[Painting: 'Among The Sierra Nevada Mountains', 1868 by Albert Bierstadt]
[click here to see the hi-res version]
The Texture Monster Is On The Hunt.
We all must remain watchful for no painting is completely safe.
When The Texture Monster attacks, it will SMASH your subtle values, PUMMEL your perspective, SKEW your sense of scale and CONFUSE your compositions.
…unless you trap it and tame it.
So how can you protect your paintings?
You will need three ancient weapons to trap and tame The Texture Monster.
In this post I’ll teach you how to use these ancient weapons with a horror story, a history lesson, a video tutorial and a Downloadable PDF that you can share, print, load onto your mobile device etc…
So read on.
…if you dare.
The Attack Of The Texture Monster:
Here’s how the horror story goes…
While you gather reference and work out your thumbnails your patience and focus lead to some of the most promising studies you’ve ever sketched.
The promise of those studies supports an elegant line drawing and your confidence builds.
Then you establish a strong mood with your value study and score yet another remarkable victory in your color comps which are inventive and dramatic.
Then it becomes clear.
You’re crafting a masterpiece.
You proceed into Photoshop (or your painting program of choice) carefully, concentrating, taking your time, being decisive with each brush stroke…
But as the hours pass, “finish fatigue” sets in and the temptation to rush and cut corners intensifies.
So you bust out your texture brushes and your scatter brushes hoping to speed things up. You apply some photo textures here and there.
You manage to control these digital conveniences at first but eventually you get a little lazy and let your guard down…
Then, in what seems like an instant, The Texture Monster strikes and devours everything for which you worked so hard.
You Never Even Saw It Coming…
Even within a very tight composition, Asher Brown Durand tamed the many textures in his ‘Study Of A Wood Interior’ [click the image for the hi-res version]
Your caustic cross hatching of ten-times-too-many brush strokes could induce vertigo and even though you won’t admit it…
Your clouds look like bird poop.
You fight back with everything you can think of…
Levels, Brightness/ Contrast, Hue Shifts, Curves, Layer Opacity, Airbrush, Gradients, Undo, Redo, MORE TEXTURE and brush stroke after brush stroke after brush stroke after brush stroke after brush stroke after brush stroke…
But nothing works. The painting just gets worse and worse.
As dawn breaks through the window of your studio, you collapse, face-down, on your Wacom tablet, exhausted.
The stylus slips out of your RSI-afflicted-hand and falls in slow motion to the ground…
You muster just enough strength to close the file and move it to the Trash.
The Texture Monster wins again.
Terrifying, I know.
Warn your friends…
The Texture Monster is on the hunt!
-Tweet This Quote
But Take Heart, Fellow Painters!
‘The Natural Bridge, Virginia’ by Frederic Edwin Church
[click the image for the hi-res version]
Thomas Cole, Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Church and the other painters of The Hudson River School went toe-to-toe with The Texture Monster time and time again and won.
…time and time again.
The Hudson River Painters tamed The Texture Monster and made it obey.
Texture served the vision they set for their paintings.
They developed a “visual voice” which remains unique and powerful throughout history.
They combined romanticism with realism; patriotism with religion with humanism; nostalgia with hope…
Although they mastered the many elements of design to craft this epic vision, TEXTURE (which, for the purposes of this lesson, includes “detail”) played a particularly unique and important role.
The secret to their many victories against The Texture Monster can be found in the way they wielded three ancient weapons: Atmosphere, Scale and, appropriately, Shadows…
Don’t Feed The Monster.
Before I explain the secret weapons of The Hudson River School, we must acknowledge one of the most significant problems with the current digital painting culture.
Digital painters are especially vulnerable to The Texture Monster because so many of us are obsessed with speed and shortcuts.
Entire communities of inexperienced artists have made it a practice to slap together a bunch of photos from a Google Image Search and call it “painting.”
Now, I’m a big fan of shortcuts and I also love digital painting. I’m not trying to convince you that digital painting is awesome.
I’m saying that when it comes to “digital painting,” don’t forget the “painting.”
Technology is not the problem. Impatience is.
Painter Albert Bierstadt selectively placed, enhanced,
obscured and diminished texture to serve his composition.
[Painting: 'Cathedral Rocks, A Yosemite View']
[click the image for the hi-res version]
The medium and tools of oil painting dictated that they build Texture gradually.
Digital painters have the ability to introduce tremendous amounts of Texture in just a click or two…
…and our textures can get completely out of control in just a click or two.
Yes, of course, let’s embrace technology.
But just because technology might speed up certain parts of the process, quality and (dare I say) MASTERY still takes focus and patience.
When you seek speed over quality, any number of disasters can occur, including a visit from you-know-who.
