Avansati y creatii in culori

GOLDEN ROSEBUD

Brenda Hoddinott

Y-01 ADVANCED: CREATING IN COLOR Overlapping and burnishing colors, and rendering

believable shadows, contribute to the realistic three-dimensional forms of a golden rosebud.

The diversity of colored pencils is explored in this non-traditional approach to drawing a rosebud. The dark gray drawing surface challenges artists to pull the forms of the drawing subject from darkness into light.

CONTENTS Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..3

Suggested drawing supplies…………………………………………………………………3 Skills presented……………………………………………………………………………...4 Glossary of art terms…………………………………………………………………...........4

Part One: Drawing the Outline……………………………………………………………5 Lesson Y1-1: Choosing a format and drawing supplies ……………………………………5 Lesson Y1-2: Outlining a rosebud…………………………………………………………..6

Part Two: Coming Out of the Dark ……………………………………………………….8 Lesson Y1-3: Laying down some foundation colors…………………………………..........9 Lesson Y1-4: Shading the rosebud ………………………………………………………..10 Lesson Y1-5: Shading the stem and leaves ………………………………………………..13

Part Three: Adding Final Touches……………………………………………………….14 Lesson Y1-6: Guidelines for colors in shadows …………………………………………..15 Lesson Y1-7: Shading medium and dark values…………………………………………...15 Lesson Y1-8: Shading the darkest shadows………………………………………………..18

17 PAGES - 19 ILLUSTRATIONS

Recommended for artists with good drawing skills from age 12 to adult, as well as home schooling, academic and recreational fine art educators

Published by Hoddinott Fine Art Publishers, Halifax, NS, Canada, Revised 2004

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.

E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.finearteducation.com or http://www.drawspace.com

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INTRODUCTION The diversity of colored pencils is explored in this non-traditional approach to drawing a rosebud. The dark gray drawing surface challenges artists to pull the forms of the drawing subject from darkness into light. This lesson is divided into three parts:

PART ONE: setting up your drawing format and drawing a detailed outline

PART TWO: shading light and medium values on the petals, stem, and leaves

PART THREE: adding realistic shadows by mixing a specific recipe of colors.

1. Good quality dark drawing paper or mat board SUGGESTED DRAWING SUPPLIES

2. White colored pencil 3. Five other colored pencils, as shown in Illustration 1-01.

ILLUSTRATION 1-01

YELLOW ORANGE / RED MEDIUM BLUE PURPLE BLACK

1. Drawing with detailed curved contour lines SKILLS PRESENTED

2. Adding shading with graduated values 3. Blending colors with burnishing 4. Understanding the theory of color in shadows

Burnishing: is the application of one layer(s) of color (or white) over another, by pressing hard with a pencil, to blend colors together. Burnishing of colored pencils can also be done with a tortillon or a firm plastic eraser.

GLOSSARY OF ART TERMS

Color wheel: is a method of arranging colors within a circular format to easily reference colors and their components such as primary, secondary, and complementary colors.

Complementary colors: are colors which are opposite one another on the color wheel.

Contrast: measures the degree of difference between the light and dark values within shading, and creates the illusion of three-dimensions in a drawing.

Curved lines: are created when a straight line curves (or bends). Curved lines can be

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drawn thick or thin.

Drawing: is the application of an art medium to a surface so as to produce an image, which visually defines an artist’s choice of drawing subjects from his or her own unique perspective.

Drawing space (sometimes called a drawing format): refers to the area of a drawing surface within a specific perimeter, outlined by a shape of any size, such as a square, rectangle or circle.

Form: is the illusion of the three-dimensional structure of a shape, such as a circle, square or triangle, created in a drawing with shading and/or perspective.

Graduated shading (also known as a graduation or graduated values): is a continuous progression of graduated values from dark to light or from light to dark.

Hatching: is a series of lines (called a set) drawn closely together to give the illusion of values.

Light source: The direction from which a dominant light originates. The placement of this light source affects every aspect of a drawing. The light source tells you where to draw all the light values and shadows.

Outline drawings (also called contour or line drawings): are comprised of lines which follow the contours of the various components of a drawing subject and define the outlines of its forms.

Primary colors: are the fundamental colors or pigments of red, yellow, and blue.

Secondary colors: are the pigments or colors, orange, green, and purple created by combining any two of the primary colors. Red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, and red and blue make purple.

Shading: refers to the various values that make drawings look three-dimensional.

Shadows: are the areas on an object that receive little or no light. Shape: refers to the outward outline of a form. Basic shapes include circles, squares and triangles.

Values: are the different shades of color created when you draw by varying both the density of the shading lines, and the pressure used in holding your pencils.

