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Overview
2005-2013 Barry John Raybould. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, these electronic materials are for your personal and non-commercial use, and you may not modify, copy, distribute, transmit, display, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any information obtained from these materials without the written permission from the author.
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Table of Contents
About this Course Unit ...................................................................................................................3 Organization of the Virtual Art Academy Program .....................................................................4 Introduction to the Building Blocks................................................................................................ 6 Building Block: Brushwork .......................................................................................................... 11 Building Block: Color ...................................................................................................................11 Building Block: Composition .......................................................................................................12 Building Block: Concept .............................................................................................................. 12 Building Block: Drawing.............................................................................................................. 13 Building Block: Form ................................................................................................................... 13 Building Block: Notan ..................................................................................................................14 Building Block: Observation ........................................................................................................14 Building Block: Process & Materials & Equipment..................................................................... 15 History of the Virtual Art Academy ............................................................................................. 16 Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................19
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Library, the Assignments Library, the Video Library, and the Online Campus.
the contents of the nine Building Blocks. how the visual music and poetry model relates to the Virtual Art Academy
curriculum.
a brief history of the creation of the Virtual Art Academy.
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The Virtual Art Academy Reference Library consists of the course units organized into nine Building Blocks. This is the background reading material you need to read before doing the assignments.
The Virtual Art Academy Assignment Library
The Virtual Art Academy Video Library supplements the Reference Library by providing extra information and explanation. It is based around the lectures that Barry John Raybould gives to his students in his live workshops.
The Virtual Art Academy Online Campus
The Virtual Art Academy Assignment Library is where the real learning actually takes place. Each assignment is designed to build a particular skill that is a necessary part of your foundation for learning how to paint.
The Virtual Art Academy Online Campus is an online forum where students from all over the world get together in the virtual world to share their assignments, providing both motivation and feedback on the assignments themselves. Students who take an active part in this part of the program learn the fastest.
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Notes:
Materials & Equipment is a part of the Process Building Block. Visual Music & Poetry is an overview of all nine Building Blocks.
Building Blocks
The Virtual Art Academy Reference Library comprises the nine Building Blocks shown in the above diagram. Each Building Block is a major skill area that you need to master in order to paint well:
Process: step-by-step procedures for how to cre-
the abstract design of your painting and make your work interesting to look at.
Color: how to develop beautiful color harmony
in your paintings.
Brushwork: how to add a deeper layer of interest
ate a painting.
Drawing: how to draw accurate shapes to repre-
and vitality to your paintings and make them far more interesting for viewers to look at.
Concept: how to give your paintings meaning
dimensional.
Observation: how to learn to see values and col-
ors accurately the critical skill you need to make things look real and capture the true feeling of your subject or of a specific place.
Notan: how to create a beautiful foundation of
Overview
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To say to the painter, that Nature is to be taken as she is, is to say to the
player, that he may sit on the piano. That Nature is always right, is an assertion, artistically, as untrue, as it is one whose truth is universally taken for granted. Nature is very rarely right, to the extent even, that it might also be said that Nature is usually wrong: that is to say, the condition of things that shall bring about the perfection of harmony worthy a picture is rare, and not common at all. James McNeill Whistler, Mr. Whistlers Ten OClock 1885.
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Where I am aware of a supplier for a particular item of equipment, or some particular materials, I have put that information in the Glossary. You will see that there is a glossary entry for an item, if you see the word italicized in the text. An italicized word means that there is a corresponding entry in the Glossary. Notan Why does a certain painting win first place in an art competition? The answer lies a lot in its notan structure. Of all the parts of a painting that enhance its abstract design, the far music of a painting, the notan structure is the most important. I created this painting Sunset over Sand City in the industrial district on the Monterey Peninsula in California. This particular painting took first place in a landscape painting competition and won an award in the Carmel Plein Air Art Festival in the same year. This was about two years after I started to paint full time. There was no magic to this I was just lucky enough to have discovered someone teaching a course in notan the year before, and I applied the principles I had learned to create a solid notan foundation for this painting. A well organized arrangement of dark and light shapes creates an impression of beauty, regardless of either the colors used or of the subject matter. This is called notan from the Japanese word that means dark light harmony. Just about every successful master painting has a very strong notan structure. Notan is such a powerful factor in the success of your painting that it is one of the first things you should study. The process may seem simple, but it takes a lot of practice to do well. In this Building Block Ive put all of the tips and tricks Ive learned about this subject over the years since I first learned about it, and I am continuing to learn more each year. Most students have found that studying this Building Blocks pays off very quickly in improving their paintings. That is as true for experienced painters as it is for beginners.
