Top 6 Mistakes When Creating a Painting
November 10th, 2007 | by Art Supplies |The art of painting can take a lifetime to master and along the way even the great artists have made mistakes. The best way to learn how to create a good painting is to remember some basic but key points.
1) Use of poor quality supplies
It would be a shame to invest all of your time into creating a masterpiece only to have your colors fade within a year. Or even worse the paint flakes off the canvas due to the typical humidity in your house. It is better to spend a little extra time to prime your canvas or select one that is pre-primed for you. When looking at paints look to reputable manufactures that have quality color practise and stand behind their product. This will keep you paint looking the way you have indented.
2) Use of color
The artist has a wide array of colors to choose from, more colors exist now than at any other time of the history of art, but that doesn’t mean that you have to squeeze every one onto the canvas. Take the time to choose your colors and choose those colors that will blend together and create a feeling of harmony. Some artists choose conflicting sets of tones in their work but the color scheme should always be present before you set your brush to the canvas.
3) Tone Scheme
When you are choosing your colors and are beginning to paint think; how to do these colors work together in the viewer’s eye? The tone should flow harmoniously from one color to the next, moving from a shocking orange to a deep green may keep your audience awake but it might make them feel sick. Just remember that there are many tones of any color that you want and knowing which tone scheme to use can turn a painted canvas into a masterpiece.
4) Center Focus
The greatest temptation for any budding master is to put the main focal point smack bang in the center of the canvas, marking it out as a bull’s-eye to draw the eye in. This can make a picture disjointed and the central figure(s) dull and lifeless and unconnected with the scene around them. The entire scene should be one piece and all the characters, main figures included, should be alive within the canvas. If you only draw the eye to the centre then why should people bother to look around?
5) Realism or Duplicate?
There is a great art movement which attempts to accurately portray the world with such authenticity that it feels as if you are looking at a photograph. If you are a realist then carry on like this, but if you want to take what you see and transform it then don’t just trace every outline or sketch every cloud, allow your artistic hand to be inspired by any reference aids you have, such as photographs, but don’t be a slave to them, it’s your art that people want to see, not just to look out of a window.
6) Putting the brush down
All artists are their own worst critics and some never know when they have finished. The point at which you step back and seal the work as is, can take some doing but you must judge independently of yourself, a task that can bring many artists to a standstill, and say this is the finished piece. Too much paint on the canvas and too many finishing touches from an artist can ruin a work of art. Know when enough is enough.
If you can follow the steps mentioned above you will make swifter progress towards fine art and may see your work displayed alongside the masters.
