Sketchbook Habits
Copying a Master without Losing Your Own Eye
How to copy a painting as a way of studying decisions, and how to keep that copy from becoming a substitute for looking.
Latest posts · Page 4
Sketchbook Habits
Thumbnails: Planning a Painting in Small Boxes
How a row of tiny thumbnail sketches lets you test composition and value before a larger painting begins.
Sketchbook Habits
A Colour-Note Sketchbook for Outdoor Light
How to keep a small outdoor sketchbook of colour notes, so changing light is recorded before a finished picture.
Design Basics
A Print-Ready Checklist for a Small Design
A practical print checklist for a small design: trim, bleed, image size, colour shift, embedded type and a paper proof.
Design Basics
Five Poster Habits That Weaken a Design
Five ordinary poster habits that muddy a message, from too many fonts and starved margins to a leader no one can find.
Design Basics
Cropping a Picture for a Clearer Composition
How to crop a picture so the subject leads, the edges look deliberate, and leftover space is a choice rather than a habit.
Design Basics
Rhythm and Repetition in a Repeating Pattern
How a repeating motif finds a rhythm, and how grids, half-drops and even gaps keep a pattern from showing its seams.
Design Basics
Drawing Simple Icons That Still Read Small
How to draw simple icons that stay recognisable when small, with even strokes, clear gaps and a real-size test.
Design Basics
Scale: Letting One Element Clearly Lead
How to choose a lead element and make it large enough that the rest of the page or picture can stay quiet.
Design Basics
Contrast in Size, Weight and Texture
How size, weight and texture create contrast when colour alone cannot separate the parts of a design.
Design Basics
Margins and White Space on a Small Page
Why generous margins and unused space make a small page clearer, and how trapped gaps undo the effect.
Design Basics
Simple Grids for Posters and One-Page Layouts
How to set a simple column grid, align type and images to it, and stop a one-page layout drifting.