Curved shapes are important in many paintings, not only in paintings with figures in them but also if you are trying to capture the gesture of a particular tree, an archway on a bridge, or a vase. Many drawing books...
Category - Pastel
Pastel Painting Techniques
Less Is More: Suggesting Details Makes Your Painting Stronger
Suggestion is much more powerful than detailed rendering. More sophisticated paintings suggest detail without actually rendering it. This increases the viewer’s involvement and interest in the painting by making viewers...
Block Studies
Learning color is one of the basic skills an artist needs and is often one that is the most neglected. Many beginners use either too much garish color, or go too far the other way and do not use enough color in their...
Contrast of Temperature
There are several ways to emphasize the focal point or focal area in your painting. This key discovery shows you how to use contrast of temperature to focus the eye. In this painting the flower head, which is the focal...
Adding Strength To Your Painting Compositions: The Principle of Right Angles
One painting technique to strengthen your composition is to look for opportunities to create right angles by adjusting the slants of shapes in your painting. This painting by Jean-Francois Millet uses this techniques...
Notan Design
The impact a painting has on the viewer often does not depend on how much detail you put in, but on how much you simplify the scene in front of you. This painting is a good example of that principle. In this article I...