So when you’re painting, don’t feed The Texture Monster with impatience or, worse, laziness.
Instead of feeding it, pick up your ancient weapons, take a stand and fight.
The Texture Monster, you will need
these three, ancient weapons: [LINK]
-Tweet This Quote
Weapon #1: Tame The Texture Monster With Atmosphere:
By mixing oil paints on a palette, the Hudson River Painters could be sure that the colors would harmonize before they made even a single brush stroke on the canvas.
There were no surprises like the kind you get in digital painting – especially when photo textures and texture brushes get involved.
Mixing paint makes it easier to achieve color harmony because the colors can blend together right on the palette – even accidentally.
Color harmony can (and likely will) help to create a sense of atmosphere.
In “Shandakan Range” by Asher Brown Durand, the artist
achieved a sense of atmosphere by mixing a golden yellow into
every color, even the cool white of the distant background.
[click the image for the hi-res version]
The yellow is most prominent in the foreground. Even the shadows carry that same, warm tint.
(Warm shadows are common in the Hudson River School paintings.)
A cooler white (yet still with a hint of golden yellow) envelops the distant background and separates it from the warmer foreground.
In this painting, it’s the cool white which provides a sense of atmosphere and causes the background to recede.
(Cool hues often submit to warm ones – but not always.)
The midground has a gradient of color which connects the foreground to the distant background. That gradient is what gives the painting such a great sense of depth.
Note how the distant mountains in ‘Shandakan Range’ are just barely visible.
The atmosphere blurs and obscures detail (Texture) and that effect increases as the density of atmosphere increases. So the farther away a form is, the more it blends in with the color of the atmosphere. Also, the farther away a form is, the less prominent it’s detail.
And detail, with few exceptions, is Texture. That we’ve already established.
Granted, ‘Shandakan Range’ is an extreme example (the painting is practically monochromatic) but it is an optimal example of my point: Atmosphere simplifies and unifies complex textures.
So when you’re applying Texture to your paintings, ask yourself:
- What role does the atmosphere play in this painting?
- How will the atmosphere effect each texture?
- How will I (or should I) design the atmosphere to enhance or obscure certain textures?
Weapon #2: Tame The Texture Monster With Scale:
‘Rocky Cliff’ by Asher Brown Durand is a great example of how Texture can communicate the proportion and contour of individual forms within a painting. [click the image for the hi-res version]
In most cases, better rendering will not save them (subscribe to my newsletter and find out what will) but for those of you who actually are ready to focus on rendering, make sure you understand this.
It is difficult to explain so be sure to ask questions in the comments below if you need clarification.
Bear with me. This is the hardest part of this whole post.
It’s all downhill once we get to Shadow…
The simplest way to say it is this:
The textures in your digital paintings might be too big.
Although this statement grossly oversimplifies the problem most digital painters have with Textural Scale, the easiest way to spot the problem is to look for oversized textures.
This test won’t reveal every textural problem, but it will reveal the most common one – wacky Textural Scale.
Oversized textures will skew the sense of scale in your painting.
Oversized textures will make the world within your painting look like a toy or a stop-motion animated movie.
…and maybe that’s what you’re going for, but even then you still want to be intentional about it. You still want to be in control of the weapon, so to speak (so you don’t accidentally poke your own eye out).
We often focus on the contour of the forms in our paintings and forget the importance of the textural information within those contours.
But when you start thinking about the scale of your textures, you start thinking about how a texture does or doesn’t fit the form to which you are applying it.
To think of Texture as “form within the forms” will help you to communicate your vision more clearly. Texture describes what that form is, what material it’s made of, it’s role within the composition of the painting, it’s position relative to the viewer, etc.
The sense of scale in ‘Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite Valley, Winter’ by Albert Bierstadt is achieved
mostly with Texture because a clear, dry atmosphere was necessary
to communicate the cold climate and high elevation.
[click the image for the hi-res version]
In Thomas Cole’s epic painting ‘The Oxbow’ the textures are vital to the sense of dynamic scale.
[click the image for the hi-res version]
Unlike ‘Shandakan Range’, which has a dense atmosphere that tints the midground and background and obscures the textures therein, neither of these paintings primarily rely on Atmosphere to communicate Scale.
However, both paintings have an epic sense of scale.
Now, let me be clear, these two paintings DO have a sense of atmosphere.
Note how the ultramarine sky in ‘Cathedral Rocks’ tints the shadows and obscures the detail of the mountains slightly. Note how the distant mountains in ‘The Oxbow’ fade into the sky.
Simply, the atmosphere in both paintings is not as prominent as it is in ‘Shandakan Range.’
So how do both paintings convey such a vast scale if not with a strong sense of atmosphere?
