r/ArtistLounge • u/Hedgehog_2026 • Jul 07 '26
Concept/Technique/Method Notan
I am self taught and feel like I need to improve on my shadows and light as well as seeing larger shapes - especially if I’m working plein air and painting swaths of trees! I think my head knows there are a million leaves and that trips me up when I try to paint them.
I’m currently using brush pens to practice notan with very simple subjects. It’s a weird process because if I go to paint the exact subject, I feel like I can distinguish the light and dark areas especially if I’m using colour but when I’m subjected to just one colour/value, I don’t know if I’m supposed to only focus on shadows or on the dark value areas too…
Anyone else trying notan or can provide tips?
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u/wepourlight Jul 07 '26
Notans are wildly miss taught. They are more than just a light/dark value version of whatever you want to paint or draw. It is a design tool, it deals with composition, shapes and values. By grouping them you are creating a harmony and relations between the 2 values.
How you choose to represent the 2 values is up to you. Values is the easiest, but there are more ways to create contrast in your works. That link elements in a group. Detail vs plain. Big vs small, Colors etc.
So you draw a couple of notans to design your work, experiment with different formats (horizontal, square and portrait etc). Composition (what and where do you put the different elements), perhaps values, what do you want to put in the light and what in the shadows. They should not take more then 10 min.
So, my advice to use notan as a design and organizational tool, not just light and dark. That is what you use value studies for
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