51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A gifted teacher demonstrates composition, February 22, 2008
This review is from: Mastering Composition: Techniques and Principles to Dramatically Improve Your Painting (Mastering (North Light Books)) (Hardcover)
This author/painter makes essential points for understanding painting composition, one of the budding artist's most allusive challenges.
But what sets this book apart is its brilliant teaching methods. As an example, among several possible, is the DVD that accompanies the book, in which the author gives the reader a tour of paintings, showing in each what happens when he changes something. Thus the reader gets to see the effects of the changes, experiencing them in a hard-hitting way.
If you're struggling with composition, this is a good book for you. If you know composition, it is still an excellent review.
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39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mastering Your Creative Core By Using Shapes, Their Arrangement, And Visual Flow, August 2, 2008
This review is from: Mastering Composition: Techniques and Principles to Dramatically Improve Your Painting (Mastering (North Light Books)) (Hardcover)
Artist and author Ian Roberts has given us a gem of a book with his recently published "Mastering Composition." This book is an outgrowth of two events in Roberts life. As a child, Canadian Roberts joined his dad and his dad's artist friends on an annual plein aire painting trip to the United States. At the end of each day, the painters discussed and criticized one another's work. Much of the discussion centered on composition - "foregrounds were too cluttered," what works for the eye in the painting, and what does not.
Then, later, as a professional artist and teacher, he noticed that most of his students created paintings that were superficial and "looked like postcards." He decided to focus on getting his students to use their creative core and think "behind" the subject matter: "think first about shapes, their arrangement in the picture plane; and the visual flow being created in the painting."
"Mastering Composition," according to Roberts, could have just as easily been titled, "Shapes, Shapes, and Shapes" with the subtitle, "Their arrangement, interaction, and flow on the picture plane."
The book begins with an excellent discourse on what composition is and how one can use the book to grow as an artist. He is insistent on self-directed study which includes doing one composition (sketch) per day for one year. The book is very well written, includes practical rules to follow, and is illustrated with plenty of before and after demonstrations, as well as examples from Masters of the 19th and 20th Century.
"Mastering Composition" is organized around six subjects: Armatures - how to arrange shapes and how to create coherent flow; Abstract Masses - how to think in value masses not in subjects; Color Shapes - how these are all that we really have to create meaning, how to understand them and use them effectively to express our creative core; Guiding the eye through a picture plane; Gallery of the Greats - 19th and 20th Century Masters; and, Your Artistic Voice.
Ian Roberts is a great teacher and a great communicator of concepts. This book will provide valuable insights into the painting process and the creation of meaning from one's creative core. "Mastering Composition" is a must-have book for all painters.
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43 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A classic art instruction book, January 2, 2008
This review is from: Mastering Composition: Techniques and Principles to Dramatically Improve Your Painting (Mastering (North Light Books)) (Hardcover)
Ian Roberts' "Mastering Composition" is the perfect instruction book for a painter like myself who needs to strengthen his compositions. Mr. Roberts is a practiced artist himself, and one of the most articulate teachers I've come across. His exercises are organized, and detailed in a way that makes for productive results. I've owned the book for a month, and already feel I'm creating more intelligent paintings because of Mr. Roberts' insightful critiques and sensitive ways of seeing.
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