You’re absolutely right.
Textural Scale.
The textures in ‘Cathedral Rocks’ and ‘The Oxbow’ are so carefully rendered and proportioned that they carry most of the responsibility for the vast sense of scale in these paintings.
The textures create what is almost an irregular perspective grid over every form. This “textural perspective” allows every form to sit in it’s proper location within the world of the painting because the textures are the right size and shape.
The forms within the forms.
So, every time you apply a new texture (via adjustment layer or scatter brush or whatever) ask yourself these questions:
- Is this texture appropriate for the form to which I’m applying it and for the painting as a whole?
- Considering the relative position of the form in relationship to the viewer, is it’s texture the appropriate scale?
- Considering the relative position of the form within the world of the painting, is it’s texture the appropriate scale?
- Does this texture fit the contour of the form to which I am applying it?
…in that order.
Does this make sense?
(Side Note: ‘The Oxbow’ by Thomas Cole has a very interesting story which will likely enhance your appreciation for it. I recommend that you read the Wikipedia entry to learn more.)
Weapon #3: Tame The Texture Monster With Shadow:
Albert Bierstadt kept the many intense textures in ‘A Rocky Mountain View’
under control by grouping textured forms together in shadow.
[click the image for the hi-res version]
One of my favorite ways to trap and tame Texture is with Shadow.
That’s exactly what Bierstadt did with his painting ‘A Rocky Mountain View’ (shown above).
Take a minute and imagine this painting lit from the front, without the shadows in the foreground and midground. It could easily have become a caustic mess.
That group of trees in the foreground, which is so vital to the composition, might just become a mass of textural noise in front of those very textural mountains in the background. The foreground would be in constant competition with that epic sky and that melodramatic sense of depth would be gone.
Enter The Texture Monster.
Bierstadt knew this painting was at-risk of Texture Monster attack which is why, I’m sure, he “grouped” the compositional forms within the foreground (and some forms in the midground) together with shadow, simplifying everything that might undermine the point of the painting.
The point of the painting is the way light breaks through the clouds in that epic sky. And it’s pretty awesome how Bierstadt took the shadows that would already have been present in this view he observed and designed them to trap and tame The Texture Monster.
So when you’re wielding the ancient weapon of Shadow, ask your self these questions:
- What is the point of my painting and how can shadow help my audience to focus on that point?
- Are there areas in the painting where shadows would naturally occur?
- How can I design those naturally-occurring shadows to serve my point, my vision, my composition?
I have just a couple more important things to say about Shadow.
1.) This is not an excuse to just black out everything you don’t know how to handle.
The Hudson River Painters respected the vitality of Shadow in their paintings and so should you. Use it as often as it’s appropriate for each individual painting, but don’t just replace Texture cheats with Shadow cheats.
2.) For further insight about Shadow…
Scroll up to the section titled “But Take Heart, Fellow Painters!” and look again at ‘The Natural Bridge, Virginia’ by Frederic Edwin Church. Church trapped and tamed The Texture Monster with shadow here as well.
(Side note: He’s my favorite of the Hudson River Painters and that’s my favorite painting from The Hudson River School.)
Homework:
Bierstadt’s ‘A Rocky Mountain View’ is pretty atmospheric and cloudy.
Bierstadt could have used Atmosphere to obscure the background more than he did.
The sense of atmosphere is especially evident in this painting because the clouds and mist are such a big deal. They’re there because Bierstadt put them there. He didn’t make his design choices by accident.
A designed atmosphere would have achieved the separation of the foreground trees and other foreground details from the mountains and sky to avoid a caustic mess. It certainly worked for Asher Brown Durand in ‘Shandakan Range.’
So, why didn’t Bierstadt just protect his painting from The Texture Monster with Atmosphere when it was already so prominent?
I have my thoughts, but I want you to work this out.
Think it through and share your thoughts in the comments below.
Don’t worry about being wrong. Although I think I can defend my own opinion, we can’t be completely certain unless we talk to Bierstadt.
And he’s…
…unavailable, so…
It’s up for discussion.
DOWNLOAD My PDF Guide:
Click Here to DOWNLOAD the FREE PDF version of this article.
Share it with your friends, teachers, students, pets, whoever. Load it onto your mobile device or print it out. Whatever works.
The Hudson River School Texture & Rendering Tutorial:
The following video covers these same concepts in a more visual way PLUS some bonus content that isn’t covered in the article. It’s 22 minutes of pure, Texture Monster Defense Training.
The Hudson River Painters Faced The Texture Monster Head-On.
Texture is detail. Texture is contrast. Texture is form.
So when you add texture to a painting, you are putting detail on top of detail. Contrast on top of contrast. Form on top of form.