PART ONE: DRAWING THE OUTLINE Throughout this section you place your rosebud within your drawing space and draw a detailed outline in preparation for adding shading.

I used a very dark gray drawing paper with a slightly textured surface. You can use any dark colored drawing paper, but keep in mind that the color of your paper will show through the colored pencils in some places.

LESSON Y1-1: CHOOSING A FORMAT AND DRAWING SUPPLIES






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Draw a rectangular vertical (sometimes called a portrait format) drawing format. Mine is 3 by 4 inches, but you may choose any size you wish, such as 4.5 by 6 inches, 6 by 8 inches, or 9 by 12 inches. You need only one colored pencil for the first part of this project. Choose a yellow close in color to Illustration 1-02.

ILLUSTRATION 1-02

Find a quiet place where you will be uninterrupted for a while, sharpen your yellow pencil and get ready to draw!

LESSON Y1-2: OUTLINING A ROSEBUD

ILLUSTRATION 1-03 ILLUSTRATION 1-04

1. Very lightly draw a simple outline of a rosebud, as in Illustration 1-03. The rosebud is at an angle within your drawing space, tilted towards the right. Observe the curve of the stem.






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2. Pressing a little harder with your yellow pencil, go over your outline. Refer to Illustration 1-04 and refine the shape of your rosebud by adding a few more details with curved lines.

ILLUSTRATION 1-05 ILLUSTRATION 1-06

3. As in Illustration 1-05, outline more petals in the center cluster.

4. Add a curved line from the center cluster down to the bottom of the rosebud. This curved line is not in the center, but rather closer to the left.

5. Refer to Illustration 1-06 and draw the outline of a thin leaf close to the bottom of your drawing space on the right. Observe how the leaf begins at the base of the rosebud, curves downward, and then curves toward the right and upwards.






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ILLUSTRATION 1-07

6. Add another leaf under the rosebud on the left, as in Illustration 1-07. Observe how the leaf begins at the base of the rosebud and curves upward towards the left.

7. Outline the stem more distinctly.

8. Draw more small petals in the very center of the cluster.






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PART TWO: COMING OUT OF THE DARK In this section you add shading to the petals, leaves and stem of the rosebud.

Use your yellow and purple pencils to add the basic forms to the rosebud (as in Illustration 1-08). Practice drawing graduated value scales before you begin.

LESSON Y1-3: LAYING DOWN SOME FOUNDATION COLORS

ILLUSTRATION 1-08

YELLOW PURPLE

ILLUSTRATION 1-09

9. Use your purple pencil to add shading to the shadow sections (the dark values) of each petal as shown in Illustration 1-09. The light source is from the right in this drawing.






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ILLUSTRATION 1-10

10. Pressing lightly with your yellow pencil, completely color in each petal, including the purple sections. This is called overlapping or dry-mixing colors.

In addition to yellow, you will need a white pencil for adding highlights to the rosebud. LESSON Y1-4: SHADING THE ROSEBUD






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ILLUSTRATION 1-11

5. Use your white pencil to add light values to the tips and edges of the petals that are not in shadow (as in Illustration 1-11). You may need to press fairly hard on your pencil to get really light values.

6. Add an oval-shaped primary highlight on the largest petal with white.






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ILLUSTRATION 1-12

7. With your yellow pencil, completely color in each petal again, including the purple sections, but excluding some of the white sections. Leave the center sections of the highlights white, as in Illustration 1-12.






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In this section you add shading to the leaves and stem of your rosebud with the two colors shown in Illustration 1-13.

LESSON Y1-5: SHADING THE STEM AND LEAVES

ILLUSTRATION 1-13

YELLOW MEDIUM BLUE

ILLUSTRATION 1-14

8. Shade in the leaves and stem with blue, as in Illustration 1-14. Observe that the right side of the stem stays the color of the paper for now so yellow can be added later.






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ILLUSTRATION 1-15

11. Use your yellow pencil to add graduated shading to the light sections of each leaf and the stem. The light source is from the right in this drawing. Refer to Illustration 1-15 and take note that the lighter shading is on the right of the rosebud, leaves and stem.






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PART THREE: ADDING FINAL TOUCHES In this part, you mix colors together to enhance light and shadow areas, and then darken the shadows with your black pencil.

While many complex formulas exist for drawing (or painting) shadows, I prefer to use a method that is effective and easy to remember. Inherent in all shadows, no matter how dark, are the following three simple components:

LESSON Y1-6: GUIDELINES FOR COLORS IN SHADOWS

BLUE: Blue is a very cool color and is considered the color of darkness. Believable shadows must have blue in their color mixture.

