break out your pocket watch and your
paintbrushes cuz it's time for another
episode of ten minutes to better
painting
I'm your subservient host Marco Buchi as
usual let's start this thing off with a
short lesson novel editor Shawn coin
would like to remind us that once you
lose the audience it's very difficult to
get them back and a little digging at
statistics brain calm will tell you that
the average human attention span is a
whopping eight point two five seconds
just let that linger in the back of your
head for now okay this episode is about
visual language which falls under the
topic of communication communication
might actually be the most important
topic because after all that's what art
is to broach the topic let's examine
what a writer does a writer like any
human being starts off with a bunch of
thoughts feelings and emotions now those
things by themselves are inaccessible to
an audience so the writer uses their
primary tool language to make the
intangible tangible and if the writer is
any good the final result will contain a
clear message now where the writer uses
verbal language we as painters use
visual language to communicate our
message let's stick the word message
over here just so we don't forget it
okay what is this painting by John
Singer Sargent about what's the message
what is he trying to show us is it all
these pine trees is it this fallen log
no it's clearly about this guy enjoying
a painting session out in the woods
he's the focal point of the picture and
that's what we'll remember about it
here's a much busier painting by Dean
Cornwell but same question
what's the focal point what's Cornwell's
intended message in a picture populated
with people it's the interaction of
these two that stand out this is the
message
it's why Cornwell painted this picture
but how do we know that
how did Cornwell communicate to us that
this painting is not actually about
these baguettes
how did Sargent ensure that we looked at
that painter and not get distracted by
all those trees the answer in both cases
is they used contrast to help
communicate their message now I think
many of us might think of contrast as
simply being a matter of light versus
dark but that's actually only one
example of contrast think
contrast as being equal to any kind of
difference when there's no difference in
a picture all things are rendered
equally unimportant and that's a problem
when you're trying to communicate
whereas building in a bit of contrast
enhances the focal point and pretty much
guarantees a clearer communication with
the audience so here are some examples
of contrast we can start with the
obvious one a light shape reading over
dark or how about areas of high activity
versus areas of low activity how about a
frame full of squares with just one
circle in it or what about creating
difference with texture versus non
texture here's a difference in edges
hard versus soft how about a simple
difference in the direction of a shape
and here's one where a higher degree of
finish contrasts against more sketchy
areas looking back at the Cornwell
example he's using a contrast between
areas of high activity in the crowd
where no one really stands out versus
areas of lower activity to make these to
stand out there's a second contrast at
play as well their silhouettes are the
area of highest contrast dark over life
and that's how effective contrast can be
in communicating a focal point so let's
go ahead and add contrast at focal point
to our notes here's a painting by meat
Schafer and painting by Norman Rockwell
these are examples of another tool for
visual language that I call direction in
the meat Schaefer painting were directed
through the picture by this elegant and
simple C curve every important piece of
the message lies on that curve Schafer
is also using contrast here to make sure
we specifically pay attention to what
these guys are doing the Rockwell
painting employs a different kind of
curve actually it's a series of
straights that all converge at the focal
point the fact that we're then assured
out of the painting in three different
directions amplifies the message of
those kids arguing another cool thing
about direction is the nature of the
curve can support the message of the
picture hard straight X shaped lines
emphasize the physical strain in this
picture while the sensual C curve in
this picture almost romanticizes the
Pirates actions all right so let's add
the word direction here so we've got a
nice little list of four tools for
visual language but one thing I cannot
abide is a teacher who hands out a list
that no one is going to remember so I'm
going to make this stick by coming up
with a good abbreviation so let's see
maybe I can start with the first letter
of each word
how about doubts clouding future
momentum god that's awful nope how about
Count Dracula fines mommy yeah better
but no ooh how about Ford Coppola
directed movies that's at least that
one's true but past hmm
this is hard let's take a short break
and come back to it hey remember how we
only had eight point two five seconds of
attention did you know that a goldfish
has nine seconds yeah like the human
race has been cheated wait that's it
cheated if you show me a picture with no
message I feel cheated so don't cheat me
if you cheat the audience out of a
message you'll lose them and once you
lose them it's very hard to get them
back so don't cheat me out of a message
implement these visual language tools
and see how much more clearly your