Detail, contrast and form are all things that draw attention.
Chaos will ensue if you don’t make a plan for your texture from the start and consider every application you’re inspired to make as you progress.
If it isn’t contained, tamed and controlled, The Texture Monster will destroy your paintings so wield the three ancient weapons of Atmosphere, Scale and Shadow to make texture serve the vision for your painting.
Comment and Share:
Have your paintings ever been eaten by The Texture Monster? What could you have done to protect them?
The three weapons I talked about in this post are not the only ones that The Hudson River Painters fought with. Can you think of others?
Please share in the comments below.
If You Like This Tutorial:
Check out my other Digital Painting Tutorials for Concept Artists & Illustrators!
{ 65 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow Chris! Academic (even Masters) material that can be applied to every level. They way you approached the subject, provided guidance, and a solution, is remarkable. I’m no painter, but I can see this happening at my level, even when its just at the sketch and ink scale, where I approach something simple at the non-digital level.
Not sure if I’ll get to do the homework at this time, but it is definitively worth looking into, even if painting is not your thing.
This is a great mega post. I’m sure lots of artists will benefit from it.
Hats off, my friend! (Labour of Love that already pays, I say).
Thanks so much for creating this. May it benefit everyone in the artist community.
Thanks for the encouragement, Jose!
I think I worked harder on this post than any other I’ve ever created so it’s a relief to see that people are finding value in it.
And, you’re exactly right. The information is directed to digital painters but it applies to sketching and comics etc.
You’re a blessing, dude.
I love talking about famous paintings, I believe there is so much to learn, just like the old apprentices who became the masters, they studied every detail, so awesome job Chris! I believe the clouds in Bierstadt’s ‘A Rocky Mountain View’ are helping define the the paintings foreground and background. Most artists always just allow the clouds to focus of in the background, but the choice of adding detail in the shadowing and colour focus’s the viewer on the clouds in the foreground, tunneling you back into the distance, adding to the atmosphere. This is evident with the top left corner covered by cloud and the top right open. It shows which mountain is closer to the viewer.
Side note: How amazing is the depth of colour in the painting!
Thanks so much, Tegan.
I’ll wait to share my own answer to the homework because I want people to really think it through and work on it.
And yes, the use of color is breathtaking.
You have inspired me so much, I’m totally going to go outside this weekend and paint a landscape and brace for the winter weather!
Aw YEAH! Have fun! I’d love to see the painting when you’re done!
It took awhile, and some adjustments after learning much much more over the last weeks from yourself. But it was fun to actually grab a paint brush again:
http://teganclancy.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/tree-studies.html
I have two words why I think he didn’t use atmosphere. Well, it would cover up all that JUICY detail that’s on that well painted mountain! More seriously, I do think it boils down to three words.
Direct, focused light.
Details even in “Shandakan” can be seen on that little cliff not too far away on the right. I know what you are going to say, “But Richard THAT’S not as far away as the mountain in “A Mountain View”!”. I know BUT they (both rock-faces in both paintings) Have focused light on them. This makes me believe that details are able to BURST through atmospheric disturbances (dust n’ stuff) when some of the surfaces are pointng at *just* the right angle to directly reflect the sun towards the veiwer, allowing us to see “details” from a far distance!
That was my very best guess! I am quite new to this so I am hoping to learn a lot. Do I get a Gold Star?
Richard
Richard, if I had any gold stars to give, I would give you one just for being awesome.
But I’ll hold off on sharing my own answer until later when more people have had time to discuss.
Thank you SO MUCH.
Hi Chris. Here’s my homework answer: I think Bierstadt didn’t apply Atmosphere on the clouds because it would not help with the flow of the painting. In “Shandakan Range” the flow is created pretty much with the tree framing the mountain, but with “A Rocky Mountain View” opening up the sky will create an awful division with the Shadowed foreground.
I also think it has to do with what each artist was trying to say. “Shandakan Range” for me is more of the artist saying: there, do you see the mountains a far – you can barely see them? While “A Rocky Mountain View” tries to compare the hard, solid land with the puffy clouds, so texture is needed.
Please take it easy with me as I like to look at paintings but not really make them
Great post by the way!
Thank you, Powil!
And welcome!
Awesome Post!
Thank you
Thank you, Louie.
Oats, this is awesome!
I’m so glad you like it, Alex. Thank you.
Awesome tutorial! You were born to be a teacher. Thank you for all your efforts!
Thanks, Rob! Teaching is in my DNA – literally. And I think I’ve finally found the kind of education that I’m meant to provide.
A monster post in many senses of the word! It was fun to watch you tackle this beast – and it is certainly building anticipation for the results of your upcoming painting course!
