How to Improve Your Paintings With Better Design
Painting isn’t just about putting colors on a canvas; it’s about solving problems, telling stories, and constantly refining. In a recent studio session, I (Jed Dorsey) worked on a landscape painting from my imagination, and the journey was anything but straightforward. Here’s a peek into my thought process and the steps I took to bring this artwork to life. This is what my final painting looked like:
And this is what it looked like after the end of my first session with it:
The Beginning: Laying the Foundation
The painting started with a simple idea—a mountain scene with a glowing sky and a winding waterway. I knew I wanted to create depth and a sense of movement, but as I blocked in the large shapes, I realized something was missing. The initial composition felt flat, and there was no clear focal point. So I paused and asked myself:
- What’s the story here?
- Where do I want the viewer to focus first?
I decided to emphasize the sunlight hitting the mountain peak, creating a dramatic contrast with the surrounding mist and shadows. This became the heart of the painting.
Facing the Challenges: Tweaking and Adjusting
As I worked, I noticed the upper left corner felt too static—just a filled-in expanse that lacked energy. To fix this, I opened up the area, adding hints of distant landforms to break up the monotony and create more depth. Depth was a recurring challenge throughout this process. Initially, the painting felt like one flat plane, with no clear foreground or background.
To solve this, I:
- Introduced darker, richer colors in the foreground.
- Adjusted the placement of rocks and trees to lead the eye deeper into the scene.
- Added a winding waterway to draw the viewer toward the focal point.
These changes were incremental, but they made a world of difference.
The Role of Color: Balancing Vibrancy and Subtlety
Color was another area where I found myself experimenting. The sky started out bold and dramatic, with intense greens and blues, but it competed too much with the rest of the painting. I toned it down, muting the greens and adding more nuanced gradients of violet and orange. This allowed the sky to complement the scene instead of overpowering it.
Meanwhile, I brought more color into the foreground, layering oranges and yellows to contrast with the cooler tones in the middle ground and background. These small adjustments helped unify the painting’s overall feel.
Learning from Mistakes: The Importance of Design
One major lesson I learned during this process was the value of starting with a strong design. I jumped into this painting without doing preliminary sketches or thoroughly planning the composition. As a result, I spent a lot of time reworking areas that didn’t feel right.
At one point, I stepped back and studied some of my older paintings to see what had worked in the past. This gave me ideas for reshaping the landforms and refining the overall structure. If I’d taken the time to do a few design sketches upfront, I could have saved myself a lot of trial and error.
Final Touches: Bringing It All Together
Toward the end, the painting began to take shape. I added details to the peak, making it the brightest and most intricate part of the canvas. The foreground gained texture and variation, with grasses and rocks leading the eye toward the water.
The sky, now softer and more cohesive, tied everything together. It was lighter and more harmonious, allowing the dramatic elements in the foreground to shine. By balancing detail and simplicity, I created a painting that felt complete without being overworked.
Reflections: Art as Problem-Solving
Every painting is a series of problems to solve. For this piece, the challenges ranged from composition to color to depth. But that’s what makes art so rewarding. Each brushstroke is an opportunity to learn, to adjust, and to grow.
If there’s one takeaway from this process, it’s this: don’t be afraid to step back, reevaluate, and make big changes. Sometimes, the best way to improve a painting is to reimagine it entirely.
So, what story will your next painting tell?
Main Takeaways
- Start with a strong design. Taking time to create a few design sketches can save you a lot of trial and error later.
- Don’t shy away from big changes. If something doesn’t feel right, step back and rethink your approach.
- Use color and value strategically. Muted tones and contrasts can help create harmony and guide the viewer’s eye.
- Balance detail and simplicity. Focus intricate details on the focal point while keeping the rest of the painting understated.
- Art is problem-solving. Embrace the challenges and see them as opportunities to grow and refine your skills.
