Something to think about
When I was a child, I remember one of my Moms first art shows. A friend of hers, the renowned teacher and mentor Reynold Brown, gave her a word of advice. He told her that you can tell the difference between an accomplished artists and a novice by the attention the artist gives to the edges of their shapes. Whether or not this is true, it has stuck with me throughout the years. Reynold, after all, was an instructor at Art Center School of Design and an illustrator.
Over the years, I’ve been especially alert to whatever anyone says about edges. Below are a few remarks from other artists:
William Reese: Have an entry point and escape route in and out of your shapes using a value transition or soft edge.
Skip Lawrence: All the information is in the edges.
Jan Kunz: A soft value transition on an edge of a shadow can indicate a rounded surface. A hard edge indicates an abrupt change of direction or a shadow cast by another object. In addition, Jan says to connect your foreground subject to the background by ‘loosing an edge’. Notice how the model in Jan’s painting becomes part of his environment in part because his left shoulder is very close in value to the background. - Lynn