Design Secrets
Discover 10 tips for composing better paintings.

By Sherry C. Nelson

A beautiful painting begins with a good design. The making of a good design involves not just what you draw, but the arrangement of each element. A design must have an abstract theme characterized by the repetition and sequence of objects and the negative space around and between them. When a design is created with these principles in mind, the resulting painting likely will become a work of art, not just another pretty picture. In the following steps, I've detailed some basic principles of composition, which you can put to use in your own designs.

One of the major characteristics of good design is repetition - certain elements are repeated throughout the design to create harmony. Keep these suggestions in mind when planning repetitive elements:

1) Use the same or similar values to create repetition in a design. In Illustration 1, I kept the value range very tight, painting large areas in middle to light values.

In Illustration 1
Keeping the value range tight in large areas of the painting makes the contrasting values of the bird's head, neck and tail stand out.

2) Repeat directional lines within the design. In Illustration 2, the angle of the reeds is repeated in several areas, moving the eye through the painting.

3) Use a series of elements of similar size within a design. Notice the similarly sized leaves in Illustration 3 on page 12.