Yeah, Scott, if you like this post, you’ll LOVE my course. I’m getting so excited to release it!
Soon.
Thanks!
Thanks for the awesome post Chris. Really informative and it got me to thinking about how these methods have been used in paintings for animation. In traditional animation (and CG but it’s easier to see in 2D) it’s important for the background to not steal focus from the animation.
As I was researching some of the Disney classics, you can see the areas where they painted areas of light for the characters but there also some other tricks used. Interestingly, at the beginning of Peter Pan, the nursery wallpaper actually looses detail and becomes more blurred as more action is introduced with Mr. Darling. It’s subtle but effective.
In terms of landscapes, a good example I can think of is in Cinderella where she’s crying in the garden. All of the trees point towards her and she is at the centre of a very contrasted pool of light. (This is just the BG sans Cindy)
http://one1more2time3.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/cind092pan-a.jpg
Obviously, this is a more stylised approach to leading the eye, but I can see this being used in ‘A Rocky Mountain View’.
This might be overreaching, or just how my eyes perceive things, but usually some landscapes have a tendency to be really busy. However, I could instantly tell that this image had a flow to it.
http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k554/MatthewRobertDavies/Comparison.jpg
Interested in hearing other people’s opinions and thanks again Chris!
WOW! VERY NICE, Matt!
I just got chills!
Very insightful.
Thank you for sharing!
How amazing are the composition designs in Cinderella’s environment! I know that Disney referenced them in the visual development stage of Tangled! So they were also learning off the masters!
Yeah, I never appreciated Cinderella as much as I did after reading about the compositions in the Tangled book. Brilliant.
Same here Chris. There’s also some really insightful information about composition, including Cinderella, in Hans Bacher’s ‘Dream Worlds: Production Design for Animation’. Great book.
hey thanks for this huge post!
ok now my try for homework…i think shadows enhances the lightness, the more light …the more contrast in the parts that aren’t directly receiving all those sun beams …so in this case we see a big contrast between the foreground and that epic sky, and that gives more sense that all those elements are in the same place, being part of a 3dimensional world and helps to make more dramatic that sky (in my opinion is the reason of the painting). for me it’s a kind of atmosphere tool but using shadows instead of light.
thanks again for share all this knowledge!!
Thank you, Jesus!
And you’re welcome!
I’m going to wait to comment on the homework for a few days so others will have time to give it a try.
Thanks again!
Firstly, I was completely unaware of this movement and now I am completely in love with it. I’m useless with landscapes and I think this helps me appreciate the subject matter more, but this article has also taught me a lot about how I could improve my landscape paintings.
I have had two main problems with digital texturing: 1) The textures weren’t subtle enough. Nowadays I hardly ever use ‘multiply’ for my textures and if I do, the opacity is set rather low. Sometimes there isn’t any need for strong textures to create the right effect.
2) I used the same texture for multiple assets. I selected various things that I wanted textured, whether they were in the foreground, midground or background, and used the same scale and the same texture for all of them. Even using multiple textures wouldn’t solve my problem so the solution is to master the scale of the texture, which you have advised in this blog post.
As for your second question, I definitely think that finding the right composition whilst maintaining a sense of reality and gaining the desired effect is something these artists had to think about carefully. Not only could you clutter up the picture with un-needed textures, you could also have too many unnecessary assets in the picture that would draw focus away from the main subject.
Jio,
You are ANYTHING but “useless” when it comes to landscape painting. You have offered some VERY insightful comments here.
Thank you so much for sharing.
The Hudson River painters is really great post, about the texture monster, is it just for landscape? or including character, portrait painting as well?
Thank you so much again for the tipsfor fighting the monster Mr. Chris
You’re welcome, Rio!
This is a great question.
The techniques for controlling texture are for any kind of painting. I just used the paintings from The Hudson River School as examples because they were so brave (and so successful) when it came to controlling texture.
…and it just so happens that The Hudson River Painters painted landscapes.
I can’t wait to hear about your many victories against The Texture Monster!
Hey, Chris! Thanks for this “open new world” in digital painting for us!
My opinion is they dont use atmosphere because he could lose all the sense of depth achieved putting the shadow in the foreground…
Wait for the real answer!
Tnks!
Thanks to YOU for investing in what I’m trying to achieve here, Leonardo!
I had to cheat and read some other answers before I could figure out what the question was asking. I think the use of the word ‘texture’ was throwing me off. Kept thinking in terms of applying texture like in a 3D program rather than rendering details. Granted, I don’t do any landscape style paintings. Yet.
A lot of these works are about framing a certain view with up-close details and distant landscapes.
