Dapper Dan- Abstracted View

This is how we need to see and think about what we propose to do, because if it fails here, the completed painting will fail. Too many students just get the subject drawn onto the paper, and think they will worry about background shapes later. Or, they think they will simply paint a dark wash all the way around to make the subject "pop" -- a phrase, and a practice, I detest; I see many paintings done this way, and while technically competant, I don't feel they are very painterly. While it is possible to think about and add aditional shapes en route in a painting in order to cure compositional problems, it just seems better to do what one can at the outset rather than deal with it as a speedbump while painting loose, juicy washes. Take a look at the above, and just think about them as blobs of white and black with no meaning. Think about turning it on its side or upside down. Are there shapes there that could be changed to make it better? Added or taken away? I find it easier to think about this with these abstracted shapes than when they are literally describing a recognizable someone or something.