Saturday, January 1, 2011

How to manipulate a Subject for a Better Painting-Part 2

Here is a image of the completed painting-
Below is an image of the gray value pattern, the original photo and the painting, with some explanations.
In the first photo the area circled and labeled 1 draws the eye to the edge with it's dark shape, this is way too distracting and does not follow the flow of the painting (depicted in purple in the second image). In the gray value sketch I minimized this area, and in the final painting kept that plan.

Number 2 is an area that was blown out in the photo, not only made lighter than it really was but again a distraction at the edge of the painting. In this case it does follow the flow of the painting but grabs your eye at an edge. In the final painting I held onto this plan.

Number 3 is a glaring highlight at a corner- this kind of thing is so tempting for a beginner to "put in at all cost". But you can see it not only does not follow the flow but pulls your eye to a corner, the worst place to have your eye go because you can visually get stuck there.

The color is something I did not mention but is also open to much manipulation. The temptation is to paint bright things just as bright as you possibly can, but just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Keeping color harmony within the image means suppressing some areas.  A oneness between all the objects happens when  colors are shared. It's surprising how much you can change the color from the original objects and it still be acceptable.  This is what I meant by a painting is a totally different thing from real life or a photo.