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William Schneider

Indispensible Art Book

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When I attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago, my life-drawing instructor, the legendary Bill Parks, often spoke of Creative Illustration by Andrew Loomis. In fact, one time he even said, “All I try to teach is what’s in that book.” Of course, I wanted to buy a copy but it had been out of print for years and was trading for around $550 on E-bay. Fortunately, one of my fellow students had access to a copy, so a number of us chipped in to have Xeroxes made of the entire book! Even though the section on color was reduced to black and white, I still found the information invaluable!

Not withstanding the title, the book is more about creating good representational art rather than just “illustration”.  I read the book cover-to-cover, and then went through it again several times underlining and highlighting key concepts. Finally I made an outline of the important principles, just to try to cement them in my mind.  A couple of years ago I was thrilled to learn that the book had been reprinted. Right now it’s available on Amazon for $22.95!

Why is it so good?

It is pragmatic. It was written in 1947 when “fine art” was firmly in the grasp of  “Modernism,” (with all its pretensions and affectations). So this book was designed to quickly and efficiently teach the principles of 400 years of the representational art tradition not to effete artistes, but rather to humble illustrators – who had to be good or they wouldn’t get work.

Loomis states that everything in the book is based on the Form Principle – “The convincing illusion of form must do so first by the rendering of light on that form.”

He then explains how light behaves when it strikes an object and its environment.

Every chapter is filled with nuggets of information such as:

  • “No area in the shadow [including reflected light] can be as light as the areas in the light.”
  • “The big form makes the subject carry, not the incidental surface forms.”
  • “The best pictures run to a few simple values.”
  • “The design makes the picture, not the subject or material.”
  • “Contour becomes lost and found and interlaced or woven into other areas in nature.”
  • “The darkest part of the shadow appears nearest the light, between the halftone of the light and the reflected light within the shadow.”

All these quotes appear within the first three pages of the first chapter!

Loomis provides practical thoughts on materials, drawing, various methods to begin a painting, design principles, avoiding common flaws, dramatization, and narrative…among other concepts. He also ties various approaches to historical masters like Sargent and Zorn.

Well worth the price!

Painting Backgrounds

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I have received a number of questions about painting “backgrounds” specifically for portraits. Too many students spend their time rendering the subject and then try to paint the background at the last moment. The result is often a disaster; the figure looks pasted on or there is a formless envelope around the head. The problem is that the background is an afterthought rather than an integral part of the painting. 

Don’t forget, someone looking at the painting sees the whole…not just the subject. In reality, the background is vitally important because it defines the center of interest. My pastel mentor, Harley Brown, told me “always work the background at the same time as the subject”. The key is to give some thought to what you’re doing and why. Here’s a great quote from Quang Ho: “If you make a decision, it’s always right!” Think about it! 


I think of three elements and three approaches when I make decisions about the background: 

Elements:
  1. Value – is the background darker (like a typical Rembrandt portrait), lighter  (like a more contemporary graphic piece) or the same value (used by some artists to lose the edges on the light side of the face).

  2. Hue – A background that is the complement of the dominant color of your subject (either grayed or high-Chroma) automatically defines the subject as the center of interest. Furthermore, if you place equal amounts of the discords (two steps on either side of the subject’s hue on the Munsell color wheel) near the subject you reinforce the effect.

  3. Shape – Rather than have a flat tone around the portrait (boring) you can create secondary points of interest…the three approaches listed below. 
Approaches:
  1. A specific scene or environment. Sargent did this in almost every portrait. He used columns, chairs and vases as secondary points of interest to create a mood.

  2. A suggested environment. Abstract shapes still place the subject somewhere other than empty space. 

  3. A vignette– although the picture plane is not completely filled, the shapes that are there fulfill a design purpose. (I was taught that it’s a good idea to have a vignette touch three sides of the picture plane. I often design the “background” to have a movement that opposes the thrust of the figure.)

Here are some examples of all three approaches. By the way, I cover this (plus a lot more) in my workshops and DVD on Design / Composition Secrets of the Masters. 

 “Circe’s Potion” by William Schneider OPAM – Oil
“Kelly by Moonlight” by William Schneider OPAM – Pastel
“Persecuted” by William Schneider OPAM – Pastel

Paint From Life or Photos?

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"Alone In Warsaw" by William Schneider OPA
“Alone In Warsaw” by William Schneider OPA
Especially since the advent of good, inexpensive digital cameras, the debate about whether to use photo references has become almost sectarian. Purists admonish us to paint “only from life.” Yet the instructional art magazines regularly feature artists whose methods start and end with a photo reference. Certain subjects (squirmy kids, transient light effects, horses in motion etc.) almost demand photographs. Even great masters like Fechin and Zorn clearly used photo references for some of their paintings.
There are a host of good reasons to use photos:

  • They’re convenient
  • The light doesn’t change
  • You can blow up small details
  • You can be comfortable
  • There are no bugs, wind, interrupting strangers etc.
  • The model doesn’t move or get tired

There’s only one really good reason to work from life – it will make us much better artists.
Over time, we representational artists become skilled at rendering what we see. The problem is that even high-quality digital photos lie to us. Think of the four elements of a realistic painting: shapes (drawing or proportion), values, color temperature relationships, and edges. Three of the four are always wrong in a photo… and sometimes it’s all four.
The two or three darkest values turn into black and the lightest values become white (photographers call it “blowing out” the lights). The color temperature relationships are limited by the dyes used to make the prints or the phosphors in our computer screens. Also, the camera sees edges as equally sharp (not at all like the human eye which focuses on a sharp area in the center of our visual field surrounded by fuzzy shapes on the periphery).

