Use Value Masses to Dramatically Improve Your Paintings

[@anamariacastilloperez198]

Value masses, these two words have been a golden key for me to do simpler sketches, to come back drawing, since many years, I am grateful to you. Wonderful and generous videos.

[@samuelmuiga3101]

That charcoal thumbnail is one of most valuable things I picked up that has improved my practice.Its saved me so many "yup that's not gonna fly" moments.

[@cecileegeorgeson_artist]

Love how you manage to explain these co,mplex concepts so I can understand

[@ChipAker]

Ian - Your concepts are changing my approach to painting so fundamentally. I'm positively astounded that I've never learned this before. My confidence and pleasure in the painting process is increasing and, yes, the paintings themselves are improving. Thank you!

[@marybethw8121]

😱Wow! Need to listen to this about 3 times!!

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Thanks Marybeth. You know that line, value does all the work, color gets all the attention.

[@shirleyhuet2959]

Me too Marybeth😁

[@robynguinn8941]

Thank you for producing such great videos....as a struggling self taught beginner, I find your teaching and demos inspiring. So glad to have found your channel....

[@Freefolkcreate]

Oh you are verbalizing the questions I haven't been able to formulate. And yay.... answers! What a gift your channel is 😀 Thank you!

[@petianikolova4299]

Thank you mister Roberts! You help me a lot to set my artistic puzzle. Thank God for your existence.

[@jonaslarson1721]

Very engaging, and your claws are great 😊

[@jbellinger4908]

Hi Ian, You explain so well how we can interpret our three dimensional world onto a two dimensional surface! I have always thought of it in this way: Intellectually we know “ things “ are three dimensional but we can only “see”them in two dimensions. We can’t see around the objects. Getting students in the habit of doing a thumbnail sketch is important to the design phase... as you stress, too. Your videos are a wealth of concise information with great examples that give students a road map to apply to their own painting journey. Thank you! I’m actually looking at one of my own landscapes I did a few years ago and things are popping out that I could do to improve it😎

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

I find I keep finding things, until I don't. Then I pretty much know it's done. Or overworked!

[@elsawessels3044]

Sir you meant so much for me You are so talented and I like your style Thank you very much

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Thank you so much

[@carenfalconer3432]

Hello . I find your video information so helpful. I teach art to children and adults and have always explained that value is so important. You have helped add to this and I hope to share your ideas eith others AS you have helped me with my art too. Thank you.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

I'm glad it's helping you.

[@Flux_One]

Great video. Super helpful. Thanks for sharing. Your paintings were really dynamic too

[@oil-paintings]

I love the difference in paintings what works and what doesn’t work!

[@gabrielerosa665]

KZbin have sent this great recommendation in this sunday afternoon. Thanks for your clarity, your deep but simple explanation...in few words you open a great door to scape from the photograph representation to the proper inner and design vission. It's not a " hearing and learning" instantly lesson, but it's a direction where we can experiment and try until, finally, we can learn it.

[@fdej51289]

Finding your talks helping me to be so much aware of shapes and tonal values. This talk was so helpful in being more creative how one can make your composition much more striking. Thanks

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

HI Frances, I'm glad you are enjoying the videos. I think so much of the success of a paintings is getting big values masses, things you can see from across the room, to carry the painting. Everything else is sort of gravy. Best wishes.

[@rajnesh_art]

Your composition videos are the best. Thank you

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Rajneesh, thanks so much. Best wishes, Ian

[@susanwong6471]

Hi Ian, the concept is so well explained that keep me thinking when I paint thank you !!

[@themysteriousdomainmoviepalace]

Very helpful! I've had lots of art classes and design classes but noone ever put them together like this. I love the big reflection piece!

[@orlane219]

Thank you for your very clear explanations and the choice of your examples. I feel that you are giving us new keys to open the world " of how to put the landscape that we see onto the paper". (Sorry for the English. It is not my mother tongue). It is wonderful.

[@n0ireclipse]

Thank you so much for this video! The examples really drove the point home and made it clear.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Glad you found it helpful.

[@donnagillispie]

Thank you Ian , all so helpful 😊

[@Chronomatrix]

Those two paintings are beautiful!

[@gaylemartin6498]

Hi Ian. Your video was very interesting. The whole painting process is so complex, yet is comprehensible the way to you explain the process. Thank you for another successful lesson. Gayle P.S. I like your expressive hands!

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

So not claws then. Best wishes, Ian.

[@gaylemartin6498]

@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition No. Not at all...

[@zannek9342]

Merci Sir, great presentation.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Thanks so much. Best wishes.

[@fatoomgierdien2181]

Wow.... YOU are phenomenal!! Thank YOU MUCH.

[@rumblef1sh]

Excellent video, thanks! Stuff one doesn't tend to hear talked about, but once revealed is indeed 'foundational'. More please! :D

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Glad you found it helpful.

[@daveanderson8776]

Thanks so much for your teaching on this subject . My paintings have been changed in The last year from adding drama from added shadow from mysterious corners as to look through a seller window ( doing still life ) Thanks so much these insights have been very helpful. Dave Anderson ,happy Valley Oregon

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Most welcome Dave.

[@JC-il4or]

Really enjoying this channel. Thank you for addressing pertinent issues and sorting it all out!

[@jamesmurrell]

Another excellent video Ian. The way you see art and the world is fascinating and you express it so well. Thanks for sharing.

[@shohreshirazi4318]

I am so happy to find your Chanel!

[@saharhomaeifar8857]

Thank you so much IAN, for these amazing lessons.