paintings communicate as a result
these are sketches from Prague one of my
favorite European cities a place just
begging to be painted and as you can see
there's no shortage of things to
potentially make the painting about so
your first job as a painter is to decide
what that thing is and then proceed from
there even a city as beautiful as Prague
needs to be filtered through these tools
for visual language in order to come up
with a cohesive painting so to go about
painting this I'm using the same visual
language tools that I just showed you my
focal point which should be obvious
already is those two buildings on the
right third that are separated via a
shape contrast and by that I mean they
make one shape that is different than
the smaller shapes that surround them
and the second piece of visual language
I'm using is direction I'm using a
graceful C curve via that River that
wraps right around the focal point it
gives our eye a path to follow blending
some movement to the piece and I think C
curves are quite elegant which happens
to be perfect for Prague and you
probably noticed I established these
things right away they were the first
things on the canvas and that's really
important to me at least my most
successful paintings come when I have a
clear idea of what I want to say and
then how I want to use these tools of
visual language to say it and then the
paintbrush just flows more naturally
because everything seems to then have a
place a hierarchy you know I could leave
this as a quick sketch which I'm doing
here or I could take it to something
very rendered and finished but with
these visual language tools at play from
the start I know my message will not
change okay on to the next quick sketch
I think I'm going to make this one a
little more fantasy based and what I'm
going to do is I'm going to amp up the
visual language for that so right away
that big building again is the focal
point and everything is going to lead
you to that so you see that triangle
that's water there that I just blocked
in that is literally a pointing device
that points straight to the focal point
also it's very angular which contrasts
the very circular focal point in fact I
think I'm going to try and make the
foreground area more angular as a rule
which will help separate it or help it
be different from the focal point I
think fantasy by the way is a good
opportunity to audition different kinds
of shapes on the canvas and really try
and push the difference between circles
and hard edged shapes for example that's
what bring
us into the realm of fantasy because in
real life things tend to be a little
more similar rather than so starkly
different so I'll work up this area for
ground now and when I do that I'll make
sure to make more angular shapes you can
see boxy shapes and triangular shapes
I'm really refraining myself from using
circles I really want the circles to be
in the focal point
also notice the circles are in the
clouds so anything kind of in that focal
range gets circles and then everything
else will get angles there's another
subtle piece of direction happening here
the water points in and the clouds point
in and they cross right at the focal
points that's another thing I've
designed into the picture and just to
finish it off here are three boats of
course they're angles as well because
they belong to the foreground and just
like that there's our finished sketch
okay let's do one more I'll go back to a
more naturalistic look to this one and
I'll make it a night shot so I can
really play up some heavy contrast
leading your eye directly to those two
buildings in the middle and again I work
that in very early on in the process so
I'm always building up from something
simple it's very difficult to start
complex and then find simplicity that
method doesn't really work for me aside
from the heavy contrast notice that
there's a subtle V composition here
almost as if the two buildings in the
focal point are nestled into this valley
custom-made just for them and not only
that but this painting is also very
vertical even though it's a horizontal
composition it's very vertical all the
buildings are pointed straight up and
down
that helps lend the piece structure
which is perfect for painting buildings
and just a reminder the audience is not
meant to be aware of these tools of
visual language that's our job as
artists the audience just wants to look
at a picture very quickly be led to a
focal point and come away with a message
if that happens you win
how many times as the following scenario
happened to you exhibit a you start a
painting and you feel great it's going
to be your best painting yet and then
time runs its course and we get exhibit
B now don't worry this doesn't mean
you're a failure as an artist in my
experience this is the result of just
not thinking simply enough and therefore
not effectively communicating your
message what I do is I ask myself what's
the message what am i trying to show and
once you got that you can make it the
focal point and have everything else
support it all of us fight against a
natural human tendency to overcomplicate
things but just remind yourself of the
beautiful simplicity in the examples
earlier don't feel like you've got to
embed the Fibonacci sequence into your
paintings just to make them work there
is one time where you absolutely have to
use the Fibonacci sequence though and
it's when you're painting a picture of a
cat
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