How to paint a good lining in gouache

A Concept of Composition

Composition is an integral part of the artistic skill of painting, and a part of the creative process, but also a form of combining the various parts of the work into a whole. The shape of the composition is subject to the content of the work and the inner feelings of the author, and is decided according to the law of formal beauty of the composition. The concepts and laws of composition are closely related to aesthetic consciousness, artistic concepts, theories and styles. Learning to master the principles and laws of composition can help the artist to choose the phenomenon of life, and the use of materials, organization, processing, and processing, in order to achieve formal perfection, in order to strengthen the artistic impact. However, it is difficult to create a work of art with vitality by simply relying on the laws of composition. So the theory and law of composition, not a set program, it will be in the practice of art is constantly denied, is in the development of change.

The basic laws of composition

Whether it is to create or practice, the content of figures, landscapes or still life, the composition generally follow some of the following laws:

1. Everything in the work of art should be subordinate to the expression of the work's basic content.

2. All formal elements in a work of art should be kept in contact with each other.

3. The work should be composed in such a way as to form a visual center that attracts the maximum attention of the viewer.

4. The compositional structure of a picture should be both varied and unified as a whole, and should make use of the contrasting and harmonic laws of form, light and darkness, line and color, as well as spatial treatment, volume and rhythm, etc., so as to make the work new and vivid and have the strongest artistic expression.

5. Arrangement of objects in the picture and handling of details should avoid all chance and pay attention to the close connection with the theme performance.

6. Apply the balance in the composition to show stability and stillness; apply the imbalance in the composition to show instability and movement.

7. The size of the work should match its content; the aspect ratio of the frame should obey the needs of the composition.

Three Principles of Equilibrium in Composition

Equilibrium is one of the most basic laws of composition in painting. Balance produces formal beauty through vision. Balance is different from symmetry. Symmetry is the most stable and simple balance, symmetry is a form of beauty, mainly used in decoration and patterns. Traditional Chinese architecture and monasteries use symmetrical formats. The physiological structure of the human body and some beautiful insects are also symmetrical. The compositional law of symmetry is similarly applied in painting, but not in absolute form. Symmetry shows a high degree of neatness and has the effect of perfection, solemnity, harmony, and stillness, but it also produces drawbacks such as monotony and lack of interest. Mexican Maiden, a print by the former Czechoslovakian painter Karyl Svornins. S?onins' prints, takes the form of a balanced left-right composition with decorative features and artistic effects such as stillness, harmony and beauty. It is not a symmetry of left-right and right-right symmetry and neatness of the image as in the pattern, and the layout needs to be absolutely consistent, but a kind of pictorial symmetry. Some of these places are not treated as completely symmetrical, such as the slightly rotating posture of the head, the shapes of the left and right hair braids, and the serpentine motifs of the left and right curled forms of the head. These differences are intended to weaken the dullness of the absolutely symmetrical composition and increase its vividness. Another German Hertford's "Before the Bridge" is also a symmetrical form of composition. The picture in the symmetry of certain asymmetrical factors, but still has a balanced effect, reflecting the unity of the change in the composition of the formal law, which can be said to be a feature of the symmetrical composition of the painting. The law of balanced composition is widely and persistently applied in painting, and there are various forms of balance, which can show the beauty of their respective compositions. The principle of equilibrium was developed based on the human visual image, which produces a psychological response to the sense of weight. The size and shape of the color block in the picture, the personality of the color, the movement of the living or non-living scenery, or the static condition, all can produce different sense of weight in the vision. For example, animals are heavier than plants, people are heavier than animals; on the base of light color, dark color is heavier than light color; on the contrary, on the base of dark color, light color is heavier than dark color; thick and thin stripes are heavier than thin lines; larger volume is heavier than smaller volume; three-dimensional is heavier than planar; straight line is heavier than curved line; color purity is stronger than the weak weight; objects are densely packed than the sparse weight; contrasting light and darkness and color contrasts are stronger than the contrasts of the weak weight and so on. Composition, if the weight bias rely on a corner or side of the frame, will lead to a sense of visual instability. This principle of balance can be illustrated by the simple reasoning that a pound of cotton and a pound of iron on a balance scale, to achieve balance.

