Simplifying Values and Shapes to Create a Composition

This exercise shows how to simplify values and shapes within an image. Here we have a black/white photo of a basic head sculpture made from clay. In figure1 I took the photo and applied a filter to it using Adobe Photoshop. Using the filter, I broke the image down to the most basic 3 values (dark, mid-tone and light). Notice, I did not go as dark as I could have...or as light. I held-back (for now) from using my darkest darks or my lightest lights. You can do this as well by going to the "cutout" filter in the drop-down Filter menu in the menu bar: Filters>Artistic>Cutout. Try doing this in your sketchbook. Practice looking at complicated subjects and quickly sketching them in their most simplified reduced state. This skill will later help you with painting. It will help your brain more quickly identify the larger basic shapes. It will train your eye in seeing as an artist.

By simplifying what you are looking at (in terms of basic value and basic shape relationships) you are able to make better sense of and quickly get at what is important vs. what is less important. If done quickly and sketchy, not much time or effort is wasted for if/when things need to be adjusted. It helps to establish placement of objects within a composition and a value key you'll be working within. (In this case, the value key is rather dark and dramatic, much like Caravaggio.)

It helps to see things as being abstract. I'm drawing/painting abstract shapes. I'm not identifying this thing as a head, or anything else for that matter. It is an abstract thing. The image is a collection of abstract shapes. I want to get to know these basic shapes, what their function might be and how they relate to one another. I'm looking to understand their relationships. I can decide whether or not I choose to make them larger or smaller, darker or lighter and so on. I can, in a sense, warp reality and fashion it based on my likes or dislikes; to play it up or play it down based on what I think is important. Or, I can choose to accurately depict what I'm looking at as objectively as possible, without bias. 

Look to how you might arrange your composition into large, medium and small shapes. Arrange these shapes much like how a choreographer would go about orchestrating movement; or, how a curator might go about arranging the display of visuals; or, how an orator might go about presenting thoughts. The goal is, you are committing yourself to the placement of these shapes and where they are going to be located on the canvas–they are bigger or smaller, darker or lighter, to be moved up or down, they will run off the canvas or be contained within... and so-on.

Since you're in the business of arranging shapes, you might as well consider using foreground, mid-ground and background to your advantage. It is important to be aware of using shapes to express an idea or to strengthen a composition–whether it be a landscape or, in this case, a portrait. The portrait in the photo happens to have a foreground, mid-ground and background. However, think about how it would change if one of them were not there. You may make use of all three of these or leave one or two of them out (for example the mid-ground) and how that might express something different regarding the overall impact of the piece. The feeling you are trying to express, and what you are trying to say about your subject, will help guide you in your decision-making. These factors will influence you even at this stage in the art-making process. 

Tip: It is important to have confidence and commit to your decisions. Once you have finished sketching-in these basic value/shape relationships and you are finished adjusting them to where you want them, it is now time to fully commit and move-on to the next step.

Once the placement of shapes are decided and the 3-value field established, I can now commit to the decisions I've made and move-on. In figure 3 you can see that I've added my darkest-darks, now making it a 4-value drawing. Figure 4, I've added added my lightest lights, making it a 5-value drawing. I'm always considering which details are important and which are less important.