Mastering Composition: Techniques and Principles to Dramatically Improve Your Painting (Mastering (North Light Books)) - Hardcover

Roberts, Ian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1581809247 ISBN 13: 9781581809244

Publisher: North Light Books, 2008

Synopsis

Create Better Compositions by Design

The path to better painting begins with Mastering Composition. This effective guide blends clear, visual instruction with 5 step-by-step demonstrations to show you how to plan and paint your best work yet.

Composition is the key, and here you'll learn to design paintings with new skill and confidence. It all begins with the armature or structure of the picture plane. Every great painting has one, and you'll see through several famous examples exactly how the Old Masters used armatures to create movement, narrative, harmony and fluidity. Based on these examples, you'll practice what you've learned following a series of hands-on demonstrations.

Once you understand the basic principles of design, you'll be amazed at how quickly and effectively your compositions come together. Soon you will be painting more boldly and confidently than ever before with less reworking and overworking.

Whether you're a beginner looking for basic instruction or a more advanced painter troubleshooting a specific problem, the proven methods in this book will work for you. Ideal for all mediums, Mastering Composition gives you the knowledge you need to create powerful paintings out of every subject.

About this title

Synopsis

All elements of composition are covered. Readers will learn how to use a viewfinder to determine cropping and framing to create the best relationship of value masses. They will also learn to analyse paintings in terms of colour shapes of value, hue and intensity (also colour temperature) - the elements that make a painting. Roberts uses master works as examples to show how the eye moves through a painting. He will include before/after examples to illustrate how using the rules for good composition can improve paintings. Readers will learn how to create compositionally successful paintings through five demonstrations.

About the Author

Ian Roberts has been painting for over 40 years. He attended the New School of Art and the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and studied figure painting in Florence, Italy. He has taught plein air painting in Provence, France and Tuscany, Italy, as well as in the U.S. Ian is the author of the book, Creative Authenticity, and has created two videos: Mastering Composition and Plein Air Painting. He is a popular workshop instructor specialising in composition.

Edition details

• Publisher: North Light Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1581809247
• ISBN 13: 9781581809244
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 144