"Platinum" by William Schneider
“Platinum” by William Schneider
Even the shapes may not be accurate. If you photograph a person six feet away, you will probably get an image of a normal-size face but legs and feet that appear tiny. In other words, the foreshortening distorts the proportions. So, if we work exclusively from photos, we become extremely proficient at painting subjects that don’t look real. We don’t even notice the errors.
When I critique portfolios at various art events I often see paintings where the shadows are black, the lights are white, all the edges are hard, and the light and the darks are the same temperature. I ask the artist, “you work mostly from photos, don’t you?”  I often get the astonished reply, “how did you know?”
The pros work primarily from life: For one, it’s much easier to develop good edge control. Also, our sensitivity to nuance of color and temperature improves exponentially. We just can’t see those nuances in photos… I know; I’ve tried! Working from life, we learn to see the elusive, sparkling color in half tones. Our shadows start to have a sense of light and air in them instead of being dense, opaque blobs.
So, if you’ve decided to go the extra mile, how do you break free of the photo? The still life is easy. Just set it up and start painting. Likewise, there’s little excuse for trying to paint a landscape from a photo. If you’re nervous about going out alone, find a painting buddy or group. There are Plein Air groups in most areas now.  OPA sponsors paint outs all over the country.  Seek, and ye shall find.
"The Mercenary" by William Schneider OPA
“The Mercenary” by William Schneider OPA
It’s a little more challenging to find place to paint the live model but a little digging will yield results. Local colleges or art centers may sponsor open studios. I paint with a number of groups in my area. In fact, I started hosting a group in my studio. We all chip in to pay the model. If you can’t find a group, start one. Finding models is relatively easy. Most people are flattered if you ask them to sit for you. There are even model websites.
Once we start to see the benefits in our work, we want more. The little bit of extra effort to paint from life, pays off tenfold.
Happy painting!
 

Self Improvement

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"A Man of Sorrow" by William Schneider OPA
"A Man of Sorrow" by William Schneider OPA
As artists, we need to ask ourselves “What is my goal?”
Is art just a pleasant hobby? Or, is the goal is to become the best artists we can be? If so, how?
Think of the game of golf. The high handicapper plays round after round… with little improvement; the touring pro practices in order to elevate his game. Tiger Woods is renowned for playing 18 holes in a tournament and then going straight to the practice range to fine tune.
The best artists set aside time for self-improvement. Practice doesn’t make perfect… “perfect practice makes perfect.” Or as my friend Dan Gerhartz says, “Attack your weakness.” Isolate the problem area and work on it. In other words, set up a self-study program. Here are some things you can do:
Drawing (proportion or shape)

  • Copy heads from the makeup ads in Seventeen or Alluremagazines. HINT:
      measure

    the proportions on the reference and use the same relative proportions on your drawing.

  • Get the Bargue / Gerome book, Drawing Course (Dover Press carries it). Copy the drawings. These are the plates used to prepare students for the French Academy des Beaux Artes.
  • Join a sketch group in your area.

"Jealous Circle" by William Schneider OPA
"Jealous Circle" by William Schneider OPA

Values

  • Make some full-value drawings of a plaster cast using one light source. (Squint to simplify the values.)
  • Paint a monochromatic head study (use terra rosa and wipe out the lights with a rag…you may need to use some mineral spirits on a q-tip to get the highlights)
  • De-saturate an image of a Sargent or Zorn painting and copy it in raw umber and white in five values.

Color

  • Make color charts. Richard Schmid describes how to do them in his book, Alla Prima (NOTE: You can’t just look at them; you have to actually make them yourself to get any benefit.)
  • Google “Henry Hensche”. Find a description of his training exercises and do them. The more you do these exercise, the more sensitive your color perception will become.

"The Old Radical" by William Schneider OPA
"The Old Radical" by William Schneider OPA

Edge control

  • Squint, squint squint!!! Identify the sharpest edge on your subject (while squinting) and compare all other edges to it. If you can’t see a clear edge when you squint, don’t put one in your painting.
  • Copy a head by Fechin.

Design / Composition

  • Find a copy of Creative Illustration by Andrew Loomis and study the sections on composition (Google him; there’s a site where you can download the book.)
  • Buy Edgar Payne’s Composition of Outdoor Painting. Copy the “design stems”
  • I have released a DVD called Composition Secrets of the Masters that includes a number of exercises. It is available at www.lilipubs.com

"Russian Oligarch" by William Schneider OPA
"Russian Oligarch" by William Schneider OPA
We live in a marvelous time. DVD’s and workshops allow us to study with today’s masters. You can even get a complete art education online (check out the online programs available at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco). The Internet also provides access to the great art of the world.  Or we can scan an image from a book and blow it up in Photoshop so that we can copy paintings…without traveling to museums in Paris, Madrid or New York and applying for permission. I copy a masterwork at least once a month! (I have an inexpensive HP printer-scanner-copier that will generate images of surprising clarity. HINT: when scanning, set the program to “de-screen”. This will remove the halftone circles used in the printing process.)
One final thought: paint as much as you can from life (even though many of the above exercises rely on photos.) The camera lies! In a photo, values, edges, and color temperature are always wrong and half the time the proportions are off as well. In other words at least 3 of the 4 elements of representational painting are wrong in a photo reference. Read what your favorite artists have to say on the subject; the pros work mostly from life, amateurs often work mostly from photos.
Good luck and happy painting!