What makes artwork successful

Perspective 9. Volumes Distance and intensity Breaks in monotony Tension Harmony Dynamism Timing Light Shape relationship Weight Color Coordination Perspective Distance Atmosphere or feeling and mood Aura Presence Character Spirit Taste and flavor Every painting presents different challenges and many times those challenges can become amazing opportunities for experimenting and self-improving. That is a nice way to say that with each work comes the opportunity for failure.

It may not be in the current painting that you see the results, but the next ones will definitely benefit from the struggle and the problem solving that you went through today. Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art. Question: I like to do watercolor portrait paintings, mostly from a photo and the majority of the subjects are artists, a few politicians, and family members.

Can you, the writer of this article, suggest any fresh ideas for me to paint, to improve and better myself and be happier at the end of the painting process? Answer: For portraits, you have an extra layer of difficulty compared to any other subject: the likeness to the real person.

To make sure you get that right, keep measuring and never get tired of comparing. Compare sizes, angles, colors, and especially tone and intensity. Having the correct darks and lights, and correctly positioning bright and dull colors, create the portrait. Start by establishing the main shapes, make sure the proportions and the forms are correct, then move to the details.

Hi Nelvia, yes, crazy how some things sound easy until you try to do them, lol. But at least let's hope that knowing the theory of what should work will help us during the decision making process of painting. Thanks for your comment. Excellent advice, it seems to easy to achieve, but we know it is not.

Good design and balance can cover a lot of weaker issues. To really use and paint our voice we have to trust our gut as you say. Thanks Glimmer Twin Fun, I did not plan it to be a thought-provoking article, but if that's the case I am very happy. I try to write hubs about concepts that I learn in my art journey, in the hope that it may help someone discover them a little faster than I did. Knowing some of the basics, like what makes a good painting, is surely nothing to take for granted. I learn every day from things I read.

This was interesting to me. I came into thinking that a good painting is one that someone likes, but never thought about what else goes into it. And thinking about my favorite pieces that I've seen over the years, they all have many of these characteristics.

Thank you for this thought-provoking article. Well said Denise, it's hard to know what kind of art the public wants and likes, and trying to paint chasing the thread of what sells can be very stressful and frustrating. I rather paint what ignites my inspiration, and if other people like it too, that makes me happier, but I find that when I paint only for myself, enjoying the process, I get better results than when I paint for an audience.

For example, knowing that I need to paint for a show, I have in the back of my mind that the piece will be in an exhibit, and that influences the way I paint.

Even knowing that I will post a photo of the painting on my social networks does something to my brain. Best of all is painting for the joy of painting, having the luxury of saying to yourself: "no one needs to see this, I'll show it only if I like it, and definitely only if I want to".

That frees your mind from worries about the outcome and really opens up opportunities to experiment and learn with each painting. Great information. Were you trying to figure out what the artist was trying to say? Now imagine that you saw this artwork before World War II.

As Hitler rose to power, many saw him as a harmless politician, though some knew otherwise. In this piece, Heartfield was using his art as an instrument, sounding an alarm for anyone who thought Hitler was nothing to fear.

The emotionalism theory places emphasis on the expressive qualities of an artwork. The communication between artwork and viewer is crucial. If the art is able to elicit a feeling from the audience, then the artist has created an excellent piece. Emotionalism is unique among art theories because it is not concerned with how an observer is attracted.

Varying components of an artwork can captivate different viewers, but it only matters that the artist was able to evoke a mood or idea, regardless of composition, context, or narrative. To teach about art theories in a quick art and aesthetics lesson , I start out with a warm-up discussion question, what makes art an artwork good? I like this question because it gets students thinking more about what goes into the creation of a work of art and that art is more than just making something look pretty.

Then, I divide the students into groups and each group gets one of the above artworks with the following writing prompts:. Find the full lesson from this post along with hundreds of other art teaching resources and trainings in the Curated Connections Library. Click here for more information about how to join or enter your email below for a free SPARKworks lesson from the membership!

Another fantastic post! What do you guys think is a great grade to start teaching about these types of techniques because I think it can be translated into a lesson greatly. I think some of them can be simple enough for a younger audience and some can be more sophisticated for young adults.

We agree, this can be adapted to any age. The way you present the questions might need adapted for younger learners, but all ages can engage in the lesson.

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