Mountain View, on other hand, stands out by obscuring close up details with shadows and emphasizing detail on the opposite side of the lake to show an even more impressive view than one that stretches out(horizontally). It flows upwards into the impressive sky. The clouds opposite the lake are even more detailed than the dirty brown ones that are closest to us on THIS side of the lake. This helps to frame the view of the impressive towering mountain merging with the clouds.
Plus, a mountain ‘lake’ such as this won’t be very large to begin with. Look at the main mountain across from us. The timberline is about one-third the way up that slope, if on average that point is 11,500 feet in elevation our painter is probably sitting between 8,500 and 9,500 feet in elevation. The peaks are fairly close in places like this and Bierstadt may have wanted to emphasize that bowl-like feeling where several mountain peaks come together in the Rockies. Using atmospheric haze to obscure the detail would have been counter-productive to the feeling of the towering peaks around this little lake. And if you’ve ever been to any little lakes like this, high in the Rockies, the towering peaks above are pretty damn impressive.
That was way more than I expected to type. Whew! Thanks for the informative & thought-provoking post.
I also apologize if this shows up twice.
Amazing, AJ.
Very well-put. …and well thought-out. That timberline thing never occurred to me.
I’ll share my own perspectives on this whole discussion in the coming weeks.
Thank you for taking the time to share with us.
And seeing as how I’m not often into the whole, you know, “brevity” thing, don’t ever hesitate to go long if it’s great content – which this comment is!!!
You’re awesome.
Thanks! I’m glad I was finally able to get it posted. I saved it in a gmail draft and pasted it in here when I got home and it showed up right away! No waiting for moderation or anything. I don’t know why it wouldn’t take when I was at work…
Wow!!! thanks for this Chris. This is definitely one of my problem areas. I’m not even finished reading the post yet,but there’s already so much helpful info. This is great,the example images are beautiful!!!
Thanks, R’john.
Good to see you over here!
Yeah, the idea with this post was to create something you could really sink your teeth into. …something people could keep as a reference. Hence, the video and the PDF.
Thanks Chris! I’ll definitely have to look into those techniques when texture may or may be needed. Such incidents have even happened in some of my photo manipulations where the added object is either not blended well into the picture due to atmosphere or even tonal reasons (warm vs. cold). I should look back and see whether I should edit, or chose a certain composition in a way that texture doesn’t dictate the whole page.
Seeing the atmosphere rule reminded me also of Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818). There he uses the fog to help with the composition and for its emotional responses; rather than have the mountains totally weigh it down.
That painting is gorgeous and you are exactly right.
Excellent contribution, Kate!
Thanks Chris! This helps so much as it is easy to give in to the Texture Monster. I always have a hard time figuring out when to stop with putting so much detail as compared to allowing the viewer to “feel” the detail. I love these paintings from The Hudson River Painters. Your video really helped to bring out what you mentioned in the post too – understood more after watching the video.
What I find interesting with “A Rocky Mountain View” is the texture you see at a distance (especially across the water on the rocks on the left) – you can see (and feel) the texture and with the shadow how big that mountain of rock is. With regards to atmosphere, covering up the texture of the crags and mountain in the distant might take away from how colossal the mountains are. When you look at how small the animals are on the bottom of the painting and draw your eyes up to the top mountain, you get a very powerful view of the magnitude these mountains are. Can’t wait to read your review of why.
Great answer, Mark!
So glad you liked the video too!
Love those Hudson River Dudes!
Chris, my first love in painting is in landscapes. So this tutorial is one I appreciate a lot. I’ve been painting landscapes in real media for forty years and it just goes to show that if the spirit is willing there is no end to learning about that which we love. A multifaceted understanding of what makes a painting great comes from being open to a variety of points of view, and I’m fast coming to appreciate the depth of yours. Your idea of the Texture Monster has been added to my inner store of art concept tools, and I’ll be on the lookout for it from now on. <3
In answer to your question: The artist didn't obscure the textures in the whole of the background (if I'm understanding your question correctly…) because his composition needed to draw the eye along a specific path at a particular pace in order for us to linger here and there to feast our eyes, to breathe in the magnificence, to feel the glory. Moving my eyes over this painting gave me the feelings that I would have felt if I were standing in that spot in real life, watching the clouds and their shadows massing, obscuring and revealing the magnificent scene!
Thanks for this!
That was downright poetic, Jande.
I got chills!
Do you post your landscapes anywhere online? What other landscape painters do you like?