[@G.G.8GG]

I took one of those senior painting classes and it was nice, but nothing really educational happening. The contrast of the fabulous content in this talk just makes horizons start to expand and bloom. So exciting.

[@BibleStudyPastor]

Great illustrations of taking ho-hum sense and making them dramatic by emphasizing shapes. Because of what I'm learning, this year I've found myself re-cropping photos I had previously cropped for paintings so they're tighter with more interesting shapes to paint. Thanks for sharing with us week after week and helping us to learn to see.

[@kerimtim]

I like Ian's videos, they really have big value

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Glad you like them.

[@susanwood4770]

Very helpful. Not had any tuition in “foundation” in art. This has simplified in my mind the difference in slavish attention to detail that doesn’t always work, to the ideas put down in blocks joined together

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Hi Susan. even if you want slavish detail, and of course lots of people are trying to get away from it anyway and aren't sure how, even then, the detail needs to rest, embedded, in the big value masses.

[@nettacanfi5475]

Good one. Thank you very much!

[@HelenRietz]

Your examples in this lesson are wonderful (I love the "polite" painting and then the vision you had of it. This is timely because, as you know, I'm currently working on interpreting "real" subjects like a dramatic piece of barn wood, yet also trying to think of them in composition terms.

[@willungaplayback]

Great lessons Ian. Thankyou.

[@jamesparsons1192]

Very useful, thank you, Ian. I need to develop that vision.

[@lorrainedespres3129]

Have you ever painted snow scene, during your travels,I follow you .Your books are also very helpful

[@veganbyday3771]

OMG, after you talked about your claw hands and said: "Well, that is what I got." 🤣I just died laughing and did not hear another thing you said... Ok, let me try the video again from the start now 😂.

[@marcydrake9159]

Thank you Ian, this was incredibly helpful! Feels like a door just opened and I’m about to take a step forward in my art journey.

[@IamDV]

😎 excellent. Rare. Unique

[@iaincphotography6051]

Having just listened to this I flicked on a website by Franco Fontana (photographer) his work makes more sense now. Mind you I loved it anyway but now maybe I know why. Thanks.

[@sannefridolin]

Exactly! Thank you!

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

You are most welcome Susanne.

[@elenaborowski2520]

Very good. Thank you.

[@dwbhy11]

Great explanation! Thx!!!

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

You are welcome. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@heinzaut]

claw hands Was pretty funny, now i can't unsee them😂 great Videos though👍

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

I"ve had to resign myself to the claws. Glad you liked the video.

[@thvrijhof-kruit7357]

Thank you Ian

[@gustafherlenius2315]

Great insights! Thank you

[@nancykirk3683]

Thanks, Ian!

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Hi Nancy.

[@bwhittington5112]

Do you have a sequential list if your videos? Love the ones I've seen.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

I was making them weekly for two years and was lucky to get them out let alone have much order to the sequence. I am working now on trying to create more orderly playlists. I'll announce it one video when it is ready.

[@jackwheatley8838]

Thanks for your presentation. When you are massing light and dark shapes, what colors, if any, do you use? Jack wheatley

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Hi Jack, I'd say I think really in terms of values (grey scale) for the design of a painting. Obviously what I'm painting, say a landscape or an interior would then determine where I might start with what colors I'd use. But the design needs to work in terms of value first. Make sense?

[@solea59]

Hello Ian. It's pretty clear that green is a favourite colour of yours :-) . Do you always avoid using black altogether for shadows or use a little black mixed in sometimes ? Great video , thank you.!

[@jeancassidy4535]

Hi Ian I have been painting as a hobby (mainly oils but more recently acrylics and watercolors), for about 10 years now and although my favorite style of painting is Impressionism I can’t seem to be able to move away from realistic painting. It’s really very frustrating. If you have any advice on how I could move more towards impressionistic painting I would be much obliged. I love all of your videos they are of great help, Jean

[@renzo6490]

Does 'foundational' mean fundamental? ps. I never subscribe to channels. But I subscribed to this one. I've watched many, many instructional videos on the subject of painting and drawing, Talking about creativity, design, esthetics etc. is very tricky because it involves subtle concepts that are difficult to express. This is teaching at a high level.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Hi Renzo, well I'm honored you've subscribed. I am using foundational and fundamental is slightly different way. Fundamental means say first principles. Can't do without them. While foundational (at least in the sense of a painting) refers more to the structure you put in place at the beginning to build the painting on. They intersect but are not exactly the same. Does that make sense?

[@leilaskye8143]

This is interesting.....

[@구름-e6g1x]

쉽지 않네요 그러나 훌륭합니다❤

[@artsiecrafty4164]

This idea goes way back to the old masters. Study the masters and you will pick this up.good examples in the work of Cezanne, Van Gogh.

[@katiedelaney4204]

Does it cost anything to join your class if so how much were are you based. I went to college to learn art and was never taught the way you explain things thank you I have saved as many of you videos I can find

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Hi Kate, the weekly KZbin videos are free. You can go to my website ianroberts.com and sign up to have the videos delivered to your inbox each week so you don't miss one. I do have online courses but I just finished teaching them recently and I'll be teaching them again in a year. Also artistsnetwork.com has a video I made called Design that I think is very useful. Good luck and best wishes.

[@nelsonx5326]

I just subscribed.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Welcome!

[@marthacanady9441]

As a left brained person, I really have trouble with the artist eye. My mind keeps talking instead of seeing.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Hi Martha, a lot of using the right brain is practice. Our culture is so left brain it is easy to get stuck there. Exactly as you say, talking not seeing.

[@marthacanady9441]

@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Thanks, Ian. I found a book called “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” by Betty Edwards. It is proving to be fascinating and helpful.