THE COLOR OF THE SUBJECT: The darkest values of the actual colors of the subjects add realism to the colors of their shadows. In a drawing of a red rose this would be a very dark red. A dark yellow would be in the shadow of a yellow banana. In a drawing of a blue ball, dark values of blue would be in the mixture of the color of its shadow.

THE COMPLEMENTARY COLOR OF THE SUBJECT’S ACTUAL COLOR: Pairs of complementary colors are opposite one another on the color wheel, such as red/green, yellow/purple, and blue/orange.

As examples, consider the application of the above three components to the shadow colors of a red rose, a banana, and a blue ball:

SUBJECT MIX THESE COLORS INTO THE SHADOW

RED ROSE BLUE DARK RED GREEN

BANANA BLUE DARK YELLOW PURPLE

BLUE BALL BLUE DARK BLUE ORANGE

You need all five colored pencils, as in Illustration 1-16, to complete your drawing of the golden rosebud.

LESSON Y1-7: SHADING MEDIUM AND DARK VALUES

ILLUSTRATION 1-16

YELLOW ORANGE / RED MEDIUM BLUE PURPLE BLACK






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ILLUSTRATION 1-17

12. Add a little blue and red to the shadow areas of the rosebud. Refer to Illustration 1-17. These colors make the shadow areas cooler, and the darker yellow areas more golden.

13. Pressing fairly hard with your yellow pencil, completely color in all sections of the rosebud except the white areas. This process, called burnishing, smoothly blends your colors. Yellow makes the brighter colors more vibrant.






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ILLUSTRATION 1-18

14. Add some red and purple shading to the shadow sections of the leaves and stem as in Illustration 1-18.

15. Burnish the leaves and stem with yellow.






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ILLUSTRATION 1-19

16. Use your black pencil to add some hatching lines in the background. My hatching lines are diagonal from the lower left to the upper right.

17. Add a little black to the very darkest shadow areas of the rosebud, leaves, and stem as in Illustration 1-19. Black should be used very sparingly. Remember less is more!






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BRENDA HODDINOTT - BIOGRAPHY

As a self-educated teacher, visual artist, portraitist, forensic artist, and illustrator, Brenda Hoddinott utilizes diverse art media including graphite, technical pen, colored pencil, chalk pastel, charcoal, conté crayon, and oil paints.

My philosophy on teaching art is to focus primarily on the enjoyment aspects while gently introducing

the technical and academic. Hence, in creating a passion for the subject matter, the quest for

knowledge also becomes enjoyable. >Brenda Hoddinott<

Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Brenda grew up in the small town of Corner Brook. She developed strong technical competencies with a personal commitment to self directed learning, and the aid of assorted “Learn to Draw” books. During Brenda’s twenty-five year career as a self-educated civilian forensic artist, numerous criminal investigation departments have employed Brenda’s skills, including Royal Canadian Mounted Police and municipal police departments. In 1992, Brenda was honored with a commendation from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and in 1994, she was awarded a Certificate of Membership from “Forensic Artists International”. Her home-based art career included graphic design, and teaching recreational drawing and painting classes. As supervisor of her community’s recreational art department, Brenda hired and trained teachers, and designed curriculum for several children’s art programs. In 1998, Brenda chose to end her eighteen-year career as an art educator in order to devote more time to writing, drawing, painting, and developing her websites. Drawspace http://www.drawspace.com incorporates her unique style and innovative approach to curriculum development. This site offers downloadable and printable drawing classes for students of all abilities from the age of eight through adult. Students of all ages, levels and abilities have praised the simple step-by-step instructional approach. This site is respected as a resource for fine art educators, home schooling programs, and educational facilities throughout the world.

LEARN-TO-DRAW BOOKS BY BRENDA HODDINOTT

Drawing for Dummies (2003): Wiley Publishing, Inc., New, York, NY, this 336 page book is available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Drawing People (2004): Winner of the Alpha-Penguin Book of the Year Award 2004, Alpha - Pearson Education – Macmillan, Indianapolis, IN, this 360 page book is available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally.





Brenda Hoddinott

Y-02 ADVANCED: CREATING IN COLOR In this fun project, you use colored pencils to draw an adorable puppy. You focus on identifying and rendering the light and shadow areas of various textures, forms, and colors.

This lesson includes the following eight sections: Introduction Suggested Supplies Planning and Outlining Adding Wobby’s Fur Shading Eyes and Nose Shading a Rainbow Adding Final Touches Challenge

This lesson is recommended for artists with good drawing skills and a basic understanding of color theory, as well as advanced students of home schooling, academic and recreational fine art educators.