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Course Unit 1 - Techniques
variety thick & thin thin darks, thick lights impasto large to small point, line, and mass glazes feathering palette knife carving out contrast eye movement
Course Unit 2 - Descriptive Brushwork
suggestion selective rendering simulation of detail pentimenti transparent pigments silhouette accurate color spots
The character and feeling of your brushwork goes a long way to increasing the pleasure and delight of the person viewing your work. How you apply the paint also determines how much carrying power and luminosity your painting will have. Whatever your media, brushwork (or mark making in the case of pastel painting), is what makes a painting a painting and not a photograph.
hard and soft edges lost and found edges color changes
Course Unit 6 - Optical Color Mixing
optical color mixing complementary, triadic, analogous color mixing wet-in-wet adjacent brushstrokes multicolored brushstrokes layered washes thick weton-wet layering multi-layered wet over dry
color wheels complements triadic color wheel munsell color wheel tints & shades secondary colors vivid colors & biases
Course Unit 2 - Palettes
choosing a palette thirteen palettes from monochrome to vivid full spectrum organizing your palette
Course Unit 3 - Grays
making grays low saturation fields complementary contrast Godloves principle darks, lights, grays middle value ranges
Course Unit 4 - Color Harmonies
Color is why many people love painting. This Building Block will help you understand your pigments better, decide which palettes to use and when, and create beautiful harmony in your paintings.
Birren color triangle mono-isochromes and chiaroscuro poly-isochromes Ostwald/Munsell tone scales tonal influence composing on the palette
Course Unit 6 - Advanced Color
luster iridescence luminosity color preferences color threads color bridges nine-pile gradations glowing whites keying whites camouflage
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Course Unit 1 - Unity & Variety
visual music principles of composition unity & variety developing compositions harmony dominance shape variety redesigning nature linear sketch
Course Unit 2 - Space Division
unequal space division informal subdivisions inequality threes odd numbers negative space boundary relationships tangent avoidance viewfinder cropping rabatment shape simplification baselines foreground overlapping forms right angles symmetry rhythm tie together
Course Unit 3 - Organizational structures
organizational structures
Course Unit 4 - Contrast
You can do a great copy of your subject, but without a strong composition, your painting will have no impact. All the key principles of composition are covered in detail in this Building Block. Principles are explained by using examples of the authors own work to break down how they are constructed, as well using example of old master paintings. This is probably the most comprehensive treatment of this important topic you will see anywhere.
shape saturation value temperature line brushwork texture size active & passive mix
Course Unit 5 - Focal Point
focal point secondary focal point directing lines isolation one thirds
Course Unit 6 - Eye Movement
eye pathways repeating color spots guiding lights & darks entering point density of space division
Course Unit 7 - Line
subordination relationship emphasis concept simplification exaggeration choosing subject matter developing a style creating a concept
Simply creating a good representation of a subject is not the same thing as making art. Although necessary, a good representation is not enough. You need to communicate something to your viewer some emotion or idea, or your painting will be nothing more than an illustration. This is what is called the Visual Poetry of a painting, and is what distinguishes the great master painters.
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Course Unit 1 - Gesture
setting up your environment drawing hand position quick sketch glancing scribble line gesture mass gesture
Course Unit 2 - Accuracy
angular transfer triangulation envelope glass drawing level & plumb lines comparative measurement midpoint establishment
Course Unit 3 - Contour
using the mass drawing approach step-by-step using the linear drawing approach step-by-step
The old saying goes that you can paint only as well as you can draw. Here are some of the secrets the author discovered along the way that will greatly help your drawing. One of the course units will help to de-mystify the complex topic of perspective and make it easier to understand, and another one will teach you how to draw those things that are very difficult, such as arches, wheels, and complicated street scenes.
