wetpigmentonpaper

[wetpigmentonpaper]

Painting Pearl Process - Part One!!

Step 1: Deciding the reference photo does, actually, have merit

When I asked my friends for their favorite picture of their pup Pearl, I wasn't expecting this vaseline-filter, monochrome answer. I wasn't in love with it, so I put it away for a couple months. This weekend, the dramatic lighting finally sparked my inspiration: I can try really stretching what I can accomplish with light and shadow!

Step 2: Create a shadow map

This is a new technique to me, from Lynn Ferris's demo at SWS's October meeting. She placed trace paper over her reference photo and blocked in everything that was shadow. No nuance to it - just yes/no is it in shadow. Once done, she recommended flipping the shadow map upside down and looking at it in a mirror to double-check that the composition is balanced.

I have here an 8.5" x 11" color copy of my reference photo with plain old trace paper on top. I was so happy with the result that I decided not to create a value study for this one. I plan to reference this shadow map heavily as I paint to help simplify the shapes.

Step 3: Tracing

Yep, I trace all my paintings. What can I say - I'm learning to paint, and I just feel a little bit more confident going in if I know the base drawing isn't wonky. I try to sketch on the side, though, so maybe one day I'll feel confident enough in my skills to draw right on the paper!

Shoutout to my partner for enbiggening the photo for me lol. This painting will be 9.5" x 13", perfect for a quarter sheet of Arches Cold Press 140#.

Here, I simply lined up my print-out on the light table and layered my paper on top. When tracing, there are a couple things I do intentionally:

Draw the border of the image (easy to forget, and will help with matting eventually)

Use a hard pencil (used 6H here) so the lines are light

Step 4: Paint????

Now that I've prepared my paper, there's nothing stopping me from painting this puppy dog. I haven't decided yet if I want to do an underpainting or keep those lights pure paper-white....tbd!! I'll try to take pictures as I paint so I can post a part two.

Wish me luck :)