Giving you chills makes me happy, since you gave me chills sharing the Beirstadt paintings. :`)
Hmm… My favorite landscape painters. That’s a hard one for two reasons: I have a congenitally poor memory for names, and, usually it’s the individual painting that moves me. Which is why I’ve been so taken with Beirstadt –almost everything he painted was exceptionally moving. But I’ll give it a go with some painters who’s landscapes have moved me. Starting with John Constable, Gustave Courbet, Joseph Turner, and the like. Monet of the Impressionists. Moving on to the Group of Seven –particularly Thom Thompson, but also Lismer, Carmichael, Varley)… Ok fried my brain cells trying to remember those. :`)
I don’t have much online. My online stuff has mostly revolved around my graphic novel. But I did upload my first fully digital piece a couple of weeks ago, a fantasy landscape. That was a challenge (doing it totally digitally). You can see it here if you like: http://www.e-orbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Forest006.jpg I’d be interested to know what you think of it.
Aw snap! You just rattled off some of my all-stars!
Constable & Courbet are freakin’ WIZARDS! …Turner, of course. And I’m crazy for Monet.
I’m not that familiar with the Group of Seven. I only learned about them within the past couple of years.
And I really like your color palette and that technique you used to paint the foreground tree.
Is that some Bierstadt influence I see there?
Thanks for the kind words about my Forest Walker painting. I admit I was a little scared to show it off, since it’s my first all digital one. I’m honoured that you like it, and appreciate your feedback on it.
No Beirstadt influence in that one, since I finished it about a month before I ever heard of him (here, in this article of yours as a matter of fact) :`) I have since found places to download some pretty nice HD photos of a ton of his work, and I’m excited to find that every one of them is totally awesome. He’s is my new favourite. Thank you, Chris!
This has been my impetus for revisiting some of my older works where I failed to achieve what I wanted, and to rework them to give them a touch of awesome. Wish me luck!
Awesome article, Chris!! This is definitely very poignant to me, as I can often give in to the Texture Monster. Once I discovered how to use textures, there was no going back, and certainly not all my attempts have been successful! Your tip about textures and scale is especially helpful for me, as I know I’ve made that mistake before.
All these paintings absolutely take my breath away! I’m in agreement with you, Chris, and your love for The Hudson River School. My parents actually have a HRS painting (I think) hanging in our living room. Beautiful landscape paintings like these always just consume me.
As to your question with “A Rocky Mountain View,” I personally find that the intense shadows in the foreground providing a kind of compositional grounding for the painting as a whole. The upper part of the picture has a very light and “insubstantial” atmosphere (fluffy clouds, bright colors morphing into each other). Darkness, however, feels weighty and firm. The grounding shadows in the foreground allow me to further enjoy the light, dancing colors of the background.
Also–and I think some other readers have pointed this out as well–the shadows provide a nice composition for the eye to follow. My eye sees two things in this painting. One is this natural shadow line that starts in the upper-right-center that passes down through the clouds and mountains and ends right on the trees before it folds out into the rest of the dark foreground. The other is the dark framing (which I always love) with the mountains on either side that seamlessly integrate into the foreground. These two things probably also contribute to the “grounding” idea I mentioned.
I have to say though, that while perhaps the focus in this painting is on the beautiful, delicate sunbeams coming through the clouds, one of my personal favorite parts of the painting is the lake itself. I love the colors and light reflected in the water. So beautiful!
I agree, Annamarie. Gorgeous. And the lake — I KNOW! Amazing.
The Texture Monster gets us all from time to time. It’s good to have a stronger arsenal to fight it off!
I really enjoyed this post Chris! The inclusion of a video explanation really helped the information I’d already read to sink in. It was also great to see exactly which parts of the paintings you were referring too. I’m sure it was really time consuming putting together a post like this, but I hope you do a few more
I’d never heard of the Hudson River School before this post, so now I have a few more works to add to my inspiration folder lol Some of the information on the use of shadow and atmosphere also reminded me of a book I read by Andrew Loomis on illustration and the use of colors. That book was a much more general reference to color harmony and establishing strong values, but I think the information works excellently with this post.
Thanks for taking to time out to work on this! ♪
You are so welcome.
Yeah, I spent weeks on this post but I’m really happy with it and proud of the accomplishment.
The HRP is amazing. And PROLIFIC! So you’ve hit a jackpot of inspiration there…
And, Loomis is a Jedi Master!
Wow this is amazing (I so just subscribed, and wish I found this site sooner). I am actually doing a cert 3 in commercial arts than a diploma in it, which I actually hate but am sticking it out, I much prefer traditional art to digital stuff. Anyway whole point to this is That I think your site will actually help me find something to enjoy about digital art, so many thanks to you for doing that. =3
Thank you, Tracy!
“Digital” is just a convenience, right?!
This is so inspiring. I love the Hudson River painters, and can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed reading through your tutorial to look at them with new eyes. So informative.
As for the homework: I think the contrast of the shadow vs the light helps draw the eye up and through the painting, up to the mountaintops, with the shadow below acting like a vignette.