horizon lines vanishing points perspective center drawing ellipses drawing cylinders hemispheres & umbrellas fixing a complex drawing
Course Unit 6 - Advanced Perspective
streets upright objects tiles dividing spaces centers of circles & ellipses drawing cylinders accurately drawing ellipses accurately
light & shade two-value statement selecting a viewpoint geometric forms general to specific simplifying complex forms
Course Unit 2 - Planes of the Light & Shade
how to paint the form shadow & cast shadow light half tone center light reflected light highlight dark accents and edge planes squaring off forms painting trees as geometrical forms middle value shadows
Course Unit 3 - Hue Changes on the Form
cool light warm shadows warm light cool shadows hue changes in the light saturation changes in the light adding color to half tones color changes from colored light sources modeling the form with color
An understanding of form is essential for giving your paintings a three-dimensional quality. If you do not have a solid understanding of the material in this Building Block, your still lifes will not appear three-dimensional, and you will never be able to make figures or portraits look real.
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Course Unit 1 - What Is Notan
two value notan three value notan four value notan notan design planning your notan mass notan notan sketch transfer notan pens notan pastels exploratory scribbles
Course Unit 2 - Basic Notan Design
flattening values analyzing values four-value study middle values counterchange alternating lights & darks spotting keys high key paintings
Course Unit 4 - Contour Notan
This is the structure of the dark and light shapes in your painting. A good notan structure is the hallmark of all great masterpieces. In this Building Block you will learn all the skills you need to build the value structure of a painting, in order to give the design a solid foundation. This is the aspect of painting that most beginners, and even more experienced painters, do not understand well.
mass versus contour notan interesting silhouette creating a contour notan in ink
Course Unit 5 - Gradation and Edge Notans
value scale comparing values value finder black mirror limited value study seven-value study reference values black & white images posterizing images exploratory scribbles
Course Unit 2 - Color
saturation hue & temperature Munsell notation matching colors matching values color maps color studies color dragging colored light sources block studies
Course Unit 3 - Atmospheric Perspective
depth & atmospheric perspective diminishing size baseline receding lines overlapping forms dark accents changes in value changes in saturation changes in hue
Much of painting is not about how you put paint on the canvas but about how to see. This Building Block will teach you the critical skills of how to see color and values. With this knowledge your paintings will automatically become more realistic. You will also learn how to give your landscapes depth and mood using atmospheric perspective, as well as tips to make your trees, rocks, water, and skies, look much more realistic.
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dome of the sky clouds fog moonlight reflected light cast shadows
Course Unit 5 - Water
what is itness observing the itness of different objects trees rocks buildings 2013 Barry John Raybould
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15 Process:
Course Unit 1 - Alla Prima Painting
nine step alla prima process notan painting oil and acrylic quick color sketch
Course Unit 2 - Watercolor Step-by-Step
properties and types of pigments choosing acrylic paints choosing watercolor paints tube wringer
Course Unit 2 - Mediums and Varnishes
This Building Block gives you detailed step-bystep process for how to create a painting. It will show you how to paint in the alla prima or direct style, using oils, acrylics or watercolors. An alla prima painting is one that is created in one session.
oil mediums solvents varnishes reworking paintings oiling out retouch varnish
Course Unit 3 - Oil/Acrylic Painting Supports - Studio
types of painting supports stretching canvas gluing supports to mounting boards preparing supports sizes primers grounds cutting panels old painting supports drying racks
Course Unit 4 - Oil/Acrylic Painting Supports - Plein Air
lightweight painting supports loose canvas masking tape drying paintings quickly drying boxes painting support carriers stretched canvas carrier brackets
Course Unit 5 - Watercolor Painting Supports
watercolor paper preparing canvas and linen for watercolor stretching paper
Course Unit 6 - Oil & Acrylic Brushes
types of brushes brushes for travelling brush holders brush cleaners brush cleaning pots palette knives
Course Unit 7 - Watercolor Brushes
oil and acrylic painting studio easels palettes water trays organizer box
Course Unit 9 - Oil/Acrylic Easels & Palettes - Plein Air
In the Materials & Equipment part of this Building Block, learn all about how to organize yourself and your equipment. It includes information on paints, pigments, easels, painting supports, and all the other materials and equipment you need for painting. Another section covers everything you need to know about how to set up your studio and also how to work outdoors or en plein air in comfort. Organization is key to becoming a successful artist.