From the light and dark tones, a little black can be equalized with a piece of light gray. When black is combined with white, the weight of black is reduced. In terms of color relationships, a bit of bright red can be balanced with a piece of pink or a piece of warm yellow. Whether a piece of artwork is balanced or not, the picture can be divided into four equal parts. It is easy to distinguish whether the top and bottom of a field, the left and right panels, or the diagonal halves of a picture have a sense of balance by combining all the factors. Experienced appreciators, from the overall observation of the picture frame, can still find the existence of unbalanced, unstable factors, and do not need to take the above methods to check. In fact, the picture light and heavy feeling and concept, is the picture of various factors complexly synthesized together and produced.

Four The Law of Contrast and Unity in Composition

Change and unity in composition can also be called contrast and harmony. Because in painting, it is always through contrast that change is pursued, and through harmony that unity is obtained. If this law of composition is ignored in a picture, and the effect of change and unity is lost, the theme expressed will not be vivid, and it is impossible to obtain the most complete form of beauty. There are many contrasting factors in the picture, including changes in viewpoints and horizon lines, changes in repetition and variation of positions, and contrasting changes in shapes (e.g., square and round, thin shapes and full and thick shapes, etc.). The contrast between shape and space size (a small shape in the frame appears to be a large space; a large shape appears to be a small space). The contrast between light and dark. Contrasting changes in color (e.g., contrasting color elements such as hue, lightness, purity, warmth and coolness). Contrasting changes in the nature of lines (horizontal and vertical lines, parallel lines, vertical and parallel curves, diagonal lines, etc.). The contrast of texture (e.g. rough surface vs. smooth surface). As well as the method of expression of the use of brush strokes, color thickness and other contrasting changes in the relationship. Most of these changes are related to composition. Contrasting factors, how to achieve a unified and harmonious effect in the composition processing? Take the black-and-white prints of Romania's Dick Ferenck as an example. Ferenc's black-and-white prints "fishermen" as an example of the compositional analysis of the unity of change, in order to get a specific understanding. This work is a complex composition, full of fullness and rigorous structure. The picture has more contrasting formal factors - black and white color blocks, vertical and parallel lines, straight and curved lines, long and short lines, perpendicular, parallel and diagonal lines; the shape of large and small squares of doors and windows on the river bank. Harmonized formal elements in the picture - in the upper half of the frame, vertical elements predominate, but there are also parallel elements; in the lower half, parallel elements predominate, but there are also vertical elements. This interlacing of the contrasting elements above and below creates echoes, giving the contrasts a sense of harmony. The shape of the large and small squares that fill the picture is also an important factor in making the picture harmonic in contrast. The dots and lines are densely packed, and the spatial visual effect is a gray mid-tone, which makes the strong contrast of black and white tend to be softer and more harmonic. The main subject of the painting is a group of fishermen on a boat, treated to stand out against the bright riverbank. The irregular and varied undulating lines and surfaces formed by the figures are the contrasting factors that unify the whole picture, thus highlighting the theme and forming the visual center of the picture.

Harmony is the relationship of approximation, contrast is the relationship of difference. Contrast is to obtain a sense of harmony through the tendency of the formal factors of the picture and the relationship of approximation. Harmony and unity to dominate the composition, but also must have to deal with some of the factors of change, so that the whole picture is not monotonous and have a sense of vividness. American Niedzdowski's "Sheep" is a black and white print, the composition is close-up, the theme is very simple, prominent and decorative. The image of the sheep in the painting is very similar, the arrangement is also simple, very unified, seems to have a monotonous feeling, but in the middle part, there is a sheep's head, resting on the neck of a sheep next to the other sheep, another sheep head in the screaming, in the momentum and all the other sheep are different, the position of the sheep before and after a slight stagger. These small changes are the variation factor in the repetition of modeling, which makes the whole picture interesting. This fully demonstrates the artistic expression of the law of contrast and unity of composition.