HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: This is a very accessible book. It makes complex topics very simple and provides one simple idea to keep at the front of your brain when working on a composition. I think it's more likely than any other book I've come across to both get the basics across and enable people to develop a grasp of quite sophisticated concepts - such as dynamic balance.
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| 'The Simple Secret to Better Painting' Greg Albert, North Light Books (2003) |
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The one rule is 'Never make any two intervals the same'His book shows how that one simple rule can then be applied in various contexts when thinking about the design and composition of a painting. You may think you don't need the book now you've got the secret - but the value of the book is in the way he demonstrates in simple and effective ways how that rules can be applied. I know I've sat and chanted his idea to myself when stuck with a composition - and it works!
Greg Albert
The book starts with a section on design dynamics. He provides a number of simple images and game-like tests that enable people to get their head around the idea that the type and nature of a mark can represent different things. He uses these to explain visual concepts - visual tension, visual energy and visual weight. He shows, using simple illustrations of different arrangements of mono marks, what's boring, what is chaotic and what is pleasing - and how his one rule applies
The next section is on making things interesting which looks at how to deal with dividing up your painting into different zones and how to divide up the space between objects and add more variety - by making no two intervals the same. He also demonstrates how to make lines of division more interesting. This was a tip I was given years ago - but this book made it make sense! This section also focuses on shapes used in the painting and how to make these more interesting, the importance of odd numbers and how to create interesting groups of different shapes.
The important thing is he doesn't just tell you, he also makes sure he shows you all the important notions which need to become part of an artist's vocabulary when talking about a composition. This is a book which has succinct text and lots of images which speak volumes.
The next chapter concentrates in the importance of tonal value and value contrast.
The book also contains sections specifically devoted to still lifes, landscapes and portraits. In each of these he covers the basics which help to make a successful composition. He addresses issues such as:
This is a book which you can come back to again and again. It's a 'basics' book for those wanting to learn more about composition and design and it can also act as a 'pick you up' for more advanced artists who feel they're getting stale and need a visual boost. This book makes composition as a topic both accessible and understandable to art students and would-be artists who've been ducking out of improving their knowledge of composition. For those who tend to neglect the importance of composition because it's 'too difficult' or there are 'too many rules' or there is 'too much to think about' there is now no excuse!
Finally, one of the added bonuses of this book for budding authors is that it in effect provides a model 'how to' of how to write and lay out a 'how to' fine art book! I guess that's one of the benefits of it having been written by somebody who used to be the Editorial Director at North Light Art Instruction Books!
Links:
Any division of space is an opportunity to add interest Greg Albert - Making things interestingAchieving a dynamic balance follows up on the concepts introduced at the beginning and deals with balance as a principle of design with lots of illustrations of how balance can become unbalanced or static as well as how to achieve a dynamic balance using the different elements of design eg through balancing different sized shapes and colours and the nature of the mark made.
We need to find the right balance between boring order and distressing disorder. Too much variation causes a painting to lose unity. Not enough variation causes a painting to lose interest Greg Albert - introduction to achieving a dynamic balancePleasing the eye deals with how the viewer's eye scans a picture, why a painting needs a dominant centre of interest, which subjects tend to attract the mind, how to draw the eye and create a focal point - in a number of different ways (possibly one of the most effective pages in the book) and then how to place it.
The center of interest is a magnet for the mind.........The overall effectiveness of a painting's design will be a function of the location of its focal point and center of interest. Greg Albert - Pleasing the eyeHe also deals with how to lead the eye into and around a painting with very simple and effective explanations of the 'rule of thirds', sweetspots, leads, pointers, blocks and exits.
The important thing is he doesn't just tell you, he also makes sure he shows you all the important notions which need to become part of an artist's vocabulary when talking about a composition. This is a book which has succinct text and lots of images which speak volumes.
The next chapter concentrates in the importance of tonal value and value contrast.
Tonal values are critical. The lights and darks contribute more the success of a painting's composition than any other factor, including color Greg Albert - introduction to tonal value and contrastHe demonstrates why tonal value is so important, how value intervals can be varied, how to see your subject as a pattern of 3 or 5 values (something which is propounded but not always well explained elsewhere) and how to lead the viewer's eye using the value pattern. He has a whole chapter devoted to colour. He considers how to create dominance using colour, colour temperature, colour intensity, colour values and colour contrast. He also explains what an accent colour is and how to use and place it in a composition to highlight the focal point.
The book also contains sections specifically devoted to still lifes, landscapes and portraits. In each of these he covers the basics which help to make a successful composition. He addresses issues such as:
- selecting still life objects
- arranging a still life
- making use of photographs (for landscapes)
- basic value patterns for landscapes
- cropping the figure and cropping the portrait
- dealing with multiple figures
This is a book which you can come back to again and again. It's a 'basics' book for those wanting to learn more about composition and design and it can also act as a 'pick you up' for more advanced artists who feel they're getting stale and need a visual boost. This book makes composition as a topic both accessible and understandable to art students and would-be artists who've been ducking out of improving their knowledge of composition. For those who tend to neglect the importance of composition because it's 'too difficult' or there are 'too many rules' or there is 'too much to think about' there is now no excuse!
Finally, one of the added bonuses of this book for budding authors is that it in effect provides a model 'how to' of how to write and lay out a 'how to' fine art book! I guess that's one of the benefits of it having been written by somebody who used to be the Editorial Director at North Light Art Instruction Books!
Note: Greg Albert graduated from the Art Academy of Cincinatti, Ohio and he has taught drawing and painting as part of its community education programme for many years. He also has advanced degrees in painting and art history and has worked as the Editorial Director of North Light Art Instruction Books. His other books are Basic Drawing Techniques (paperback ISBN: 0-89134-388-1) and Basic Figure Drawing Techniques. (paperback ISBN: 0-89134-551-5). According to the Art Academy, he's currently working on a book about figure drawing and anatomy.
Links:
- The simple secret to better painting Greg Albert, North Light Books (2003) Paperback; 128 pages, 20 b&w illus., 200 color illus. ISBN: 1-58180-256-0
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