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oil and acrylic plein air painting easels superlightweight systems palettes palette carriers storing wet paint
Course Unit 10 - Watercolor Easels & Palettes
studio lights mirrors taboret trash can air cleaner gloves hand cleaners cataloging paintings photographing your work framing
Course Unit 12 - Organizing Plein Air Painting
packing list umbrellas stool mirrors clothing mahl stick medium cup trash can paper towels carriers 2013 Barry John Raybould
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About the Virtual Art A key feature of the Virtual Art Academy course materials is the way they have Academy teaching been professionally mapped into a structured format to make your learning materials format easier. The format is compact, without an excess of words, and written in such a way that does not allow for vagueness and ambiguity. This is done through the use of clear definitions and numerous examples to make the concepts clearer. As a result, the Virtual Art Academy materials are much easier to understand and learn from than traditionally structured books. This is particularly important when the underlying ideas and principles are complex, as they are in painting. The reason I have been able to do this is because in a previous career I was fortunate enough to have acquired extensive training in a proprietary, structured writing methodology called Information Mapping a methodology that is, in fact, used by hundreds of major US and international businesses to help their employees learn more quickly. (Information Mapping is a trademark of Information Mapping Inc.). In this earlier career, I was a frequent speaker at many international conferences on how to use computer technology to help people learn faster and more effectively. In the early 90s I was the founder and president of a consulting company called Ariel PSS Corporation (later to become Ariel Performance Centered Systems, Inc.), which was a leader in a new field called Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS), a revolution from traditional Computer Based Training (CBT). All the advanced methods of teaching that I learned through this experience were incorporated in the Virtual Art Academy materials. This makes them unique.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Brushwork I would like to acknowledge the following artists as sources of knowledge for parts of the Brushwork Building Block:
John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), whose oil and watercolor works I have stud-
ied first-hand in the National Museum of Art in Washington and in the Sargent in Venice exhibition in Venice in 2007.
Joaquin Sorolla (1863-1923), whose works I have studied first-hand at his stu-
00s in California in the Monterey Museum of Art, the Irvine Museum, the Oakland Museum as well as in galleries in Carmel, California where I used to live.
The Russian Impressionists, whose works I have studied first-hand in various
locations.
Various drawing teachers, who taught me the free-hand and control-hand tech-
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (CONTINUED)
Color I would like to acknowledge the following artists upon whose knowledge I have drawn in order to put together the Color Building Block:
Faber Birren, for some hints that helped me develop my ideas on the more
advanced aspects of color harmony. The original reference source for the discussion of mono-isochromes and the equation approach for creating these scales (included for interest only) was based on a (somewhat difficult-to-follow) text by Faber Birren (1961). The discussion about poly-isochromes however, (and the term itself), was based on my own observations and research into color. Birren also had suggestions for how to create the effects of luster, iridescence, and luminosity,
Jeanne Dobie, who introduced me to the power of mouse colors as well as the
idea of color threads, complementary half tones, and techniques for how to reduce emphasis on parts of the painting.
Ovanes Berberian, for showing me the possibilities for creating beautiful grays
The palettes described in course unit two of this Building Block have come from many sources, in particular I would like to give credit to:
Kevin Macpherson palette numbers two, three Ken Auster palette number one Ovanes Berberian palettes number zero and thirteen Dan McCaw palette number six Ron Grauer, Lois Johnson palette number seven
Composition I would like to acknowledge the following artists as sources of knowledge for parts of this Building Block:
Composing Your Paintings by Bernard Dunstan. St. Vladimirs Seminary
Press, 1979.
The Art of Color and Design, Second Edition, Maitland Graves, 1951 Joaqun Sorolla y Bastida (1863 1923), the Spanish painter from whom I
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (CONTINUED)
Concept I would like to acknowledge the following artists as sources of knowledge for parts of this Building Block:
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475 1564). It was seeing his
Pieta in Rome and his statue of David and the Sistine Chapel in Florence when I was seventeen years old that moved me to become a professional artist. All of these works had an enormous emotional impact on me, because of their sheer beauty and emotional power.
