The book Graphic L.A. by Robh Ruppel is, frankly, really cool.

Here are my notes on what I’ve read so far. (p. 5-37, 58-82, 92).

First off, Ruppel says that “Drawing IS symbol making!”

In his work, he started by blocking things out in a a very simple manner, trying to”reduce everything [he] saw into simple geometric shapes and the fewest values.”

According to him, you need to get the right initial tones and colors set down so that you can create an illusion of reality. The shapes can be super simple as long as the values are correct–it will still read as the intended image.

DON’T JUST COPY what you see. Find the right value pattern to represent the scene.
You’re an artist. You’re here to make design choices, not to just copy what’s  in front of you.
Use simple shapes: straight lines, s-curves, and c-curves.

Contrast areas of visual rest and visual complexity.

shape/design = large rhythms

form = contours/etching/hatching

Take your time to make thumbnails. The success of your final rendering is conditional upon the amount of work you put in at the sketching phase.

GOOD QUESTION: Is the design interesting and “getable” in two values?

Method for working: Block out lightest light and darkest dark, then work from back to front, getting things right before moving on.

It’s about the larger shapes and design and the idea behind it.

(Look at my own attempt to break down one of Robh Ruppel’s images. The values are really simple.)

Alter the values that you see in life so that the scene becomes easy to read and the focus/intent is clear. That’s all part of the designing process of art. Choose what you want to emphasize, and make your piece say what you want it to, rather than letting yourself get caught up in how the thing really looked or what it’s ‘supposed’ to look like. I think that this shows how important it is to  practice A LOT. If you’re practicing, you will have the skill to see how you can change things, and you can make things look convincing and cool without copying exactly what’s in front of your face or in a photograph.

Find/emphasize  rhythms… (That helps create some unity in the piece.)

“Everything is an excuse to show depth, overlap, and form.” I like how that sounds, but I’m not quite sure what it means and how to apply it. (Maybe it means that you should show those things as much as you can?)

Complex forms can be described with very simple shapes. How far can you simplify the idea?

Good value design: The clear, simple arrangement of a few tones.

An inspirational quote:

Don’t get hung up on one way to make art. Try out what looks right to you.

 

REDUCE

REFINE

INTERPRET

reduce to simple, clear geometric shapes and simple clear form (shadows).

Here are my notes and thoughts from the first chapter of James Gurney’s fantastic book, Color and Light.

Tradition

The old masters didn’t have very many colors to work with, and that affected how they painted.

In the nineteenth century, there was a revolution in the use of light and color in French painting, based on new ideas in chemistry and visual perception.

1. Science of Perception: Colors can only be understood in relation to each other–they don’t exist in isolation. Also, we don’t perceive objects directly, so color should be dissociated from surfaces, and the effects of illumination, surrounding color, and atmosphere should be taken into account.
2. New Pigments: New pigments were made, and painters wanted to show off their new colors.
3. Plein-Air Practice: Artists began painting outside more, which had a strong effect on their use of color.

Later on, Hudson River School painters observed nature closely and they captured light in fantastic ways.

I mean, just look at these awesome images that pop up when you search for the Hudson River School.

Plein-Air painters made beautifully realistic paintings with their knowledge of lighting, while symbolist painters used their colors to evoke feeling rather than to be naturalistic.

Magazine Illustration was a place for artists to play with color and contrast–very interesting in the days before full-color illustration in magazines. Artists had to be resourceful when their illustrations would be reproduced in black and white, perhaps with a color or two added in.

Broken Color: Placement of adjacent strokes of contrasting hues which mix vibrantly in the eye

In summary, colors have been used differently over time, due to what was available (early painters had few pigments to work with, and early magazines couldn’t reproduce all the colors in an image, for example), and what was in style (plein-air style painting with attention to detail and a desire to create realism or surrealism, with a focus on feeling and mood). No matter the style of painting and the supplies available, beautiful effects of light and color are possible. Vermeer could create awesome paintings with color contrast and great lighting with his limited palette of 17 colors, for heaven’s sake!

There’s a great history of artists using color. Study up. 🙂