I was going to write about composition this week since it's something I've been focusing on lately, but as I got further into my post, I realized I was writing a lot about an artistic foundation instead, so I feel like I should expand on that first.
Every artist needs to understand PPVH; perspective, proportion, value and harmony. Through my independent research, these elements seem to be what separate good and bad artists. Good artists, regardless of the time period or style, understand PPVH while those who do not, have obviously faded into obscurity.
The first three, PPV, can be studied by drawing from life. In fact, nature is truly the only way to properly learn these things. Trying to learn from photographs is not ideal because the camera always distorts, even if steps are taken to prevent it. And one must be wary of "teachers" nowadays who only educate artists on how to copy what they see, which is not the same as understanding how to draw.
Harmony, from what I can tell, must come naturally and cannot be taught. A lot of people would call this "style". In other words, an artist who knows harmony can skillfully arrange their work to make it seem like it "goes together". Pieces that lack harmony seem like they were copied and pasted together; something seems "off" about the work but the viewer cannot quite place it. I think harmony can stem from an understanding of perspective, proportion and value, but it is not dependent on the three.
Now, I may seem like a hypocrite when I say this, but I do not believe that good art needs to show perspective, proportion or value. In fact, many good pieces of art lack one, two, or all of these elements! But in those cases, I promise you the artist has knowingly omitted those elements, it was not a lack of understanding.
A good example of this would be Pablo Picasso's art journey. At the earliest point in his artistic career, he would paint and draw from life in an attempt to mimic what he saw from a technical standpoint and establish his knowledge of PPVH (lookup his Study of a Torso, or anything else from his teen years). Fast forward to the end of his career and notice that many of his works lack one or all of PPV!
I could carry on about this all day, but for now I have to stop. I have painting and drawing to do.
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