7 Days to Better Paintings – Lesson 4: How to “See” Like an Artist

How to "See" Like an Artist

Most people spend far too much attention on what marks they are putting on the canvas, and far too little attention on what they are looking at.

Your eyes are your single best asset as an artist; not your hands.

In fact, your hands should have an easy job, IF you are able to carefully and accurately observe your subject, along with all the subtle nuances.

This lesson is broken into four sub-topics aimed at helping you “see” like an artist.

Shapes, Lines, and Colors

Two people look out over the vast landscape.

One is an experienced artist; the other has no interest in painting, but enjoys the surrounding nature.

The non-artist sees trees, mountains, grass, clouds, and sky.

The artist, however, sees a beautiful arrangement of shapes, lines, colors, and edges.

This is what people mean when they say "artists see differently".

We are all looking at the same stuff, but artists tend to see the world in terms of visual elements, rather than as representational things.

Of course, artists are not blind to representational things. We have simply learned how to "tune out" that way of thinking.

And I personally think the world is far more interesting through the eyes of an artist.

We are able to see beauty in otherwise simple things...

> An interesting shadow cast on the ground.

> The way light is bouncing off the water.

> The design of a tree branch.

> The subtle changes of color in the sky.

Seeing the world in this way is like drinking from a fire-hose of inspiration.

And the great thing is, you can practice this way of "seeing" without getting your brushes wet.

All you need to do is look around. What shapes, lines, colors, edges, etc. do you see?

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Seeing Less, Not More

This one is important.

There is a misconception that the great masters of art have some uncanny ability to see and capture more detail.

But that is around the wrong way.

Great artists see less, not more.

They are able to cut through the "noise" and narrow down on the pure essence of the subject—those few details which convey most of the information.

If you ever watch a great artist in action, there will inevitably come a point where they carefully make a single stroke of their brush and BAM! Everything comes alive.

That is what seeing less is all about. Being able to make strokes like that.

On a practical note, squinting helps with this (there is a reason why artists are always scrunching up their faces at the subject). It limits the amount of information our eyes take in and allows us to see through the "noise".

Try it now.

Keep these words at arms-length, and slowly shut your eyes until the words become fuzzy and difficult to read. No need to squint harder than that; you will only give yourself a headache!

Keep in mind that squinting does not work for seeing color. Open your eyes to see color.

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Finely Calibrating Your Judgment

When you start painting, your judgment will be poorly calibrated, like an untuned violin with strings missing.

Your end goal is for your judgment to be so finely calibrated that it feels like playing on a Stradivarius (the who’s who of violins).

This will allow you to accurately mix colors, draw lines, and measure shapes using nothing but your eyes and judgment. No rulers, no tracing, no tools, no color checkers.

(Note: I have nothing against the use of tracing or tools to help with your accuracy. Whatever gets the job done is fine. But, your best and most reliable weapon should be your judgment. These tools can feel VERY tedious without the backing of good judgment).

Here is a simple three-step process for calibrating your judgment over time:

  1. Make an attempt at something using your best judgment (this could be a stroke of color, or measuring the size of a mountain in the distance).
  2. Assess your attempt.
  3. Make adjustments until you are satisfied.

This is not a formal or rigid process. It should happen frequently and almost subconsciously.

Over time, you will calibrate your judgment so that your first attempts get more and more accurate.

Here is an example. Say I am trying to mix a certain green color for the leaves on a tree.

  1. I make my best effort, relying on observation and experience.
  2. I compare my mixture to the color I want.
  3. I adjust the color as needed until it is just about right.

I also recommend you conduct a brief audit of yourself after each painting.

Consider if your values, colors, and drawing are accurate.

You don’t need to go back and fix the painting. Just use the information to calibrate your judgment for next time.

This may seem like basic stuff, but I doubt many aspiring artists actually do it.

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If in Doubt, Fall Back to Observation

I was watching a demo by Richard Schmid the other day ("Richard Schmid paints Michelle Dunaway"). He mentioned something along the lines of:

When you see something which seems to violate one of the rules or laws of painting, trust your eyes. Nature is always right.

(I will send out my "cliff-notes" on the demo after this email course).

Let me elaborate.

Over time, artists have come up with all kinds of rules, theories, principles, guidelines, and standards to navigate the treacherous waters of painting.

But the truth is, there are very few infallible truths in painting (the topic of tomorrow's lesson). Everything else is a gray area at best.

Painting is not like maths, where there is usually one correct answer. It is like a maze, with infinite possible outcomes.

Blindly following rules or theories can end up being nothing but a frustrating exercise.

I will give you an example (in italics).

A common guideline in painting is that a warm light source will produce relatively cool shadows.

But what happens when you know the light source is warm, but you are seeing warm shadows? What you see is in direct violation of the "warm light, cool shadow" guideline.

What do you trust? Your eyes? Or the theory?

The main problem with rules and theories is that they assume we correctly understand all the variables.

But, we are not dealing with a controlled environment. We are dealing with nature. A world of possibilities, not certainties.

I prefer to take the following approach:

Use the rules and theories to guide my decisions, but always fall back to observation if needed. Nature is always right, as Schmid puts it.

Observation is my most reliable and trustworthy friend.

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Tomorrow, I'll tackle some of the infallible truths of painting.

Happy painting!

Kind Regards

Dan Scott

drawpaintacademy.com

PS. I had some people say they missed the first two emails. Sometimes, my emails go on a journey of their own to who knows where.

If you seem to be missing a lesson, first check your junk or spam folders and if it's not there, flick me an email and I will sort it out for you.