Charles Movalli (1945- ), who had a very humorous way of making his stu-
dents focus their paintings on one subject. Drawing I would like to acknowledge the following artists upon whose knowledge I have drawn in order to put together this Building Block (there are many sources):
Rex Vicat Cole Nicolaides Betty Edwards Phil Metzger Joseph D'Amelio Glenn Vilppu Bridgman Peck Jove Wang Stephen Perkins Cedric Egeli
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (CONTINUED)
Form I would like to acknowledge the following artists upon whose knowledge I have drawn in order to put together this Building Block:
Craig Nelson, a fine artist and illustrator, for introducing me to the term: two-
value statement.
Luca Cambiaso (1527-1585), who used the two-value approach in his studies
detail, and who taught me much of the detailed information on the planes of the light and shade.
Frank Reilly. Much of my investigation into the theories in course unit three
were based on work by Frank Reilly (1907-1967), who was one of the most respected teachers in the first half of the 20th century, and who taught one of my teachers.
A. Dorian, who documented much of Frank J. Reillys teaching program of the
1930s and from whom I learned the scientific approach to observing color changes across a form.
Joaquin Sorolla (1863-1923), and many of the Russian Impressionists, whose
Notan I would like to acknowledge the following artists, upon whose knowledge I have drawn in order to put together this Building Block:
Arthur Wesley Dow (1857 - 1922) The idea of an edge notan is one I came up with many years ago after studying
important, many years ago on a workshop with the artist Kevin Macpherson. He did not use the term color map, but it was basically the same idea.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (CONTINUED)
Observation Color unit For the content of the color course unit in this Building Block, I would like to acknowledge:
Several of the diagrams on value progression in atmospheric perspective were
based on the work of the early to mid-20th century teacher Frank J. Reilly, who taught many of the top US illustrators of the 20th century.
Henry Hensche (1899-1992), who in turn learned from Charles Hawthorne
(1872-1930), and
Sergei Bongart (1918-1985), whose knowledge was passed down to me by
Ovanes Berberian. The use of block studies was the color teaching approach used by Henry Hensche. Studying color using still life setups outdoors was the approach used by Sergei Bongart. There were basically two schools that were teaching this color skill in the United States in the mid 20th century. Both of these schools were very successful. One school was run in Massachusetts, on the East Coast, by Henry Hensche (18991992), and the other in Los Angeles by Sergei Bongart (1918-1985). Both of these teachers were responsible for teaching many of today's better contemporary artists and painting instructors, and each has their own group of enthusiasts for their particular teaching methods. I have experienced both methods because one of my teachers, Ovanes Berberian was a scholarship student with Sergei Bongart, and another of my teachers was Cedric Egeli, one of the top portrait painters in the US, and he studied with Henry Hensche. Of the two artists, I prefer Bongarts work because of his use of bravura brushwork. In my opinion, Hensches work is sometimes a little overworked since he used a lot of palette knife work. Sometimes he laid down color spots directly. At other times he seems to have painted wet-over-dry to obtain an optical color mixing effect (or maybe just to gradually work up to the correct color?). Hence Hensches paintings have relatively little near music compared to Bongarts work. Be aware though that I think both Bongarts colors and Hensches colors can sometimes appear too saturated and a little garish. Just as it has been for centuries in the art world, the best knowledge passes from generation to generation through a relatively small number of artists. I have combined the most useful approaches from both teachers in this course unit to show you how to learn this skill.
Itness unit
Much of the information on trees was derived from the work of Rex Vicat Cole
in The Artistic Anatomy of Trees, Their Structure and Treatment in Painting, published in 1916.
The concept of itness was first described to me by artist and friend Rodney
Winfield.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (CONTINUED)
Process I would like to acknowledge the following artists upon whose knowledge I have drawn in order to put together this Building Block:
My principle teachers for oil painting: David Leffel, Ovanes Berberien and
Jove Wang.
Frank, who taught me acrylic painting in the style of John Constable in my
twenties.
Various other professional artists and friends with whom I have taken work-
shops and from whom I have learned important techniques such as Daniel Sprick, Kevin Macpherson, Gregory Kondos and Ken Auster.
My teachers Martin Ahearn and Jean Dobie for watercolor.
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