1/28/22 How are you at putting people in your paintings?

   How are you at putting people in your paintings? It came up this week when some of us got the courage up to include a figure walking through the low tide. I say "us", but I confess none of the brave ones were me."Too corny"I say, or "too uptight".

Actually, it's really fun to to fill a page with simple shapes that add up to figures . Let's practice for a while and share our discoveries in critique. 

Many figures  can be built around an upright rectangle which is the torso. The arms and legs are smaller rectangles that emerge from the upper and lower corners of the torso. A small dot rests on the top.

 Try it with mister red hat. First, make a simple green rectangle which will be the torso. Then, make short rectangles that sprout f rom the corners of the torso. These are the arms. Now com the long. rectangles that begin at the lower corners. These are the legs. Finally, the small dot that rests in the middle of the shoulders, which is the head.  OK, torso, arms, legs, head. Allow the separate parts to run together to encourage the feeling that your figure is all one thing. 

Here are a few more people to play with. Many painters make the arms and legs too short and the head too big. Err on the side of small heads and long arms and legs. I tend to leave out the facial features. The person is sufficiently present before the viewer can tell exactly who it is.

Try inventing people by following the unfolding  of shapes  described here. Try overlapping groups of figures.