Painting Basics: Something Useful

This is something I learned to use that helps me evaluate certain aspects of what I am painting or drawing. If I am having trouble identifying the exact value or color of something, I found that isolating the area with a viewfinder helps me figure out how that area relates to another.

It is a simple tool as I just take a piece of cardboard and punch a hole in it. This creates a viewfinder that allows me to look at one area of the scene separated from the rest of the scene.

Today, we are going to look at how to use this type of viewfinder to examine the value of the local color.

Painting Basics: Color Palette and paint choices

One of my messy palettes

I am often asked what colors I use or what colors I put on my palette.  There are a wide range of paint color choices and trying to decide which ones to use can get overwhelming quickly. I like to keep it simple.

Today, I will show you a basic color palette and some variations of that palette.

Color Basics: Color Temperature in Painting

Color temperature 

I thought we might take a look at the subject of color temperature in this post. Color temperature can be a confusing term as it is used to describe slightly different concepts. For example, color temperature can describe the overall color range in a composition, can compare the relationship between two colors, or describe the difference between two similar hues. Color temperature can be used for emotional effect, or set up the lighting of environment of a scene.

Today, we will look at the different ways color temperature is defined and applied to painting.

Drawing Basic: Starting a figure drawing from life.

I like to draw using a living model as a reference as often as I can. Here I can practice what I have learned about drawing the figure, work out new ideas I want to try, or simply draw to enjoy the experience. I find drawing from life both fun and rewarding.

I usually go to drawing groups or invite a few friends to pitch in to hire someone to model for us. The advantage to these options is that it makes drawing from life much more affordable. The disadvantage is that I have less input over the setup and length of time for each pose. I like long poses that allow me the chance to work slowly but this opportunity does not always present itself in the drawing sessions. In turn, I have had to learn to be more economical in my approach to drawing and have learned some ideas on how to set up a figure drawing quickly.  

Today, I thought I would share one way to set up a figure drawing while working on a drawing from a life session. The steps are straightforward as they build on one another allowing me to get much of the information I need down quickly.