Monday, November 16, 2009

Thumbnails

I'm working out my composition and values. These sketches are about 1.5" x 2.5" each. I'm interested in seeing how the tones look in various places. Do I want the bird darker in the foreground? Or do I want the bird in the middle ground? What's most important - the bird, the crabapples or the foreground? Where do I want my light effect? How much negative space do I want relative to the subject?

2 comments:

  1. This is really interesting. The lower right image strikes me as the most dynamic.

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  2. Thanks, Nicole. The thumbnail sketches are very helpful, and can save a lot of time. You can solve many compositional problems with them, and they provide a map to follow as you paint. When you experiment with them, you discover new ways to design your work, compositions you might have missed if you went straight to painting.

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