Also by keeping the details visible – the animals, the trees – it helps describe the scale of the mountains.
Looking forward to hearing your analysis!
Thanks for this, Chris – awesome stuff. Truly inspiring.
Oh, that’s embarrassing. I raced down to respond to the homework before I realized there was a video, and now it sounds like I was just quoting you from it *blush*
No, you did a great job, Tina!
Great stuff!
So I finally got around to looking at this. I saw it the other day, but I have been so busy working on my portfolio and running errands and just life. haha.
I’m glad I didn’t put any texture in my paintings yet, though! Now I will feel much more prepared for it. I’m probably going to read through this a few more times before I even attempt to put it in, just to be sure that I am doing things well and effectively.
It’s nice to have input from other people who are more familiar with famous artists, and who are capable of interpreting effectively what they did to achieve a certain look. Especially when my own eyes are so used to seeing things a certain way.
It’s my dream to work for Disney Animation studios one day, and I know that my portfolio needs work to achieve that goal, but with this site overall, and your input and readiness to help, I know it’s something that I can do so long as I keep putting in the effort.
Thanks for everything. You’re just a blessing to those of us who want to learn but feel so out of the loop! I recommend your site to everyone I know involved in art. haha.
Thank you so much, Travis.
I rely on word of mouth, social media and links from other blogs much more than other sites that are more topical so I can’t even begin to express my gratitude strongly enough for that kind of support.
So glad you liked the tutorial. I’m in this for the long haul, as you know, so feel free to share any questions you have as you dig into this. The post was made to be something people could come back to over and over (hence, the PDF too).
This is the deep stuff that is tough but when it “clicks” it is just SO rewarding and your passion for art grows even more.
I can’t wait to hear how this goes for you!
Thank you, Chris! This was awesome.
My theory about why Bierstadt did NOT tone down the clouds and mountain area with more atmosphere is that the background, in this case, seems to be the main point of focus. Therefore, any more atmosphere would soften the contrast and lessen the texture, causing the eye to be uncertain of where to go. As it is, the eye is immediately drawn to the most contrasting area of the picture, which also contain the brightest areas with lots of texture. The shadows, as you have stated, help to achieve this.
Nice work, Roelof. I’m going to post my own take on this right after I get done with launching my classes.
Thank you so much for your insight!
This may be coming late, and I didn’t read the comments because I wanted to get my thoughts down first, so if someone else said this already, I apologize. I believe that the reason Bierstadt didn’t obscure much with Atmosphere may be connected to the sense of religious grandeur in the painting. You mentioned the ‘God-light’ in Bierstadt’s “Among The Sierra Nevada Mountains”. There is the same God-light effect in “A Rocky Moutain View”, but I believe the religious symbolism goes deeper than that. I see a strong reference to the Trinity found in Judeo-Christian theology. The highest mountain, seen only through a gap in the clouds in the upper left, the lower but more obvious peak on the right, and the clouds themselves, representing the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, respectively. The two peaks fall compositionaly very near the Rule-of-Thirds power points, and are surrounded and enveloped by the clouds. Bierstadt couldn’t use Atmospheric perspective to strongly, as that would break down the unity between the three elements. The Shadow in the foreground helps to emphasize the importance of the God-light/ symbolism, as well as give a sense of heaven and hell, or at least good and evil. I don’t know much more about the Hudson River School than that it existed, and I don’t know if this is an appropriate interpretation of a piece from the school, so I may be reading into the painting. But considering the amount of thought and intention that Bierstadt put into his painting, I doubt it.
Wow, religious symbolism did not occur to me, Seth. Very interesting interpretation. Some of the HRP’s were very religious. Others not so much. I don’t know what the story is for Bierstadt. Let me know if you find out. It’s a definite possibility.
Exceptional post Chris, thanks for posting.
Thank you, Joel, for reading.
They did crazy things with light. Look at the painting above ‘Among The Sierra Nevada Mountains’ and find the light source. The foreground is light from the back and the background lighting is from the front. They really used more than one light source. Almost like a stage rather than what you would see in nature. It works, the drama is created from light but the light they painted was not typical in nature. Notice in other works they may put a highlight on a tree or animal that “should” not really be there but it creates the flow, and leads the viewer around the painting. Just food for thought.
Absolutely the best treatment of the subject of texture I’ve ever seen, and I’m an old pharght! ;-D
My take on why Mr. Bierstadt didn’t add more atmosphere to the background is that he wanted to emphasize the incredible drama of the scene on the other side of the dark trees in the foreground. Lightening up the background would have made the stand of trees the major subject of the painting, where your eyes would be drawn to a stop. Just my thoughts. Thanks for a great tutorial!