How to Set Up a Still Life

Nothing affects the success of your painting as much as compositional structure.

And nothing offers you more control of all the elements of a painting than still life. The objects, the setting, the lighting, You can arrange pretty much everything.

In this video I show a series of photos each one building both structure and interest towards the final image.

Whether you normally paint still lifes or not, the thinking behind creating one can help inform all your painting.

[davidpotter]

What a gold mine I stumbled onto when I followed up on your composition book. I have been refering to it for some time now. Thanks

[rumblefsh]

Something I feel worth mentioning about still life over plein air, particularly for those starting out, is that unlike the great outdoors, conditions in the studio remain constant.

This gives us much more time to think and act. I get that many consider plein air a way of 'sharpening skills' because our decision times are shorter, but personally I love having much more time to make my choices. Still life is a superb way of getting really deep into things like colour matching and value.

[karenmccallum]

Great video and thanks to whomever suggested it. I took an intro to still life painting workshop and it was disastrous because the instructor jumped straight into painting something she had set up in advance. We had to bring our own items and I struggled with the set up so much (like many others). Frustration before painting is never a good formula for success--I felt doomed at the start. Her techniques and knowledge were so good, but she was unable to teach the fundamentals I so badly needed and you so clearly laid out as usual. Tuesday mornings with Ian are good.

[alisonhendry]

I love how your fundamentals can be used for all composition components. Pearls of wisdom. Thank you for all of these videos. I love Tuesday mornings!

[lynetremblay]

Thank you for explaining how to build the rest of the vertical structure using light streaks in the background wall in your squash painting. That was a problem for me. Solved!

[deborahrech]

I set up a pretty sorry looking still life when doing a drawing exercise from your composition book. This video was very helpful in reinforcing how to think about the structure in setting it up.

[tehgc]

I'm a retiree just discovering art and what a great discovery I've made through your videos! Thanks!

[laurencepaganelli]

Ive watched a lot of demos on utube.i want to compliment Ian on the clarity and fundamentals that he focuses on.thanks for such good and useful information Ian.

[Childrs]

I can't say enough how much i love your videos. You are a fantastic teacher and artist. I just went online and purchased your two books, one in kindle format and the other one as hard cover. I can't wait to start reading them. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.

[annmarielopiccolo-carlsen]

I have never painted or assembled a still life work....very interesting to learn about how to compose and arrange objects with specific attention given to the light source. I also like the idea of a constrained structure to compose....using a formula but changing the subject, and, therefore, the composition. I particularly like using the practice of intersecting vertical and horizontal lines to direct the eye to the center of attention. Thank you....looking forward to the completed painted work next week.

[javanthisingaram]

Thank you Ian for a simple and illustrative example for setting up a still life. The layering of different textures and shapes has added so much depth and vibrancy to the arrangement.

[iaincphotography]

Bit of still life photography coming up I feel. Thanks, Ian.

[mermette]

Sound is great. No echos. Bought both your books today.

[BibleStudyPastor]

Very helpful! Thank you. I can see how the cloth helps bring interest and texture, as well as in some of your examples a strong vertical. So it's not just the interest of the objects that are the center of interest. Aha!

[susanwong]

Great illustration of composition- love the simplicity and clarity, with many examples to support the idea. I was initially looking for utube about how to set up a still life ( ie the lighting, shadow box etc), but this is do much better- thank you for sharing!!!

[SerMattzio]

3D artist here and this is very helpful when studying how to set up interesting scenes. Thank you :)

[swishdk]

Super! Very helpful in understanding still life set up

[lanaschuster]

Great to see how your line for the vertical takes a few jogs, rather than just straight up and down. Expands my idea of what serves as a vertical axis. I was also thinking about substituting the pears for the oranges in the still life with the blue vase. I really liked the shape of the pears in that composition but agree that yellow wasn’t the best. Golden russet bosc pears have great color - they might work.

[karenharvell]

These videos are so helpful to me. You are an excellent teacher!

[cheyenneroll]

Could you consider doing a segment on Lighting for the studio, and for your set up? All I have are clip on shop lights, however I know one can spend a fortune on a basic lighting set up.
Thanks, Ian for another helpful video!