still life

This video is an example of how to find the most simple forms and build your composition out from there.

Start with the largest shapes, slowly add more detail and increase the color complexity.

Below is a diagram of transferring shapes from an image resource to your surface. Notice I start with the spherical objects. Our still life will be more complex than this one but remember that most symmetrical objects are spherical.

In the video below the person covers the majority of their painting in the first minute of the video. It is a time-lapse, so it took longer than 8 minutes to paint, (video length) but they spent the majority of their time adding detail after that first minute. They start by mapping out where the objects are, and drawing them first with lines, before filling them in with color and value. They also start by painting the background. The background is secondary to the objects in the foreground, which is why you should paint the background first and spend the majority of time focusing on the detail of the objects in the foreground.

Look for the general shape of each object and also for the shapes between the objects. For help drawing complex shapes download the document at the bottom of this page called "DRW - complex forms." For a painting to be believable you have to paint the surface the objects are sitting on. Try to paint fast and correct things that look wrong as soon as you see that they don't look right. We will use something called the "sight size" method to paint/draw in this class.

Download the document at the bottom of the page called "Sight-Size" to help you understand how to accurately measure what you are looking at and translate it into your painting.

The main takeaway from the sight-size method is a one to one ratio. I will go over this in class but the image below illustrates the concept. The items you are drawing/painting are the same size as the drawing/painting you are making. Having them side by side like this makes it much easier to see the differences and correct them.

(the example of a painted sketch looking for lights and darks)

In this demo, I start with paint and work with light and dark. In most of the videos I make for class, the resource image or still life is 1:1 ratio with the surface I am painting on. This is called the sight-size method, there is a handout below you can download to see what I mean.

Follow these instructions for drawing your objects using the site-size method. this video show how to do this with a real still life. For the first few projects we will use printouts.

The above image is also a good example of how simple large brushstrokes can help draw the shapes and can also imply the value of the light and dark objects in the scene. I like to start paintings on a dark surface and work in the black and white parts first. Look at the gradient below and match the colors to the image above.

Think about the relative contrast between the objects when you are painting. Try to match the value and then compare it to the objects around it. The same color may look different when surrounded by light or dark. This is called "simultaneous contrast." The squares on both sides are the same value, but they look different because of what is around them. Keep this in mind while you make your painting. You will have to adjust everything, and the more times you make corrections the better your painting will be.

Keep in mind you can also paint over something if it looks wrong. Your paintbrush is the pencil and the eraser. If you see something is wrong, fix it.

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