Pt. 3- The Nuts and Bolts of Composing a Compelling Reference Photo
Howdy everyone! This is the third in a 3 part series I’ve been offering on how to choose, edit, and prepare a compelling reference photo. If you haven’t watched the other two videos, you can find them here-
Pt 1- Is It Technique That’s Your Problem?
Pt 2- What Makes a Compelling Reference Photo?
Registration is Open!
This free series is something I’ve been offering in anticipation of my upcoming intensive “From Photo to Final Painting”. This intensive goes live this Saturday morning (1/28), and registration is now open!! :D You can find out more and enroll here-
https://learn.stephenberryart.com/FPTFP
Nuts and Bolts-
Now on to the demo video! We had a lot of fun in this video going over reference photos and applying in real time the 5 Basic Rules of Composition. It’s full of lots of very helpful info. The video has 4 basic stages-
1) First, I showed examples of photos I wouldn’t use (and elaborated on why!), and then we went into discussing a few photos that I saw potential in.
2) For these photos, I edited them by applying some of the basics of composition (hunting for contrast, zooming in and cropping, and making sure I had a foreground, middleground, and background).
3) After that, we put them in to the Notanizer app. Here we can produce the rudiments of a notan…
4) …which we then used for the final handmade notans that I painted with india ink.
Of course, folks ask lots of good questions, and we go over lots of little details. Why paint a notan by hand if you can get one produced by an app? How do you use a notan once you’ve made it? etc etc. It’s just the sort of stuff we expand upon in the class, as we drill down and do many examples. The goal is to get you very acquainted with notans, so that you can start using them confidently on your own subjects by the end of class!
Reference Photos-
Try it out on your own! Here are the reference photos I used, and the notans I ended up making. You should be able to paint along with these!
From Photo to Final Painting is Open!
Alrighty. If you’re ready to learn more and take the next step, please follow this link and learn more about my 12-week intensive. Registration is open now (1/25), and will be so through the end of Friday (1/27).
https://learn.stephenberryart.com/FPTFP
This live online class will run for 12 weeks. We’ll be meeting every other Saturday morning from 9-12 am PST. That means 12-3 EST, or 5-8 pm in England, or an evening class from 6-9 pm in Paris, Rome, or Berlin. Definitely all very achievable! Class starts this Saturday morning (1/28)! Dates will be as follows- 1/28, 2/11, 2/25, 3/11, 3/25, 4/8, and 4/22. Don’t worry if you can’t make it to them all!! All classes will be recorded an permanently available.
We’ll also have weekly live Q and A sessions I call “Chilling With Steve”! These will run for an hour every Wednesday, from 4-5 pm PST. You can either attend live or give me your questions for me to answer. They’ll also be recorded and available for you to watch/rewatch.
But wait… there’s more! LOL. But there actually is more…. ;)
We’ll also be doing a weekly painting opportunity to get you to practice and build skills outside of our meetings. And there will be pre-recorded content (often theoretical and brain-focused) that you can watch at your own pace before class comes each week. PLUS I’ve thrown in the day-long pre-recorded class I offered last fall “Exploring Greens”!
It’s a huge bundle. Over 35 hours of learning content. But my goal this time is to provide it in such as way that it’s easily digestible over a long span of time, so you can really let it soak in as your practice and build skills. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. I’m happy to explain and details.
Thanks! And I hope to see you in class this Saturday! :)