DRAWING

You don't have to be able to draw a straight line to become an artist. Straight lines look pretty boring anyway! Lack of drawing skills won't count you out, but the better you become with drawing, the more convincing your paintings will appear. So practice, practice, practice - and keep observing.

One of the most valuable things you can do is get yourself a sketchbook and use it continuously. Sketch whatever takes your fancy. Make notes on your sketches if it helps. Use colour if it helps. Make quick spontaneous sketches and more detailed ones when you are in the mood. Start with sketches of still objects, later progress to moving ones - like people. Initially draw them as overall shapes, don't worry about details on clothing. A good place to start sketching people is the public library where people are usually sitting or moving in slow motion. Later try parks or sit in a car outside the entrance of shopping malls and supermarkets. People often gather in small groups and there'll be plenty of opportunity there - and you'll be shielded from public view. Be critical of your efforts. If you think you've got a perspective problem refer to a good reference book on perspective. Learn about tonal contrast, and light and shadow and apply it to your sketches using softer grades of pencils, or water-soluble pencils in shades of grey, which really enhance a sketch. A very helpful book to help you understand tone is Light in Watercolour by Lucy Willis.

COMPOSITION

Good design is paramount to the success of your painting. Poor composition can ruin an otherwise worthy picture. But take heart - the rules aren't too hard to learn, and the learning can be fun. It's an enthralling subject and there are some very good books available (see suggested books below) which will help you master the basic elements of design.

Remember - you don't need to know everything all at once to start making pictures. Just learn as you go, learn from your mistakes and count them as stepping stones on the road to success.

Composition & Perspective : Lessons & Exercises to Develop Your Painting & Drawing Technique (Seeing Things Simply) by James Horton (1994) A detailed and practical guide for beginners and experienced artists. It offers comprehensive advice on composing a successful picture and is accompanied by full-color instructions

Design and Composition by Nathan Goldstein (1989), 256 pages - The first portion of the book is a comprehensive examination of basic design principles and a general introduction to compositional concepts. The second portion is an in-depth and unique discussion of compositional structures & strategies.

Composition in Art by Henry Rankin Poore

Composition (Eyewitness Art) by Sarah Kent (1995). Explains every type of composition throughout art history, from geometrical shapes to asymmetry, perspective, and the ideal of the "golden section," and demonstrates how composition has influenced artists' decisions for tone, color, and light.

Conversations in Paint by Charles Dunn (Workman 1995).

The Artist's Guide to Composition by Frank Webb,
published in the UK. It was first published in the US as "Strengthen your Paintings with Dynamic Composition, North Light Books.

Artists Design : Probing the Hidden Order by Marie M. Roberts

PERSPECTIVE

Perspective is especially important in compositions featuring buildings, roads, posts, fences, rivers and so on. If you hope to do still lifes, you'll still need a reasonable knowledge of perspective and what happens to ellipses when viewed from various angles. If you hope to do room interiors, then you'll need to know about vanishing points and receding lines. If you're keen to paint buildings then a knowledge of one and two-point perspective will be important.

But this needn't be a big worry. Just pick up the principles as you go along rather than try to climb the mountain in one go. If you're planning a painting featuring jugs, cups, vases, etc then look up the rules on cylindrical and circular perspective. Once you've mastered that little lesson, your future painting challenges will bring you new lessons and before long you'll be surprised at how much you've learnt.

Perspective Drawing by Kenneth W. Auvil (1997)

Drawing in Perspective by Oliver Striegel (1998)

Basic Perspectives for Artists : A Guide to the Creative Use of Perspective in Drawing, Painting, and Design by Keith R. West (1995)

Viewfinder

Pencil measurements at arm's length

This is a very simple way to assess angles and proportions when sketching. Hold a pencil at a full arm's length in front of you. Align the top of the pencil with the top of the object, then slide your thumb down the pencil till it's aligned with the bottom of the object. Keeping a firm grip on pencil quickly lay it on drawing paper and mark off the two points. This method can be used effectively to quickly assess and check angles on buildings, gables, roof lines, window placements and so on.

Perspective Gauge

This device can be made quite easily and is again useful for assessing and checking perspective lines.

1. Cut two matching pieces of matboard, about 6" x 8" (15cm x 20cm)

2. In both pieces cut an identical window measuring 5 1/2" x 3 1/2" (9cm x 14cm)

3. Cut a thin strip of matboard, 1/2" x 7" (1.2cm x 18cm). Insert this strip between the two pieces of matboard so that it appears in the window and can be moved around to various angles.

4. Use masking tape to tape the edges of the two pieces of matboard together firmly.

Use the gauge to assess the angles of buildings and other objects by holding it in front of you and moving the strip until it corresponds with the angle. Lay the gauge flat on the paper and use it as a guide to draw in the exact angle.

