13 November, 2009

underpainting

I need some help doing underpaintings and color studies with acrylic and watercolor. Does anyone have tutorials i can look at or tips on how to do quick easy color studies?

Reply

12 Comments

Linda Eades Blackburn 13 Nov 2009

Never really liked to work in Acrylic, guess I haven't given it much of a chance. I sometimes do under paintings in Oils. Never tried it in watercolors, but sounds interesting.

Jeremy Henderson 15 Nov 2009

I Use Golden Open acrylcis.. check my work out.. http://jeremyworst.blogspot.com

no tutorials though ..

Jeremy Henderson 15 Nov 2009

oh and i dont underpaint .. that takes to much time... my paintings take abotu 3-4 hours only.. thats why i use acrylics .. oils are too slow!

cramer 25 Nov 2009

i dont do the underdawing part anymore...i sketch it quickly with paint and fill it in, adding details...i just flows better for me...but ive done underdrawing for years and its very helpfull...i used to draw it all out and shade it in and then erase it all off and paint over the faded drawing...that worked ok

cramer 25 Nov 2009

oh and for color studies just do some quick sketches with colored pencils...try out diffrent color schemes and what not...pick your favorite design and do it in pastels and use that as a refrence as u paint your picture

Danny carnes 01 Dec 2009

HI Nashlon, I don't do that either. I use " Golden Open Acrylic " paints. I draw out my painting as I go. and by useing a medium my paint stays wet for a long time. at least this is the way I do my artwork. I hope this helped.

Marty Yokawonis 06 Dec 2009

Nashlon I have a question - when you say underpainting are you speaking of grisaille? grisaille is an underpainting techique where you basically paint the entire painting, whether it's acrylics or oils or watercolor in a neutral palette establishing your values and painting the entire painting like a black and whiite image. Once the painting values are established and the forms are roughed in and somewhat finalized you can then begin to glaze the colors onto the painting. there are many online tutorials about establishing a grisaille underpainting and then glazing the color over that to finish.

this link might be a help to you

http://newberryworkshop.com/Tutorial/gris/gris.html

Marty Yokawonis 06 Dec 2009

here's a link with both grisaille and glazing

http://www.clubofthewaves.com/art_tutorials_tony_spineto.php

Marty Yokawonis 06 Dec 2009

btw grisaille just means grays. it produces a very realistica and deep look to a painting to be developed in neutrals, tones and white. then when you glaze the more saturated layers of transparent colors over the top of the grays and it produces a rich mellow realistic look to the painting.

Marty Yokawonis 06 Dec 2009

check out this link to a blog where she does an acrylic underpainting and shows a fantastic piece of artwork - she does the glazing and the finish painting in oils using maroger (mahrojah) medium.

http://musensbysusan.blogspot.com/2008/04/painting-with-grisaille-underpainting.html

Jerrie Glasper 21 Dec 2009

Marty, I loved your demo on underpainting!

Mr. Jackson, I use the underpainting technique a lot. I use acrylics and oils equally as well. I underpaint with acrylics by using thin layers (like watercolours) to established my overall tone and layout the light source. I "build up" the thin layers, until I reach a point where I fully understand where I am going with the painting, as a whole. I sometimes complete about 20% of the painting with acrylics, whenever I am oil painting. OR I use the same layering technique when I am completing the entire painting in oils, too. A good understanding of color theory is a must, in order to become adept at this technique. You must have a good knowledge base of what color will occur when you thinly layer light blue over an orange, or purple over alizarin crimson, for example. You should keep a color chart of your experiments for your own reference. Good luck!!!!

darrell parrott 03 Feb 2010

I use under painting on every peice I do. For instance in this one I first painted the shadows of her pink dress in green. Then when I gave the whole thing a wash of pink, the shadows are the correct chroma. This is one of my tricks for doing these portraits in only twelve hours.

Reply