Tag: artwork
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Four Steps in Dealing with Criticism of Your Art
Destructive criticism is not really an issue about the content of the artwork, it’s about deciding what you won’t tolerate from others. This occurs in all kinds of ways, not just art criticism. It comes up anytime someone is being rude or mean, or crossing a boundary. I’m happy to say I figured out a […]
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Using a Clock to Judge the Angles of Vanishing Lines
There are various methods for judging the angles of vanishing lines. The one that works best for me is to visualize it as the hour hand on a clock. I do it like this: The minute hand serves as either the horizon line (the position it’s at 9 or 3 o’clock) or a vertical (12 […]
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The Horizon Line in Perspective
Horizon line is a confusing perspective term because when you hear it, you tend to immediately think of “the horizon” we see in nature. That is, the horizon as in the line where the land or sea meets the sky in the distance. In a painting, the horizon line might be this if you’re painting a landscape, […]
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What is Perspective in Art?
By Marion Boddy-Evans Perspective is an art technique for creating an illusion of three-dimensions (depth and space) on a two-dimensional (flat) surface. Perspective is what makes a painting seem to have form, distance, and look “real”. The same rules of perspective apply to all subjects, whether it’s a landscape, seascape, still life, interior scene, portrait, or figure painting. […]
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Viewpoint in Perspective
By Marion Boddy-Evans Viewpoint is the spot (point) from which you, the artist, is looking at (viewing) the scene. Linear perspective is worked out according to this viewpoint. There’s no right or wrong choice of viewpoint, it’s simply the first decision you make when beginning to plan your composition and figure out the perspective. Normal viewpoint is […]
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Art Jokes: You Must Be An Artist If…
What are the signs that you’re an artist? This collection of definitions of what makes an artist started with a comment on the Painting Forum from Hamlet which got the rest of us going…! I’m not telling which of these art jokes originated with me, nor how many definitions apply to me, except to say I’ve never […]
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Elements of Composition: Rhythm
Don’t think that rhythm is something that belongs to music only, or perhaps poetry. It’s also one of the Elements of Composition, helping to lead the viewer’s eye across a painting. The example I’ve shown here is of a extreme landscape format, considerably wider than it is tall. To get the viewer’s eye from one edge to the […]
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The Fried Egg School of Painting Composition
By Marion Boddy-Evans Question: The Fried Egg School of Painting Composition “Is it a rule that the focal point of a painting should not be in the middle of the canvas? What if you have, let us say, a face with a crown on the head, nothing else other than the background, would that be wrong?” — Vivien S […]
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Absolute Beginners to Painting: 16 Commonly Asked Questions
By Marion Boddy-Evans Looking at a great painting it can be hard to remember that every artist was an absolute beginner at some stage. But it’s true, no-one is born with a paint brush in their hand, everyone learned from scratch at some stage. This list of commonly asked questions will help you get started on […]
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Monday Motivator: Put More Paint in the Sky
By Marion Boddy-Evans “I used to paint the sky with thin mixtures of paint, but find I am better able to capture the shimmer of light when I have more paint over the entire canvas.” — Kim Casebeer, PleinAir Magazine, June/July 2013, page 51 Or, to paraphrase: “Use more paint!” What’s working best for your skies? I’ve been […]
