Design: Landscape Painting Techniques for Success

Excellent information illustrated with photographs and paintings where the artist explains what it takes to successfully design a landscape. Fantastic video very clear and interesting.

Excellent presentation with excellent examples of the basic concepts required for mastery of painting. I got a lot from this. Thanks Ian.

Fantastic approach to landscape composition. Easily understood as he call breaks dow each step ad shows examples

Very concise and in-depth explanation in how to improve your painting compositions. As well as the tools necessary to accomplish the task. Highly recommended.

I’m always impressed with the clarity that you bring to such a complex subject. I have wondered for years what has been missing in my work. I did discover some things on my own but your book and these videos are an immense help. Thank you.

Excellent teaching. I learned some things that I had not read or heard of before.

Ian is a master at explaining and making sense. Each time I watch one of his videos I learn so much. Now to put it into practice. Excellent. Thank you.

Very, very good information. Study this before you start.

Excellent!

loved it

Excellent! Very cohesive from beginning to end.

Total clarity. Excellent.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Excellent, concise discussion of composition with clear demonstrations. I will be viewing all of Ian Roberts videos.

Excellent!

Thank you for all this information, clearly presented anad most helpful!

Dynamic instruction. Totally enjoyed this video.

Great teacher! A good video to help with basic design and composition.

I will definitely watch this again and I am ordering the book now.

Thanks for so many excelent informations.

Very helpful information. Eye opener for fledgling painters. Also helps one to view other paintings with a critical eye as to what attracts.

Very helpful. This instructor is very encouraging.

This is the best explanation of the composition principles I have ever met!

So many unanswered questions have been answered for me. Thank you

DESIGN driven paintings versus Subject driven paintings.

Ian Roberts was fantastic. I cannot wait to implement the design principles he taught here. Thank you to him and your network.

Great!

Excellent teacher I learned so much. Thank you

Excellent presentation of composition and how to design a painting. I learned so much !

Absolutely fantastic. Explains everything so simply and clearly. I now have direction in planning my compositions before and as l paint. Can see a huge improvement already 🤗

Excellent teaching, a must for every student-artist. Love how clear Ian Roberts explains with paintings and drawings every important aspect of design.

Great Information! I think this is the best video I have ever watched on composition. Highly recommended.

This is one of the best videos I have seen. I wish I could memorize the valuable lessons offered here. Ian Roberts is an excellent, articulate, engaging teacher.

enlightening. A better understanding of landscape

excellent. Makes tons of sense.

I have heard all these principles before, but never put so clearly and concisely, or illustrated so well by paintings and photographic examples! In this video I was not left wondering what he was trying to say. Thank you!

It makes so much sense, and helps me understand some of the words used to describe, plan and implement more paintings that have the "wow" factor. Thanks.

Wow! This was chock full of information on how to set up your landscape to draw viewer's eye around a painting rather than draw them off the edge of the page. He teaches this as well as focal plane and the use of vertical in a landscape so that a painting is not all horizontal blocks of color across a page. He discussed the need for subtle value changes to develop the 2D effect and push the background back, and also touches on hue and intensity but comes back to value stating that this is the key ingredient to a good finished painting. He had so much information in this video that I took notes! IT was awesome for the beginner, and a great reminder for those seasoned artists who may have regular habits that form, and need a reminder in a good composition. This was excellent! A must see for all.I may just watch this again and again!

Enjoyed the workshop very much. I liked the fact that Ian showed how he changed the details of the photo, for the sake of a good composition. He emphasized the need of making a road map, but to stop and correct anything that does not look right, because later on it creates oddities in the subject, like what is in front of something and what looks like it goes behind something. The illusion of 3D on a two dimensional surface, can be achieved through his step by step process. Must see workshop for artists working in any medium.

Excellent instructor. Great information. I will watch this again and again.

This is worth your time to watch even if you've been painting for awhile. Very well done!

Excellent video....Ian is a very thoughtful and talented instructor, in addition to being a skilled artist. Enjoyed and learned a lot...even tho I have read many other books, watched videos. He gives you an outline and format to follow for reference and checkpoints. The examples of paintings were very well-chosen to re-inforce his specific teaching point.

I am learning a lot from his videos. Great instruction. Thanks for sharing

Excellent instruction! I love the idea of a "road map". I will be watching more of Ian's videos.

this is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

Outstanding. I have been taking watercolor lessons for three years, and our instructor has taught some of these same things about design and composition, but this video brings it all together in a clear and interesting way. The use of example photographs, drawings, and paintings helps the viewer grasp the ideas as they are presented. Thanks!

Wow! What a dynamic presentation. Mr. Roberts clearly and enthusiastically presents the fundamentals for creating a dramatic landscape. I learned so much in this video that I'm running now to implement them in my paintings. I'm 100% positive that my paintings will be much improved. I can't wait to see the difference in my landscapes.

Absolutely enlighten about composition

Excellent presentation, enjoyable to watch. Many of the design techniques I have heard before but he pulled it all together for me. I will definitely watch his other videos.