TRANSFERRING DRAWINGS TO WATERCOLOUR PAPER

Artists use a variety of methods. Here are some of them:

Light box - Art supply stores sell proprietary brands, but a similar effect can be obtained by either a) using a glass table with a strong lamp shining up from beneath it, or b) taping your drawing on a brightly-lit window then positioning your watercolour paper on top and drawing over the lines just visible from the drawing beneath. Your final drawing needs to be the same size as the finished painting will be and you'll need to be pretty sure that you won't want to do any more fiddling with it. Commercial light boxes come in various sizes and work on the same principle.

Tracing or Graphite Paper - If your final drawing has been done on a large sheet of layout paper or thin index paper (80-90 lb) using a 4B pencil, and will fit the size of your watercolour paper without scaling up, use the basic tracing paper method to transfer it.

Using photocopier, tracing paper and graphite paper - This method is good for smaller sketches which need to be enlarged to fit the watercolour paper. First photocopy the sketch. Trace the picture onto tracing paper and make any revisions you feel it needs. Finally transfer it onto the watercolour paper using graphite paper. The limitations with this method lie in the ability of the photocopy machine to enlarge to the size you want.

Scaling-up a sketch using the 'Grid System' - When you have a small sketch which you'd like to enlarge to the size of your watercolour paper first make sure that the sketch proportions are in the same ratio as the watercolour paper, and the same format eg. portrait or landscape. Construct a grid over the sketch - if you want to preserve the sketch and not mark it, make an enlarged photocopy of it and work on that, or lay a piece of acetate over the top of the sketch and draw the grid lines onto that with a felt pen. Make sure the grid lines you draw are evenly spaced vertically and horizontally - for a small sketch you could space them 1" apart (2.5cm) for a larger sketch 2" apart (5 cm).

On the watercolour paper draw proportional grid lines very faintly. (For example 1" squares on the small sketch may equal 3" squares on the watercolour paper.) Transpose the lines within each square of the original sketch to the corresponding square on the watercolour paper. Keep your pencil lines faint. When you are satisfied, very gently erase the grid lines.

If the composition is very complex and would entail too many grid lines on the watercolour paper, scale-up onto tracing paper instead. When finished transfer the scaled-up version to the w.c. paper. This will eliminate any chance of damaging the paper's surface as you erase the grid lines.

For simpler compositions it can be quite sufficient to divide the sketch into thirds, vertically and horizontally, and likewise the watercolour paper. When finished very carefully erase the grid lines with a soft rubber before laying any colour on the paper

Enlarging Projector - This method can work very well if you're happy with your final design and don't anticipate having to make changes later. There are various types available at art supply stores. They can be rather expensive but are a bonus if your time is at a premium and you prefer to spend your time and energy more on the creative side of painting. To work well many of them require a very dark room and powerful internal lamps (500 watts) for maximum illumination. The watercolour paper can be fastened to a smooth wall and the drawing projected onto the paper or a special stand can be bought for projecting onto a table top The focusing lens is manipulated till the best definition is found. Some of the lenses can reduce an image as well as enlarging it. These projectors can also project 3-D items, photographs, text, graphs so may serve the artist in other ways as well. Test thoroughly before buying as quality varies considerably even within one brand.

PHOTOGRAPHY AS AN AID

Despite what you may occasionally hear to the contrary, photography is used as an aid by many reputable artists. The key to using photography to help with your paintings is to regard it as your servant, not your master.

The one thing to avoid is slavishly copying a photograph. This constricts you and inhibits your own creative expression. But to use photo-references that you yourself have taken can be a very useful tool if for some reason your subject has quickly passed from view, or wilted away as in the case of flowers, or changed rapidly as skies and sunsets do. You may simply prefer to sketch outdoors in front of the subject, take some reference photos and later develop the painting fully in the comfort of the studio. Many landscape artists take this approach.

Photography shouldn't be used to replace on-the-spot sketching, colour and tonal notes you make in front of the subject. Having said that, good quality photographs can be a great aid for those who are learning to paint during convalescence or if you are house bound through disability. In these cases try to 'interpret' the subject imaginatively, infuse it with your own personality, treat it creatively by altering its colours and tones, or re-compose its elements. Using a computer try converting it to a black-and-white image (most graphics programs have this ability) so you can see more clearly what the tonal balance is like and decide what improvements you might make. Think about changing the original colour scheme to something more exciting, interesting or imaginative. Try recomposing images from different photos in a new original composition. Keep in mind that photos are often poor at representing the colours and details within shadows. Also when taken with a telephoto lens the subject can appear unnaturally flattened. Photographs seldom capture the full beauty of a scene, face or flower but can be a useful aid for future indoor work on a painting. The key here is - 'Use with discernment'. Painting from Photographs by Ron Ranson covers some of these points quite well.