Edges

by
Armand Cabrera

(All images by Armand Cabrera)


The edge of a shape carries its essential information. The character, balance and weight of an object are in the edge. ~Harvey Dunn

An artist asked me to write about edges. The following is an abridged version of information I cover in my workshops. The concept may be difficult to digest in written form.

Edges are dependant upon point of view and angle of light. Edges will change 1) as you move or 2) as the light in the scene changes. There are two types of edges: 1) edges that divide the planes of a form and 2) edges that separate forms from each other. Most of the time, the edges that delineate plane changes within a form are less obvious than the edges between forms.

Once you understand this, look for the quality of the edge in relation to the objects around it. The quality of an edge is how soft or crisp it appears to you. The greater the contrast of value or hue---the sharper the edge will appear. The closer the value or hue---the softer the edge will appear.


The quality of an edge is dependant upon the separation of value and hue between the edge and its surroundings.

In most cases, paint the edge the way you see it in relation to the things around it. To do this, strive to get the value and the contour of your shape correct. Compare it to the totality of the scene. If you arbitrarily change some aspect of the shape, you have altered the quality of its edge weighed against the way you are seeing it. When you change an edge, change it for a reason and know what the outcome of the change is before you make it.

Artists often over-exaggerate the edges in their paintings. Edges are too crisp because the artist stares at an element with tunnel vision and doesn’t relate it to other elements or the painting as a whole. Edges are too soft because the artist haphazardly slaps paint around until everything is mush and mud on the canvas. Avoid this by mixing a color and placing it on the canvas…then leave it alone.

Remember, a crisp edge will bring more attention than a soft edge…so avoid too many hard edges in a painting. These edges will pull your eye to them and scatter the center of interest.

The best way to paint an edge is to paint the correct values and hues of the adjoining shapes. You don’t have to physically blend an edge or smear the paint to get an effect. Your painting will have more authority if you make a mark with your brush and let the blending happen optically.

Talent Verses Tenacity

by
Armand Cabrera

“Every loneliness is a pinnacle.”
Ayn Rand from “The Fountainhead”

I don’t believe in talent. I believe in tenacity. I believe what people often site as “talent” is actually desire and perseverance. I know plenty of people with talent…and they do little or nothing with it. Tenacity is never giving up until you’ve attained your goal. The level you attain is limited only by your work ethic.

While I was working as a production artist, I took a workshop from Thomas Blackshear at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. I was in awe of his ability. He is still, in my opinion one of the best illustrators in the country.

Blackshear asked everyone in class what we wanted to learn that week. Most people wanted to learn how to copy someone else’s technique like Bernie Fuchs, Mark English, David Grove or Drew Struzan. I asked him to show us his process for one of his illustrations.

Blackshear had just finished a painting of a pirate with a cutlass over his shoulder. He said he would bring in his preparatory work. I thought---cool! I’ll see his preliminary drawings and a color comp, too.

The next day we walked into the class and the entire wall of the room was covered with his preliminaries, thumbnail compositions, value patterns, color comps, photo reference, rough sketches and the finished painting. There were probably 20 or 30 unique images for every stage of his painting. Good enough wasn’t good enough for Blackshear. He was at the top of his field and in all probability could have coasted---but he didn’t. It was a great lesson in perseverance and how much hard work separates the best from the mediocre.

In his book, My Adventures as an Illustrator, Norman Rockwell talks about classmates at the Art Students League chiding him for being focused and working so hard. They would say things to him like, If I worked as hard as you, I would be as great as Velasquez. His response was, Why don’t you? --- but they never did. In the end, he became one of the greatest illustrators in America.

People say they want something and they declare they are willing to work hard for it. But really, they want something the way a two year old wants it---they want someone to give it to them. People decide they have worked hard enough and then they quit. They are not willing to sacrifice their comfort, a family life or money to achieve the goal ahead of them. They unwittingly (or knowingly) take on too many interests and other commitments that render them incapable of continuing to pursue their dream.

There you have it---Feel free to agree or disagree.

( First two paintings byThomas Blackshear, Copyright Thomas Blackshear)

Last two paintings by Norman Rockwell, Copyright Rockwell Estate)

The Quality of Shape

by

Armand Cabrera

Shape is the building block of picture making. Once you make a mark on the canvas with your brush you have actually created two shapes---the mark you’ve made…and the rest of the canvas. Because shape is two dimensional, we must carefully consider its contour and its edge. More than any other artistic element, shape is the expression of how you are interpreting reality.

Shape is also tied to brushwork and design. Good shape has clarity to it. It is not muddied by over blending. It exists as part of a set of building blocks to create the illusion of form and space in your painting. Shapes can have smaller shapes within them, repeating elements with infinite variation that strengthen the overall design of your painting.

In its most basic form, a brushstroke is a shape. But a shape can be many brushstrokes, also unified by color or value of pattern.

When entry level artists first start to paint, they unconsciously make shapes with brushstrokes. Often, there is no structure to the strokes---Brushstrokes exist only as a mark on the canvas and a means to an end. Their canvases have a uniformity of application. Their shapes run into each other, never considered for their effect on the whole of the picture. All the marks are the same; the strokes are haphazard---lacking elegance and forethought.

