Ognjen Sporin

Focal Points ad Infinitum

Added 2021-07-19 09:51:03 +0000 UTC

Figured I'd share another example of being clear about your focal points. Remember, think in terms of contrast sliders- you've got value, shape and color and you can have more or less of each, but your focal point will always be that which has the biggest total amount of contrast.

When you look at a painting, it's a great habit to always seek the focal points and different tools that the artist employed to create the initial effect. If there are better artists than you (which there always will be), looking at their work might be demotivating sometimes, but if you try to view each image as a good solution of visual problems which you can learn from and later emulate, it's very difficult to get bummed out when looking at amazing art, and you tend to get inspired instead.

Here's a sketch for a painting I did:

I already had a clear idea of my focal points: 1st, the head, achieved by the biggest value contrast, as well as the jagged shapes that don't appear in the rest of the illustration

2nd the hand, which is very bright and warm, and

3rd the hammer handle with that reflected highlight

Here's the final illustration, in which I kept the same value and color relationships: