Composing the perfect picture.

So, what goes into composing a picture for my next big painting?  Grab a cup of coffee or tea and have a seat, for today I am long winded.

First, I need to get an idea and sketch it out.  Sometimes I am thinking along a certain line; like for a show theme.  This usually means I must create new ideas just for this reason.  To the right is one such sketch, it is one out of 7 other ideas I had.  To be honest this was the last one to be sketched out.  I was happy with my other ideas but there was something missing, I just couldn't put my finger on what it was missing.  I showed my wife the sketches to get her input and she said - your last painting was romantic.  These sketches are missing that romantic vibe.

Oh.  I didn't think of it that way.  Good point.

I went to bed thinking about it and woke up with this new idea.  My romantic element - "A Message in a Bottle."  Yes, it has been done before, I just need to do it my way. I went to the studio and made these quick sketches.  What do you think?  Am I ready to paint yet?

Well, not quite ready yet.

The main idea of the painting is the message in the bottle (the vibe) and includes the dog (for the show) and the boy (my link and the common element between bottle and dog) but the main element of the painting is the boat.  I can picture a boat in my mind with sails and all, but is the picture in my mind correct?  I need to verify this so I go to the internet and google sail boats or rowboats with sails.  "Oh, that's what they look like and there are so many different styles too."  

Left is my sketch of what a real boat looks like and is at kind of the same angle and direction I had in my sketch.  It's based off a few references I found that includes double sails, wooden sides, what a rudder looked like, what seating is like, and a man (sized for comparison). Now I know what a boat really looks like but I'm still not ready to paint just yet.  I need a good drawing.

With my new knowledge of boats I- tilt it, tweak it, widen it, play with it, hate it and love it into something that more closely resembles my original sketch.  I draw a lot with a blue pencil and red pencil then go over the top with a mechanical led pencil.  Working with colors lets me scribble a lot more to get what I want.  When I see what I want I go in with the led pencil and do final line work.  I can then scan in my drawing and remove the blue and red lines and I'm left with just the dark final drawing.  The picture to the right is a full scan of the plain typing paper I generally work with.  I drew the boat first, then figured out where I wanted the boarders of the painting to be (that's why it looks skewed).  The most important angle for me was between the body of the boat and the top of the water.  At what point is the boat skimming the water and not just jumping out of it?


I should point out there is a difference between a sketch and drawing.  A sketch is loose and sometimes uncontrolled and usually revolves around an idea or thought.  A drawing is controlled and is based on something.  I can sit an apple down on my desk and draw it.  If I had an idea of an apple and pear falling in love I could sketch out ideas on how to express the love between these two.  Once I had a god concept (sketch) I could make a final drawing.  Makes sense?



So, am I ready to paint yet?  Silly - no.  I still need the boy and his dog.

Here's a sketch of what I was thinking for the dogs.  Yes plural.  My original thought was to have three dogs in the boat.

Here also is a drawing of the boy.  You plainly see the difference between drawing and sketching now right? 

The boy still needs some help.  I like the top hat better than the one he is wearing and his arm is too long.  No worries, I can fix this digitally.  No need to redraw.




Do you see the balls I drew?  I was thinking of adding these to the front of the boat but decided not to.  There is a buoy near the front of the boat that didn't make the final cut as well.  At this point I am still collecting info and it's when I put everything together that I can really see what works and balances well and what doesn't.

Here's another version of the drawing, updated with the boy and the balls in place.  I have also removed all colored pencil leaving me nice grey lines to look at.  It looks nice but the balance is off and it looks a bit cluttered.   I haven't quite figured out the composition yet.  I need to get the dogs in so I can focus and make final decisions.  I'm also thinking about adding a light house to the lower right corner. The light house will help balance the image since the boat is so far to the left.  There's another fine line here because you want to leave space ahead of the boat so it has room to sail into, otherwise it may look like it's going to sail off the page.


Here are more small drawings.  The light house I drew is from the coast of Charleston, South Carolina.  I thought this would be a good tie-in since the painting was going to be displayed in the area.  But after adding the light house the drawing got way too cluttered and it was taken back out.  Sometimes simple is better.

Included in this group are drawings for the dogs. I opted for two dogs instead of the three. There was no need to redraw the dogs.  I liked what I had so I'll just adjust the red color digitally.


I'm also re-positioning the sails a bit so I have needed to redraw the tops.  I also changed the lower tie point on the sails.  These are the drawings to the far left above.

And Finally, here is the final drawing with all the pieces put together.  Changes I have made that may not be immediately noticeable include: repositioning the front sail (moved lower and changed angle), moved both sails and mast to front portion of the boat, shortened the length of the boat, less water disruption from rudder, entire boat moved to right, the angle of the sails have slightly veered to the left to give a better dynamic angle, boys hat reduced, boys arm shortened slightly, the bottle has been slightly repositioned and reduced in size, the number 7 was moved higher on the sail, and all elements in the lower right have been removed.  I have shown all of my sketches for this painting so all of the remaining changes noted were completed digitally with Photoshop.  No need to redraw.




This drawing is approximately 6 x 9 inches.  When I transfer it to the final canvas it will become 36" x 54".  When it gets this big I will do additional changes like add the rope rigging, make the boys hand more atomically correct and just pay attention to detail over the entire thing.

Am I finally ready to paint?  I feel confident about the drawing, the composition, what I am saying, etc., so I am saying YES to the painting!  I put this in for my daughter - she loves the "saying yes to the dress" show :)

Here's one last thing I would like to point out: the message in the bottle is the vibe, this is what the painting is about.  The boy and dog are support elements and help tell a story.  Notice how the boy, in reaching for the bottle, makes a line. The bottle points to the dog's face and the dogs body is online with the arch of the boys back back.  Combined, these elements create a triangle, a very strong design element.  You can see that in my initial sketch the triangle is kind of there but it needs to be defined.  This is why I do all this work and just don't just start painting.  I have said this before, it's the little things in life that make things great so it does good to pay attention to the details.

Cheers,

Larry
www.larryreinhart.com