To create a successful painting, you must be aware of the shapes you make and their relationship to all the other shapes within the pictorial plane of the canvas.

This harmony requires a plan of action. You must train your eye to see shape as a separate idea from objects. Some of my students say they want to learn how to paint trees or waves or water. What they really want is to be able to interpret those things into recognizable two dimensional shapes in their paintings.

You can’t really put a “nose” or a “blade of grass” on your canvas. You can only apply a “shape” with paint. Decide how you will make that shape, what color and value it will be and what its boundaries are. This is what all good picture making is about.

Hugh Bolton Jones

by
Armand Cabrera

Hugh Bolton Jones was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1848. He studied at the Maryland institute College of Art from 1865 to 1876. Jones traveled to Europe in 1876, returned to the United States in 1880 and settled in New York.

He was elected Associate of the National Academy in 1881 and Full Member in 1883. Jones was also a member of the Society of American Artists, the American Watercolor Society, the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the National Arts Club. He won medals for paintings he submitted to many prestigious exhibitions including The World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, the 1889 and 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, the 1904 St. Louis Exposition and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco.

Hugh Bolton Jones died in 1927 in New York City.

Jones has been a favorite of mine for many years and it is unfortunate no monograph exists for this fine artist. Many details of his life are unknown. The biographical information I could find was contradictory and confusing---and in some cases---just plain wrong. His style of painting blends academic training with outdoor work to create paintings that show great facility and a strong sense of light and atmosphere. Although he painted in Europe and Africa, he is mostly remembered for his paintings of the Mid-Atlantic and New England states.

Bibliography

Celebrating 350 Years: Nineteenth-Century Maryland Artists

Jean Woods

Washington County Museum of Fine Arts 1984.

Paris 1889

American Artists st the Universal Exposition
Annette Blaugrund

Abrams 1989

Amateur & Professional Artists
by

Armand Cabrera

( All Illustrations by Armand Cabrera)

I think it’s time we bring back a word that was popular before the baby boomers started to ‘find themselves’. The word is “amateur”. Do you notice that practically no one is an amateur artist anymore? Everyone has “professional artist” status---their desire and intent are enough to warrant the “professional” claim. I think artists should be “amateurs” until they actually make their living from selling their paintings. That way, they've actually earned the right to call themselves “professional artists.”

To those seeking a professional career in art ---

Paint and draw daily from life!

Don’t post your paintings on the web or try to sell them on eBay for $100. Just paint--- and work at being the best you can be. No one needs to see the artistic equivalent of what would be a 12 year olds’ diary; it is banal and self absorbed---interesting only to other 12 year olds.

I wouldn’t recommend having a website until you’re in a fine art gallery. Don’t show the world what a bad artist you are right now. Spend all your time working at becoming a better artist. (Do grab your domain name right away, though!).

When I wanted to become an illustrator, I worked my fulltime job, came home and painted at night and sent samples to art directors. I stuck the rejection letters on my living room walls. It was a reminder that everyday I didn’t paint or improve my skills, was just another day those people were right and I wasn’t good enough. It took about five years to get my first book cover. I stayed in illustration for another five years, doing magazine and book illustration. I chose not to get married or have a family. My focus---becoming a professional artist.

When I decided to leave illustration and become a production artist in games, I worked harder to improve my speed and skill. I knew that creating a painting every two weeks wasn’t fast enough to succeed in the games industry. When I was hired to paint backgrounds, I was doing two, 10” x 14” paintings a day for my clients. They decided when the backgrounds were good enough for the industry. Having that valuable external input was critical to my artistic growth---and an important reason I feel most gallery artists fail to draw or paint at the level of an illustrator or production artist.

After 15 years in the computer games business, I changed my focus and decided to work for myself as a gallery artist. During my transition to full time fine art, I worked 12-hour days in computer games, then came home and painted until 1 am or 2 am…and also painted on the weekends. Within two years, my paintings were accepted into a fine art gallery. Within a short time, I replaced my 6-figure games income with gallery sales and I quit my “day job”.

As an amateur artist, I sought after and benefited from professional advice. I never thought the art directors were wrong about my skills when they said my work wasn’t up to par. As a production artist, my drawing skills were weak in the beginning. I improved them with drawing from life whenever I could. I studied the fundamentals of painting. I appreciated the successful artists who guided me by offering honest criticism, even though it was sometimes hard to hear.

I’ve noticed that constructive criticism is a thing of the past. Most people are offended if you tell them the truth. It’s very sad that we’ve lowered the bar so very far and that everyone is a “professional artist”. We’re subjected to the worst of art because it’s not “correct” to criticize anyone’s “creativity”. Many art shows and organizations have no jury process---just a fee charged for participation. As a result, anyone, with or without skill, can exhibit their work in the show.

It’s time to demand skill and facility as basic tenets towards becoming a professional artist. Let’s bring back the fundamentals of art and be honest about amateur and professional level art. Perhaps, if we’re all honest, amateurs will work harder and will someday become professional artists in the true sense of the word.