DESIGN & COMPOSITION — THE DECONSTRUCTION LAB

Most Painting Problems Aren’t Paint Problems.

They’re composition decisions you never made. Learn a practical pre-painting decision system so you know what the painting is about — where things go, what stays, what gets cut, and what matters — before the brush goes down.

INCLUDED WITH YOUR LAB MEMBERSHIP

All 7 courses + ongoing Lab Journal studio lessons - $97/year

What You’ll Learn

  • The five composition mistakes that show up constantly — and exactly how to fix them

  • The alternative rule of thirds — a more flexible interval system than the traditional grid

  • Scale decisions — close-up, medium, long shot — and how your why determines which one you need

  • How to find the why in any subject and build a composition that sells exactly that one thing

  • Shadows and lead-ins as design tools — how to move the viewer's eye with intention

  • How to simplify a complicated scene down to three big shapes — and how to add life to a dull one

  • The pre-painting blueprint — a simple decision checklist you'll use before every painting from here on

Hand-drawn sketches and notes on paper describing color labels and scenery, including trees and landscape.
Sketch of a visual design layout with sections labeled 'TRADITIONAL,' 'SCALE,' and different shot types such as 'LONG SHOT,' 'MEDIUM SHOT,' and 'SHORT SHOT,' including simple landscape and silhouette graphics.
A hand-drawn sketch of a chart titled 'Rule of Thirds'. The chart is divided into nine sections with some lines and shapes inside each section. The bottom part of the paper has the words 'TRADITIONAL' written.
A handwritten sketch with a quote about a road leading to trees beneath a light blue sky, a small drawing of a road scene including trees, a bench, and streetlamps, and some notes or labels.

Who Is This For?

This course is for artists who already know how to paint but keep running into the same problem: paintings that feel technically okay but compositionally flat. Students who copy references too literally, who start without a plan, or who discover halfway through that something fundamental isn't working.

If you've been through Drawing Is Everything, Drawing Fundamentals, or any of the Deconstruction Lab courses — this is the next layer. The system you've been building gets a lot more intentional with a solid composition framework underneath it.

FROM THE LAB

Your video calmly prods you along from the construct to "capture the essence, knucklehead." That is the key for me. I now draw asking "what does it feel like" and make lines with expression not perfection. Eventually, the creative brain lights up and takes over because it likes repetition. The essence of the object is never lost in the process.

LARS WENTZEL  ·  DECONSTRUCTION LAB STUDENT

Where this course fits

Seven courses, one path.

  1. Drawing Fundamentals: Structure is the permission slip. This is where you build it.

  2. Drawing Is Everything: You don't have a drawing problem. You have a thinking problem.

  3. Design & Composition: Most painting problems aren't paint problems. They're composition decisions you never made. (You are here)

  4. Value & Color: Most painting problems aren't color problems. They're value problems.

  5. Watercolor Progressions: Watercolor isn't fragile. This course proves it.

  6. Acrylic Progressions: This one teaches you how to think with paint.

  7. Mixed Media: The most open, most spontaneous course in the Deconstruction Lab.

Then keep going: The Lab Journal. A new studio lesson every other week.

The Lab: Founding Member
$97.00
Every year

Learn the complete system. Keep applying it through a new studio lesson every other week.

✓ Complete 7-course Deconstruction Lab system
✓ Full Lab Journal lesson archive
✓ New studio lesson every other week
✓ Cancel anytime