3-Step and 4-Step Notans

Notans are useful for more than just practicing sketching or for getting familiar with the potential subject of a final painting. Notans can be a serious tool for exploration and focusing your creative skill so as to maximize the abstract beauty and pleasantness of the final work of art. 

Black and white notans can give you a global idea of a good or weak composition. Notans are an essential step in simplifying the application of the rules of composition to the subject. Being very small, notans make it easy to see where we need to improve the composition within the borders. If the abstract masses seen to interplay together well, being in balance and creating interesting shapes and patterns, then there is a good chance that the final artwork will keep a strong design until finished. To this end, squinting enables the artist evaluate how close the painting is to the notan in its global value range.

The 3-step notan is used for studying the distribution and balance of the forms in the shadow zone. It is up to the artist to modify the shadow values to create different moods in the painting. The simple 3-step notan is appropriate for most dark scenes. Sunset scenes fall in this category.

 The 4-step notan quickly lets you see additional elements of the design in the light zone. Good for sunny scenes with lots of contrast that usually have less dark values. Notice how this is true when you are painting the sunny side of buildings in a cityscape

In my private classes I teach step-by-step how to transfer the approved [design] concepts in the notan into the final painting. Once the color harmony has been chosen, the notan helps as a general guide for color mixing and keeping the correct color values within the light and shadow zones of the painting. That will make for a better painting!

3-Step and 4-step Value Notans