PaintsightGuides
Short, practical guides for painting from photos, each with its sources.
Values and notan
What Is Notan? Light and Dark Design for Painters
Notan is the design of a picture in two values, light and dark. What it means, where it comes from, and how to make a notan of your reference before you paint.
Values and notanHow Many Values Should a Painting Have?
Why most painters plan in 3 to 5 values, what the 9-step and 10-step value scales are, and how to choose the right number for your subject.
Values and notanWhy Painters Squint at Their Subject
Squinting hides detail and shows the big shapes of light and dark. Why it works, how to do it, and how to squint at a photo.
Values and notanValue and Color: Why Value Does the Work
Why a painting with the right values reads even in odd colors, how to judge the value of a color, and how to check yours in grayscale.
Values and notanThumbnail Sketches for Painting: How to Make and Use Them
What a thumbnail sketch is, why it works best small, how many values to use, how to make several in minutes and pick the strongest, then scale it up.
Color
Warm and Cool Colors in Painting: Light, Shadow and Distance
What makes a color warm or cool, why a blue can be the warm one next to another blue, and how the color of the light sets the temperature of the shadows.
ColorHow to Choose Colors for a Painting from a Photo
How to choose a painting's colors from a reference photo: find the big color masses, judge their values, correct for the camera, then mix them first.
Drawing and composition
The Grid Method: How to Transfer a Photo to Your Canvas
How to grid a reference photo and a canvas so the squares match, how to work out the square size for your canvas, and how to draw square by square.
Drawing and compositionHard and Soft Edges in Painting: Where to Use Each
What hard, soft and lost edges are, where to put each in a painting, why reference photos get edges wrong, and how to see the edges in your subject.
Drawing and compositionHow to Create a Focal Point in a Painting
The focal point is where the eye goes first. How to create one with contrast, edges, color, detail and lines, where to put it, and how to keep the rest quieter.
Drawing and compositionRule of Thirds vs the Golden Ratio in Painting
The rule of thirds puts lines at 33% of each side, the golden section at 38%. Where each came from, what the evidence shows, and how to use them on a canvas.
Drawing and compositionThe Harmonic Armature: What It Is and How to Use It
The harmonic armature: diagonals, center lines and four reciprocals. How to rule it on any canvas, where it comes from, and how painters place shapes with it.
Working from photos
Painting from Photographs: Tips and What the Camera Gets Wrong
What photos get wrong about values, color, shapes and depth, how to choose and adjust a reference photo, and how to plan a painting from it.
Working from photosHow to Photograph a Painting With Your Phone
Even light from both sides, no glare, the phone square to the canvas and a neutral white balance, then how to check the photo against your reference.
Free tools
Notan and value study maker
Turn a photo into 2 to 7 values and see where each one falls.
Open the tool
Palette from a photo
The main colors of a photo, with each one's share, value, and whether it's warm or cool.
Open the tool
Drawing grid maker
Put a grid on your photo that matches your canvas, square for square.
Open the tool
Do this at the easel with Paintsight
Paintsight keeps your reference photos in one place, with notan and value studies, drawing grids sized to your canvas, palettes and design tools. Prop your iPad or iPhone by the easel and the screen stays awake.
For iPhone and iPad.