How to Paint Like the Masters, Part 5: Advice on Rendering Details in Drawing

23 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by Jessica Libor in How To, Inspiration, Journeys

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"Antique" by Megan Byrne, Angel Academy of Art

While I was taking this workshop at GCA, I was ready to be done with drawing at this point. I wanted to get to the fun part…painting! There’s something so freeing and satisfying about the brush tip making marks on your canvas, and the ability to manipulate it. However, I disciplined myself to stay on task one more day, and was surprised at how much my drawing developed in just one day of adding details.

As you work on rendering the correct values for the shadow shapes, remember that there should never be a harsh line.

At this point, you’re allowed to think about reflected light, like the kind you may see underneath the chin, or on the side of the nose, or above the eyes right below the eyebrows. Reflected light helps support the volume you already created with your lights and darks. Once you pass the terminator (the point where the form turns away completely from the light), all light in the shadow comes from reflected light. This is particularly helpful to know if painting, when the reflected light may be a different color tint than the direct form light (for instance, the form light may be coming from a lamp, and the reflected light is a natural light from a window. In that case the reflected light would be blueish, and the form light more yellow. But I’m getting ahead of myself 🙂 ) Back to drawing!

"Maria" Final stage drawing, graphite on paper, by Jessica Libor 2011

You shouldn’t have as much information such as details and variation in value in the shadows as you do in the light. Put in LESS reflected light than you want to. You have to make sacrifices as an artist. Model twenty percent of what you want to in the shadows! It’s all about self control. Resist the urge to exaggerate favorite details such as eyelashes.

Layer from softer pencils to harder. The harder the pencil, the more light and precise you will be. Compare every value. Ask yourself, should this plane be lighter than this plane?

When rendering hair, think of it as a shining object, a single thing, not the millions of hair strands that it is. When seen in light, it functions like a satin ribbon. The hightlight actually runs in perpendicular to the way hair grows. Notice the hair in the piece below.

Study of a New York Woman, by Graydon Parrish

How to Paint Like the Masters, Part 1

18 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by Jessica Libor in How To, Inspiration, Journeys

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artist bios, drawing, emerging artist, how to be an artist, how to draw, how to paint, how to paint like the masters, instruction, jessica libor, Joshua LaRock, masters, Michelangelo, painting, sketching

Portrait Study by Joshua LaRock, oil on linen, 2007

In this post I just wanted to share my extensive notes from a very helpful workshop that I took this summer at the Grand Central Academy of Art. Joshua LaRock was the instructor, and it was one of the most thorough and helpful classes I’ve ever taken. Joshua studied for four years at the GCA and now teaches there in addition to painting. If you’d like to visit his website and see his work, visit www.joshualarock.com. I would highly recommend any of his classes to artists who want to learn more about traditional ways of painting and add extra dimension to their work.

It was a two week workshop, and I’ll break down the instruction into a few posts, day by day: the drawing first, then the painting. First, came the drawing, something that many of us want to skip through because it’s not quite as fun and instant-gratification as painting. He made us slow down and take and entire week to draw the model, with only the next week to paint a complete painting. Through that, I learned a lot about value. “Value makes the painting,” he told us. After thinking about it, I came to agree. I couldn’t think of any major painting I didn’t have carefully chosen, subtle values. My hope is that you’ll be able to utilize these notes and use the information in your own work!

Drawing Demo by Joshua LaRock 2011

Note: All these instructions are made with the assumption that you have a live model in front of you posing.

Day 1

Blocking in. A messy, sketchy, but important step. Focus on LINE and FORM. Classically, the picture frame is supposed for be vertically tipped (window shaped), not horizontal (landscape shaped).

Notice where you are drawing the model from. (At this point Joshua put a piece of glass up on the easel and did a line drawing on the glass, tracing only as a demonstration)

Find a horizontal and vertical reference point on the model.

To begin blocking in, hold the pencil loosely. If it’s a portrait you are doing, imagine it’s not a head–take yourself away from the psychological attention of features. Establish a scale. Some tools to do this are:

1. Find points on the face/model and mark them on your paper.

2. Notice the tilt of the head.

3. Notice how the shapes interlock

4. Use comparative measuring.

See what’s actually in front of you, and draw on medium to fine tooth paper. Block out the larger masses. In comparative measuring, use your left eye with the left arm to measure, or right with the right. When you do comparative measuring, lock your arm, so that it’s the same distance each time you measure.

Take a central point between the face. Check distances to/from everything. Start with the VOLUME in the shapes, not the contour. This will give your drawing a feeling of sculpture and fullness, like Michaelangelo’s drawings.

Archers by Michelangelo, 1533

Seated Male Nude by Michelangelo, 1511

Choose one part of the face and make it fact–build around it. Use halves and quarters. And most importantly, don’t get too detailed to fast! Work on all the proportions at the same time and it will come together.

After blocking in, start getting more into the shapes. Start inside the face and work outwards, slowly raising the 2-D drawing to 3-D.

Watch the terminators–they’ll help you find the right shapes and fullnesses in the form. Terminator is the edge of form where light no longer can pass over a form–it turns and curves away from light.

Know your bad tendencies and guard against them (For me, this means guarding against overemphasis on contrast). Move from the center of the face and build out. Move forward from your easel when needed to investigate the shapes, especially around the eyes.