is proper value, not color. Sure you may make mistakes in terms of hue and chroma relationships but the main thing that is throwing your paintings off is because your values are 'jumping'. Meaning they are not in proper relationship to each other/ or to the lightsource if you will.
When you notice a shift in hue towards blue or green it doesn't therefore mean it will be darker per se. When you squint your eyes it's easier to see the relationship of values.

In terms of the structure of the human body and the interaction of light on form there are still many issues. I would suggest doing more longer pose drawings. I'm not saying put down your brush and paints completely, please feel free to keep exploring the wonderful world of color and enjoy yourself :)
But it can be convenient not having to think about color when trying to tackle those other beasts.

Good luck,
Tom

[panchosimpson]

I would like to second Tom's opinion here, painting is one hell of a complicated endeavor, but color itself is only part of the equation, drawing/value and edges are also things you must contend with. Thomas Sully once said that if one has the ability to draw the figure from any angle from memory, painting will be easily acquired. One thing you can do if you don't want to put the brush down is to do small color/value studies when you paint not worrying too much about drawing, and drawing the figure a lot, that way you're sharpening both skillsets and eventually, once you gain mastery of the figure, you'll notice dramatic improvement in your paintings. However, good paintings that manage form, color, value, edges, etc successfully can only come from riper experience with drawing.

-Ramon

[That fat kid]

It seems as if you began to simply fill in area in the longer paintings whereas the first one has delibrate, intentional brushstrokes. Economy is the name of the game in any endeavor, say the most you possibly can with the least amount of words, or in this case, brushstrokes.

It might not always be necessary to add more paint, but just manipulate the paint that's already on the surface thinking about edges, shapes, and relationships.

[Blackhawk]

Another thing to keep in mind with color as well is you aren't necessarily looking for the exact color, that won't make your colors look right or sing. You want to pay attention to your value relationships as others have said, your edge relationships, and your color temperature relationships. Find your warmest area, your coolest area, relatively, and work the rest of the painting within those two temperatures. You'd be surprised, at that point you could paint with purple and pink, and as long as the temperatures related correctly, the colors wouldn't look too out of place or muddy.

[deepbluehue]

One thing to think about, when thinking about form, is where the hidden corners are. In other words, every form has a front, back, and sides. The corner is "hidden" because it's not actually a hard edge but the place where the front or back of a form turns to become the side of that form. Even a cylinder can be thought of this way, the hidden corner of it being closest to you would receive some illumination before it turned away from you. Try using conceptual forms like cylinders, spheres and boxes the next time you paint a figure and simplify the figure so you can identify the back from the side or the side from the front.

The very fact that you can look at some of the other work you've done and see that your figures lack solid form is very good. You realize that your work can be improved and you are free to think about how to problem solve when you work. Your colors will improve with experience, try working with a limited palette and see how much control you can achieve with just a few colors.

[Dementiak]

Think of painting as if you were writing:
As you put down each mark it should say something new. So often what happens is that one merely undelines what has been already stated believing that by repeating the sentence, things are being made stronger.
This is why at the start of paintings things are nearly always better - the first marks covering the canvas are going to be saying something new by default.

Your first painting is good because all the marks are stating clearly what you have to say about the form along with a clear statement of colour. The second painting is not as good because at some stage you have stopped making statements and have just gone on 'underlining' things in a vague idea of making what you initially said more striking.
Although you think that the first painting's colours are garish, they are, as you have stated, more beautiful. They are more beautiful because they interest us with their clear statement of intent.

Don't be disheartened Ashton, I went through exactly the same thing myself many, many moons ago. It's a tough dragon to slay, but the sword I give you will work. Take it!



Thank you for this Chris Bennet. you have put into words what i was being all depressed about just now. (i recently ruined a painting that looked great on its first session) Now that I have seen it explained in words i will be able to recall this tip as i paint. Thank you

[Dementiak]

hers my tip for you ashton.


SQUINT.

when you squint you will see values a lot easier than when you have your eyes wide open.


try squinting and you will see the differences in you first and second painting.
the first painting has the correct amount of darkest darks and lightest lights. thus giving it depth. the second painting is mainly highlights and mid tones. (and no darkest darks).


oh theres something even better than squinting...

walk back 7-10 feet from your easel and SQUINT :)

hope that helped.

[Art_Addict]

hers my tip for you ashton.


SQUINT.

when you squint you will see values a lot easier than when you have your eyes wide open.



While squinting is enormously helpful, it does not make you see values better.
It makes you see the relationships between them more clearly. This is not the same thing. When squinting it's easier to determine which values are close together or far apart for example.... but to determine the mixture you should always keep your eyes wide open.

[Ashtonw]

I never squint, I prefer to unfocus my eyes or take my glasses off.

[Chris Bennett]

Thank you for this Chris Bennet. you have put into words what i was being all depressed about just now. (i recently ruined a painting that looked great on its first session) Now that I have seen it explained in words i will be able to recall this tip as i paint. Thank you

And thank you for taking the trouble to pay your gratitude. I'm glad it lifted your spirits. I guess we all have a visit from the 'I seemed to have fucked up my painting' angel from time to time - it's only fellow painters who really understand how awful this can feel at times. If what I wrote pulled you out of that, then the pleasure is mine as well.