The notan concept is emerging among painters as a reliable tool, but so much is misunderstood about it, I thought giving it some attention it might be a good
idea.
As with many visual concepts, the notan originated in the eastern world. The word's nomenclature is Japanese meaning light/dark. It is pronounced with
equal emphasis on both syllables - NO-TAN. The oldest notan we know about is the yin-yang symbol, at least two thousand years old.
ADAPTED TO WESTERN REALISTIC PAINTING
We painters know the importance of controlling values in our work. Those values are caused by what light does to images we are
working with. Using the notan concept, we can make an initial determination of our values by finding where they are being created by light rays and by where light rays are blocked.
To locate those areas, the questions we ask are: What's in shadow? What's not in shadow?
Creating a notan pattern based on answers to those two questions can guide us to putting those values in our painting where they
belong.
Notice how the darks of the notan are placed in the same location as the shadows in the reference photo, and how the lights and within them locate
where the light rays are hitting.
TRANSLATED INTO A PAINTING
Here is how I placed those values in shadow and values in light into a painting.
Here I have overlaid the notan on the painting.
You see now that a notan is not a value study, but a pattern that locates shadow fields. It is not a replacement for a
value study, either. Rather, it can be used to guide a value study.
SHIFTING THE MIND'S ATTENTION
Creating a notan requires a mind-shift: forget the values and shift your attention to what's in shadow and what's not in
shadow. During this time, light and shadow actually become the subject of the notan where all that's in shadow leads you to create it's pattern with a single value. It says to you only one thing: in shadow/not in shadow.
Notans can be little studies done quickly. In my sketchbook, most of my notan studies are no larger than 1½ x 2 inches.
( Notice that on these sketchbook pages, beside some of the notans, I have done a watercolor color study of the scene. I
often do that.)
Once you have found those shadow/not-in-shadow areas, THEN it's time to switch that attention back to values. You will know then to look for a value
range within those areas in shadow found on the dark side of the value scale, and you find in those values not in shadow on the light side.
- Look out a window. Create a small notan (no larger than 1½ x 2 inches) of what you see.
- Wait two hours. Do another notan of the same scene.
- Wait another two hours and do another notan. Continue this process throughout the day.
- In each of these studies, use only one value for locating shadow.
- Next morning, look out a different window and do another notan.
- Next to THIS notan, do a value drawing that limits the values in the shadow areas to any values between 6 and 10, and limit the values that go in the not-in-shadow areas to between 1 and 5. Put in this study only the values you see. (Sometimes, all the values might not be there, or might not be
needed.)
- Repeat this process in two-hour intervals throughout the day, and you will discover how it is the light that creates the value.
May your weekend be filled with moments of enlightenment!
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