Here’s something I try to ask myself as I create images:
Did I create a harmony of form that conveys one visual idea?
Picasso
What’s a harmony of form?
One of the key principles of design derived from nature is that FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION.
The design of anything in nature is based on it’s purpose. Good art is shaped by it’s purpose, or function. FORM in painting means what the thing looks like.
To put it another way–
What you are trying to say determines how you will say it.
This is why a Picasso looks so different from a Rembrandt, and why both look different from a Van Gogh. These artists were painting IDEAS, and developed visual forms to convey them.
Rembrandt 1660
Van Gogh
So the form (what the painting looks like) is determined by the BIG IDEA.
WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?
On the visual level, this means having one dominant VISUAL IDEA. Concept is another word for the same thing.
In visual terms, is the painting mainly about color, or spacial relationships, or value relationships, or line, etc? Is it an exploration of volume vs flatness? Filled space vs. empty space?
HARMONY of form means that everything holds together as a unified expression of ONE IDEA. The elements of design are skillfully handled according to the principles of design to produce a unified statement.
Elements of design- point, line, shape, space, value, color, and texture
Principles of design- hierarchy (order), rhythm, balance, unity.
> How do you arrive at a BIG IDEA? or CONCEPT?
Sometimes you have the idea up front, but for me most often it is a process of discovery.
Time and energy invested in a sketchbook is never wasted. Often it’s where the magic begins.
Painted value studies and color studies also pay back more than they cost.
THE HARDEST PART OF PAINTING IS FIGURING OUT WHAT IT IS YOU ARE TRYING TO SAY.
This is true for all the arts- writers, filmmakers, musical composers– anybody who is trying to create art to express ideas.
Beethoven would sometimes do 20 attempts for a musical phrase before settling on the best solution, (according to Leonard Bernstein in The Joy of Music.)
Andrew Wyeth would sometimes do 30-40 pencil studies and watercolor studies before beginning work on a finished tempera painting. (The Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth by Thomas Hoving)
Edward Hopper would also do up to 40 pencil studies before putting brush to canvas.
Norman Rockwell did multiple pencil studies, and miniature color studies before beginning work on his large canvases.
Treasure is always buried. Great artists are willing to dig.
> Once you have your concept or controlling IDEA, everything must either serve it or get out of the way.
The meat cleaver must come out. TRIM THE FAT. Anything that doesn’t fit has to go.
