Ok, so the drawings of the day are kind boring. They are the first steps of (hopefully not too) many of completing a painting from beginning to end. This could be helpful for people to see the process of how someone works on a painting. Now, I'm not an expert by an means, so my way is not "The Way".... just "a way", so keep checkin over next few days. Phase 1: The sketch - the sketch is the most important part of he process. If you don't have a solid sketch to start with, you will spend the whole time fixing it with paint. Trust me, you do not want to do that. Your painting will be out of control, and soon, ruined. So, get your sketch right, first! Spend all the time you need. People often think of sketch as a loose, haphazard beginning to block out your images. It is, kinda. I like to do a block in sketch. What that means is I will just make very basic shapes (circles usually) to show where each of my figures will be. Then, I will get detailed.
Here's the trick - you can't shade your sketch, which is tough for me. If you shade on your sketch, the graphite will mix in with your painting and grey up the color your are tying to lay down, and that is something you don't want. When I first started painting, I was very lazy and was often mixing my oil paint with the graphite sketch. The colors will just look awful.
Another tip - when starting a painting, it's a good idea to lay a base color done. Typically a Burnt Sienna is a great color to lay down (it's a brown that a very common color that will work in most color palettes. You want to mix it with turpentine so that it is a thin, almost watercolor consistency. Once that dries, then do your sketch. Make your layer thin so you can see your sketch. I didn't paint a base coat on this one because it would b very hard to see the sketch in the photo. Why do you paint a base layer? Two reasons: 1) it helps your painting by already having a very common color on your canvas. 2) it can be very daunting to look at a white canvas and know that you have to cover every square inch (that can be a huge mental road block, especially when you are just starting.
Tomorrow: the supplies and set up!
Thanks Blake! I'm just starting to pick up oils and had just read that John Singer Sargent always put a base color down first, so I'm glad to hear of more artists that do. honestly, that white blank canvas is what has stopped me from painting before. Such a daunting sight! Brilliant solution :) can't wait to see what the picture looks like in the end.
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