How To Art
Part 1: It Starts With a Sketch
After much searching this is the earliest photo of this piece that I could find. Quite often I share my process from start to end in real-time on Instagram (follow me @sLsArtistry if you’d like to see these!) but originally I wasn’t going to share this piece because it was my first attempt at a large painting. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it. It’s difficult for me to write a “how to art” article about my process because a lot of what I do happens on a whim without much planning or thought. Some paintings I plan out more than others and I touch on this at the end of this post. This is mostly a view into my more creative process of painting. So keep in mind that this isn’t how I always paint and it doesn’t mean that this is how you should paint either. You should paint however it helps your process to create works of art!
I gather my reference photos in a variety of ways. I don’t always remember where they came from. After much searching I can’t seem to find it on their page, but I’m pretty sure this one came from Ironwood Wolves photographer Rachel Lauren. Amazing photos and an amazing sanctuary for wolves! They do fantastic work in education and I highly recommend checking out their page. All that said, I don’t use reference photos to copy the photo, I use them to guide myself on pose, texture, colours, and other details I don’t always remember from mind. I’m not copying the photo or trying to recreate their work. In the end my piece generally bares little-to-no resemblance to the original reference. If you want to take someone elses work and reproduce it as is (a landscape, for example, is something I’ve done in the past) you need to get written permission from the artist to use their photo as a reference. Most will give permission gladly, if it is something you are doing as a study. If it is something you intend to sell you need to discuss that with the original photographer, as it is their copyrighted work that you are reproducing.
Now that we’ve touched on references and copyrights a bit, let’s move on to the actual process!
For this painting I sketched my figure in paint. This isn’t something I usually do, and I had to paint over and redo a lot of it several times. This is the beauty of paint; you can always paint over it (unless you’re using watercolours, that is). I chose a quite challenging pose and it took me a while to get the front legs right.
Once I had my sketch I began to black out the background. I did this in pieces and started in the area I needed to cover up mistakes the most to focus on my final sketch of my figure. I used shades of blue as an underpaint to determine value on my wolf. This is also I process I had never tried before but have seen many times by other artists. I quickly learned I had no idea what I was doing and that maybe this is something I should try on an easier, smaller painting first. I am glad I tried it though, as I loved the way the blue looked showing through my wolf and I decided to leave several parts with blue showing through. You can learn more about this method of underpainting here: Underpainting: Why You Need To Do It. You may notice that in these posts about how I create, that my method is a little different every time. This is part of growing as an artist. It may take you years, decades or even a life-time to figure out what your style and method is. You may never figure it out! The most important thing is that you keep trying new things, keep learning and keep growing as an artist. This is something you should strive for with every single new piece.
Another method of sketching a painting is to paint your background and then use charcoal or pastel to sketch your figure (or in the case of landscapes; sketch your basic shapes of mountains, trees etc.). The charcoal and pastel erase easily and can even be painted over easily enough. Unless you are using charcoal or a coloured pastel and trying to paint white over top, you may find the colour blends into your paint. Take note of your colour use before you decide to paint over your sketch lines and whether they should be erased or not. I usually use white pastel on a dark background or charcoal on a light background to keep it simple and easy. I started as a graphite pencil and charcoal artist; so sketching feels more natural for me this way and this is how I usually start my paintings.
As you can see, I lightly sketched in the basic shape of the wolf as well as details such as fur, nose, eyes, the smoke and lava coming from it’s mouth. You can also sketch in shadows and highlights at this stage. Don’t over-do it though. You are not sketching your final piece at this stage and your lines should be simple and neat. You can even use different coloured pastels in order to keep track of what the different lines are for. For example, I could have sketched the fur and wolf details in white and then add the shadows with blue and highlights with pink, and use other colours such as yellow and orange to create the lava and smoke. Since I knew I’d be adding paint to canvas right away I didn’t bother with any of this because I could picture in my head what colours I was going to use next and where they would go.
The final method of sketching that I use is to create an original concept, make a stencil from it and then transfer the pencil to the final surface (whether it’s on specialty paper for a drawing or on canvas for a painting). This is a method that is commonly used among artists and one that I save mostly for commissions or pieces that I feel need a bit of pre-work to get them right. This method allows you to create your concept through trial and error and without ruining your good quality materials in the learning process. Once you have your final sketch it is hard to redraw it exactly the same, so transferring it using a stencil helps you keep most of those details in tact. You can find my simple method to transfer a photo HERE.
There are many ways to start a new painting or drawing. The methods used are as unique as the artists who create them, especially when it comes to self-taught artists like myself! My biggest piece of advice that I can offer is to keep practicing and follow other artists on social media. Instagram is a great place to find artists who post works in progress and more insight into how they create their work.
Up Next in this blog series ==> How To Art: Light and Dark
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