Dynamic Still Life for Artists: A Modern Guide to Essential Concepts and Techniques (Volume 7) (For Artists, 7)

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(as of Nov 05,2023 23:34:05 UTC – Details)

In Dynamic Still Life for Artists, noted artist and instructor Sarah Sedwick presents detailed, step-by-step instruction and insights on the many creative possibilities that drawing and painting still lifes can offer.

Develop observational skills by setting up and assessing various arrangements, groupings, and formats.Evaluate an arrangement’s abstract shapes by creating black-and-white value studies.Learn the process of alla prima painting, from underpainting to color mixing to applying color.

Featuring inspiring examples by other distinguished artists working in a variety of mediums, DynamicStill Life for Artists will encourage all artists, from aspiring to accomplished, to explore this timeless genre through new arrangements, styles, and visual studies, empowering them to develop and expand their creative and technical skills.

The For Artists series expertly guides and instructs artists at all skill levels who want to develop their classical drawing and painting skills and create realistic and representational art.

From the Publisher

Still Life Setup: The Three Vs

We make many decisions before we even pick up a paintbrush that affect the outcome of our painting. I like to start from a place of intuition—choosing an object I’m drawn to and then asking myself what colors or textures could work with it—and what the mood or feeling of the resulting painting would be.

My studio usually resembles a rummage sale, with various groupings of objects and colored papers everywhere. This is the “marination” phase of still life setup—experimenting with combinations of objects, colors, and textures.

As I’m choosing my objects and colors and experimenting with arrangement and lighting, I consider what I’ve come to think of as the “Three Vs”: variety, value, and vantage point.

Variety

Variety is the spice of life—and it’s the key to successful paintings. We don’t want our still life elements to feel disjointed, random, or unrelated, but we do want to keep things interesting. So we need not only variety—we need repetition with variety.

Value

Consider the overall value of your setup. We require contrast in order to see anything, so make sure you create some! Your still life objects may be high key (mostly light values) or low key (mostly darks), but ask yourself, “Do I have at least a tiny bit of the rest of the value scale represented?” A pop of darkest dark in a high-key painting will really help it jump off the wall.

When beginning any painting, I ask myself, “What’s the lightest light, the darkest dark, and the most saturated color I see in this still life?” The most saturated color may feel like the lightest thing I can see, when it is actually more of a midtone.

Vantage Point

Vantage point can have a major impact on the mood and message of your painting. Where are you in relation to your subject?

Remember that in addition to arranging your subjects below, at, or above eye level, you can move yourself around the still life when things aren’t quite clicking, for a new view. You can also stand up or sit down to change your vantage point, instead of adjusting the height of the still life itself.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rockport Publishers (November 15, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0760377006
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0760377000
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.46 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 0.55 x 10.95 inches