Learning how to draw is the first step
There is no point in discussing colour with anyone who hasn’t taken the time to learn how to draw. The reality is that you will always struggle with your paintings without any drawing skills.
What drawing teaches us
We must first learn about light and shadow. As artists, we need to see and understand composition, proportion and perspective. All of these things we know from drawing. Look at drawing as the foundation upon which all the other visual art forms are built. Whether you are a sculptor, a ceramist, a printmaker or a painter, you need to know how to draw.
How many drawings should one do?
People always ask me how many drawings they should be doing. Let’s look at the drawing-painting ratios of one of the greatest painters in history. Gustav Klimt’s ratio was about 500 to 1 or 500 drawings for every completed painting in his life. Klimt worked out all of his pictures on paper first, and when everything was to his liking, then and only then did he start painting.
Why not just correct it on the canvas?
Many painters erroneously believe that they can make innumerable corrections on the canvas. Very few of you may have heard about the “Pentimento” effect in oil painting, where images and corrections beneath the visible surface begin to appear through the paint. Many of you acrylic painters may breathe a sigh of relief thinking that this rule doesn’t apply to you; however, the truth is that it does.
What is pentimento?
Pentimento (pentimenti in plural) describes the gradual appearance of all the corrections made to a painting that becomes more noticeable as it ages. It is as if all the mistakes underneath the surface rise upwards into view.
How to avoid pentimento
Sometimes a younger artist will paint over another work because they cannot afford to buy more materials. Most pentimento we see today is caused by artists not having a plan or a direction for their painting. These artists will tell you that they work “intuitively” or don’t like to plan. A straightforward way to avoid pentimento is to not paint over old paintings and plan before putting brush to canvas. There is no valid excuse with the low cost of canvases these days.
Detail of Picasso, ‘The Old Guitarist' (1903) (Photo: The Art Institute of Chicago via Wikimedia Commons Public Domain)
An example of pentimento
The Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso is an excellent example of pentimento. Picasso often painted over his canvases as a young artist short on money. The previous image he painted over wasn’t visible during his lifetime. However, one hundred years later, we can see the painting he painted over when he created this work. Look closely at the image’s detail and then look at the picture below again. See the female figure clearer now? It will only become more noticeable with time.
Excuses
Painters who work intuitively will point to this work and use it as an excuse for their poor planning, poor understanding of their materials and the lack of preparatory sketches. If you’re not dirt poor and can afford your materials, there is no excuse not to plan your painting thoroughly or use a new canvas.
Acrylic painters beware
Acrylic painters will tell you that what I have just said is irrelevant to them. The fact of the matter is that we do not know what acrylic paint will look like in the next five decades. Add in low-quality materials and poor quality pigments, and we have a recipe for disaster on our hands.
IR of Picasso's ‘The Old Guitarist' (1903) Photo: The Art Institute of Chicago
How to start a painting
Plan your painting. Every painting should include at the very least the following steps:
1. Rough sketch.
2. Value study or Finished drawing.
3. Colour study (One to several)
4. Final painting.
By the time you get to your final painting, you most definitely know where you are going. You will have a clear idea of the values and colours you intend to use and have worked out any problems with perspective and proportion.
I copy photographs. Do I still need to draw?
Learning how to draw will make you a better painter. Many people think that copying a “photograph” will help them avoid learning how to draw. Remember, digital photography is a horrible stand-in for working from life. The auto-focus feature and poor colour rendering on most cameras distort reality. Adding a lack of drawing skills to the copying of something flat, to begin with, will only give you an even poorer result.
A clear understanding of drawing will help anyone correct the unavoidable mistakes of photography.
Quote of the day
“Drawing is the backbone. It is no good having a lovely sense of light and color if there isn’t the firm foundation underneath.”
~ Alexander Creswell ~