I was very impressed with the presentation of the information in the video and know it will help me work through composition and perspective issues. Many practical examples showing the concepts - really well done. I think I actually get it because of the way it was taught - as much of the basics I have heard and read before. This video cements it into my brain and now I will use this for the next 50+ paintings.............

Excellent video on how important it is to think more seriously about using design to your maximum advantage in creating the illusion of three-dimensional space on a 2-D surface in representational painting! This video focuses primarily on landscape painting (which I love and do myself), but the ideas and lessons here apply to other subjects in representational painting. How might we UNintentionally confuse the viewer's eye about where our intended focal area even is in a painting? Or, where things are in space in relation to each other? Or, lead the viewer's eye to places in our painting that are less important or downright distracting, or even right out of the painting?! Ian clearly answers these questions and explains how to avoid these problems--by design. He gives clear explanations, presents good analogies, and shows example after example (in both photo references and landscape paintings) how thinking more clearly about the overall design of your painting and the placement of more simple, abstract shapes in space can lead the viewer's eye to what most attracted you to a scene in the first place and what you'd like the viewer to be moved by, too. If you love landscapes but find painting them a bit overwhelming because of all the stuff you see "out there" or in a photo reference--or are prone to get lost in the details (as I often am), then teaching yourself to see more simplified value masses and abstracted shapes in Ian's sample paintings is worth its weight in gold. After watching Ian's previous video quite some time ago, I bought his book on composition. (Excellent resource!) I realized I knew too little about design/composition beyond the most obvious "don't rules" we're all taught: Don't put your intended focal area dead center in the picture plane; don't put the horizon line on center vertically, splitting the picture plane into equal halves. I had learned and still use the "rule of thirds" and understand atmospheric perspective, which certainly helps. But I'd never heard of armatures, road maps, simplifying/massing into larger, more abstract shapes. Well, this latest video and the one that follows on color are terrific if you want to improve your landscape painting and enjoy it more without getting mired in details!

Excellent and very helpful.

Wonderful teacher! Great video!

Ian Roberts is very clear about the techniques of design it all makes sense. From what to look for in a photograph, to how to crop it and using value,contrast and intensity in your painting. I will put this knowledge to use I can't imagine not using these techniques. Excellent video.

This is one of the best videos I have ever seen on the importance of design. He is an outstanding teacher; and I would love to attend one of his workshops. I really hope more of his other videos will be shown on this website as he has so much to offer.

This video was extremely helpful in understanding the whole pre-painting process. It was as though he were talking to me... slow down, think more than paint, the brush will not fix the problem! I'm a beginning painter trying to learn on my own through resources available online and this video is a goldmine of information. Thank you so much. I will put this into practice!

This video both explains the theory of composition AND shows it in action. Extremely practical and something you'll put to use immediately. I just got his book and it is also excellent. Thank you Ian for tackling one of the most poorly explained topics in the art world. btw, photographers will also find his videos helpful.

Best video I have ever seen on composition. I have learned so much. Thank you.

Having taken my first art class (oil painting) after turning age 72 and painting for only five years I realize how valuable a teacher Ian is. He covers the basics well, providing good illustrations and suggestions that make his point very clear. He is a good communicator, showing a desire to teach his students rather than impress. I plan to search for more of his videos like this which have far more instructional substance than many of the classes I have taken. Thank you Ian.

excellent content, very clear and helpful

Excellent to think about as one is preparing a landscape. Lots to think about. Well explained.

Wow! Fabulous video with very well presented excellent content. I highly recommend this video.

A fine presentation; complete with good perspective. I realized what he was doing when he cropped two of the pictures but he took out most interesting elements when he cropped the pictures to emphasize the central focus of the photograph. I also thought this was supposed to be pastels but he is shown painting (with oils) late in the process. I would like have have seen him proceed with the process so we saw how he managed his pastels. Overall, very well done.

Excellent information in an easy to understand format. Highly recommend his book on composition as well.

5+ This guy was born to teach. He takes you into the lesson the way he teaches you how to get into a painting. All the ideas that he presents are explained and carried forward to completion. I will be reviewing this video many times before beginning a painting.

I think I'm in love!! I have been an artist for many years, read books, listened to speakers, but Ian Roberts explains this complex subject intelligently and thoroughly, and he has you in the palm of his very experienced hands every step of the way!! A MUST SEE !!

I have Ian Roberts book on composition and have read it but, I really learned a lot from this video. The subject is complicated and I am more of a visual learner. After seeing this I think I will go back and read the book again. It will probably make a lot more sense.

Ian has simplified the key notes of composition in such a way that once having viewed this workshop, you cannot help but remember some fundamentals of a successful, flowing composition. His use of analogy to help one depict the foreground, middle and background of a scene (being seated at a theatre; viewing the actors on the stage and the purpose of the background) simplifies and makes sense of what was previously just "more theory" .etc. etc. There was never one moment of being either 'lost' or bored with his narrative. I am very grateful for having access to such an informative and easy to watch workshop.

Best resource for composition I've ever found. Presents it in a simple, intuitive manner. Lots of substance. I paint in watercolor where he uses oil but the lessons of composition transcend the medium. Would sign up for a class on Artist Network University in a heartbeat.