Shapes and patterns exist in your art whether you know it, or not. The real question is; do they make a good design? In this tutorial you will take basic shapes and develop them into patterns.

By start simple you can easily understand the basic idea and see how it can progress in a matter of minutes. The key is becoming aware of the ideas first and then you will have some experience as to how it applies in a painting scenario.

Demo Images Attached

A two value pattern sketch is a simple approach for understanding how your light and darks fit within the frame. It will instantly tell you how interesting, or disconnected, your shapes are and offer some solutions on how to connect them.

What you need to know

• Start with your frame that has a ration you intend to use for the final work.

• Now do some very simple shapes like cubes, pyramids, spheres and so on.

• Be sure to only shade the areas that are in shadow.

• Use two values and one being the white of the paper.

• Now lightly draw your subject/shapes in a frame.

• Add value to the shadow areas.

• Do not include details, only main shapes.

• Try to make changes if necessary that will enhance how shapes connect.

Demo Image Attached

Always start with a frame. This will eliminate cropping and compressing your shapes when you transfer them to canvas, or paper.

Learn the common ratios that you work with so that you can refine your frame(s). For example I use a half sheet of paper very often that measures 15" x 22". I subtract the 1/2" border to account for the masking tape and end up with a 14" x 21". That breaks down to a 2:3 Ratio.

Eliminate cropping and compressing your ideas. As mentioned before you want to avoid altering your ideas if possible. The easiest solution is to design within common frame sizes.

Create a template for your common ratio layouts. Once you have your common sizes figured out make a template(s). One for thumbnails and another twice the size for value and composition studies. We will use this later on. Keep a master copy so you can make photocopies which will save time later on.

Be prepared at all times to thumbnail sketch and know you have a workable frame. If you followed the previous steps you should never have to worry about wasting time on designs that won't work on standard canvas and paper sizes.

Some Common Proportions

1:1 Square
1:2 10"x20" (25cm x 51cm), 12" x 24" (30cm x 61cm)
2:3 20" x 30" (51cm x 76cm), 24" x 36" (61cm x 91cm)
3:4 9"x12" (23cm x 30cm), 12"x16" (30cm x 41cm), 18"x24" (46cm x 61cm)
4:5 8"x10" (20cm x 25cm), 16" x 20" (41cm x 51cm), 24"x30" (61cm x 76cm)
5:6 10"x12" (25cm x 30cm), 20"x24" (51cm x 61cm)

Demo Images and Chart Attached

Avoiding equality and symmetrical designs is easier said than done. But with some guidelines and basic understanding of common issues you will begin to construct your work with the skills of a seasoned painter.

Centered focal points are fine if you can alter the symmetry surrounding it.

Rule of thirds works just be careful not to place a counterpart on opposing intersection.

When using rule of thirds watch out for placing strong verticals and horizontals along dividing lines. Basically you want to avoid having three equal parts.

Using the large, medium and small option is a great alternative for dividing your frame. This eliminates some of the common issues that happen with the traditional rule of thirds

Demo Image Attached

In this lesson I will use a very common situation where one places the focal point directly in the center of the frame. Since this is probably the worst case scenario and presents the most problems it will be good to understand how to alter the spaces around it to create a design that's asymmetrical.

You will learn;

• See how inequality works in a real design example.

• Use some imagination to move some shapes and eliminate others.

• Exercise the ability to use different size shapes for similar objects.

• Become a detective by always looking for potential equality problems.

Demo Image Attached

In this lesson you will learn about point of view (POV). Once you have some basic knowledge of how you can easily manipulate POV your shapes can become easier to change. This allows more flexibility and range of design options.

Here are some topics we will cover;

• Develop the skills needed to change the POV.

• Reduce subjects to basic shapes and learn to draw them from a various POV’s.

• Learn how distance allows you to crop images within the frame to create specific POV’s.

• Always consider altering shapes and objects to establish the best POV.

Demo Image Attached

As with shapes, point of view and so on, you can also change lighting to satisfy your vision. With just a few tips you can easily change the time of day from morning to noon to 6 PM.

Here are some tips you will learn;

• Learn the basic natural light movement.

• Discover a method for adjusting light and shadow.

• Apply the concept to several different time frames.

Demo Image Attached

A Look At Composition And Value Layers

Below is a breakdown of composition and design. You'll also find the patterns for white, medium and dark values. There's one with all three as well. The side-by-side will give you a look at how they design and final painting compare.

Important! I've attached five images that include various pattern sketches and a side-by-side look at the grayscale patter compared to the final painting.

In this lesson you will learn how to transform an average image into a solid composition by simply adding a few elements and a center of interest. By taking the time to compose the painting the end result is a winner.

What Was Used?

• The rule of thirds

• Adding a center of interest/focal point

• Artistic license by adding tree, cars and enhancing foreground shadow area

How Can This Help You?

I would imaging you have plenty of images from your hometown, vacations and so on. And if they are anything like mine then they're average at best. But these average images can be transformed into fantastic paintings.

Here's your challenge:

• Find an image that you like

• Tweak it by adding, or subtracting certain elements

• Can you apply rule of thirds, add elements, and or insert better focal point?

• Now create a small composition sketch

• Try a small painting to see how it works

Asset Images Attached

In this example I used contrast, rule of thirds, and triangles to compose. Also the delicate handling of hues so that the impact was situated so that the focal point isn't obstructed. 

As mentioned in the video it would have been easy to paint bright white boats. After all, that's what the photo illustrates. But knowing that bright white hues would have overpowered the red roof and sharp contrast from the house and blue water it was imperative to tone them down.

See Attached Image

In this example it was important to address the following issues.

• The car is centered left-to-right

• The figures were also equally balanced left-to-right as well

• The buildings needed to be included but understated

To address the issues the flooding edits were made;

• The image was cropped so that the car was located in the lower left-hand quadrant

• Subtracted figures on the left-hand side

• Added a second car and connected shapes

• Made sure all figures and elements were connected in middle ground

See Attached Image

In this example there were quite a few changes to be made before a painting was created.

Here are the issues;

• The centered needed to be removed to make the elements fit within a generic landscape style ratio.

• Add some larger shapes on the right hand side to create asymmetrical composition.

The final design incorporated;

• A strong focal point in the lower right-hand quadrant

• Used a strong triangular shape incorporating the outriggers and reflections to create a diagonal that leads you to the focal point.

• Used the sidewalk as an entry point for the viewer

Finished painting attached

In this example I will do some major cropping to create a solid painting. The key is to always find the details, shapes and/or features you like first. That will help make the edits much easier.

Here are the steps I used to make a good composition

• Made a crop to feature the awning and building

• Added a crosswalk as a lead-in for the viewer

• Understate the details in shadow

• Used color as a focal point

Finished and inspiration images attached