15 PAGES – 18 ILLUSTRATIONS

Published by Drawspace.com, Halifax, NS, Canada – 2004 (Revised - July, 2009)

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this document belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com

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Burnishing is the application of a layer(s) of color (or white) over another by applying pressure to a pencil to blend colors together. Burnishing colored pencils can also be done with a tortillon or a firm plastic eraser. Cast shadow is a dark area on a surface, adjacent to where the light is blocked by an object. Contour drawings (also called line drawings) are comprised of lines which follow the contours of the various components of a drawing subject and define the outlines of its forms. Contrast measures the degree of difference between the light and dark values within shading, and creates the illusion of three-dimensions in a drawing. Foreshortening refers to the visual distortion of a person or object, when viewed at extreme angles. As the angle of viewing becomes more extreme the level of distortion becomes more pronounced. Graduated shading (also known as a graduation or graduated values) is a continuous progression of graduated values from dark to light or from light to dark. Grid is a framework of vertical and horizontal reference squares on an image and/or drawing paper, used by artists to either enlarge or reduce the size of the original image. Hatching is a series of lines drawn closely together to give the illusion of values. Light source is the direction from which a dominant light originates. Overlapping refers to the position of an object when it visually appears to be in front of another object. Perspective is the rendering of a three dimensional object or space within a two-dimensional drawing space. Shadows are the areas on an object that receive little or no light. Texture is the surface detail of an object, as defined in a drawing with various shading techniques. The senses of touch and sight help identify the surface texture of drawing subjects.

INTRODUCTION Wobby is “painted” with primary and secondary colored pencils. Because his face looked so sad in my preliminary sketch, I chose to use mostly blue for his fur.

To keep the drawing bright, I used other primary colors for this puppy, yellow for the insides of his ears and the under pads of his paws, and red (almost pink) for his nose. I chose stripes of both primary and secondary colors for his rainbow ribbon (bow).

SUGGESTED SUPPLIES Heavy drawing paper or mat board, preferably a light color.

Sandpaper block or fine sandpaper to keep your pencils sharp.

Ruler (if you decide to use a grid).

HB graphite pencil.

Vinyl eraser.

24 colored pencils similar to the following:




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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 1 9 20 21 22 23 24

1 Orange 13 White 2 Light orange 14 Light gray 3 Yellow 15 Dark gray 4 Dark ochre 16 Dark brown 5 Dark green 17 Medium brown 6 Light green 18 Rust 7 Light sky blue 19 Pink 8 Medium blue 20 Light purple 9 Sapphire blue 21 Light red

10 Dark blue 22 Mauve 11 Dark violet 23 Dark red 12 Black 24 Medium red

PLANNING AND OUTLINING In this section you plan your drawing and outline Wobby within your drawing space.

My drawing surface is lightly textured acid-free mat board. Draw freehand if you wish – however, if you prefer using a grid, I added one. My drawing is 4 by 5 inches (4 squares across by 5 squares down), which is quite tiny. You can do a larger drawing by simply using larger squares.

1) Draw your grid lines VERY lightly, preferably with an HB pencil.

Don’t press too hard with your pencil or your lines won’t erase later. Add numbers along the top and letters down the side (Figure 201).

FIGURE 201

FIGURE 202




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2) Sketch the basic outlines of the head, ears, body, and tail very lightly with your HB pencil (Figures 203 to 205).

Begin with an outline of Wobby’s head and ears.

Don’t forget the tuffs of fur on the top of his head!

Outline the various parts of his eyes. Check out the close-up in Figure 204.

Add his nose, chubby cheeks, tail, and ears.

Outline his bow and the rose (optional). Refer to the close-up view in Figure 205.

To keep the drawing a little simpler, feel free to leave out the rose.

Add his body, legs, and paws (one of his back paws seems to be hidden behind his belly, but don’t worry, you add it later).

When you’ve finished drawing the outlines, take a moment to carefully check that everything is in the correct place.

FIGURE 203

FIGURE 204




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3) Erase the grid lines and redraw any sections that were accidentally erased.

Use the edge of your vinyl eraser to erase the lines, and then very lightly brush away the eraser crumbs with a clean soft paintbrush.

Finally, use your kneaded eraser to gently pat the paper’s surface; it will pick up any remaining eraser crumbs.

4) Use your kneaded eraser to lighten all your pencil lines until you can barely see them.

FIGURE 205

FIGURE 206




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ADDING WOBBY’S FUR In this section, you add colors to the fur. Use a sandpaper block or fine sandpaper to keep your pencil points very sharp.

If your goal is to create realistic-looking fur, make sure that each hatching line is drawn in the direction in which the fur appears to “grow”.

5) Use pencil 10 (dark blue) to create the darkest values.

Use short, slightly curved, hatching lines to define the three-dimensional shapes of various parts of Wobby’s body.

The light source is from the left front, so the shading is lighter on the left.

Don’t miss the dark shadowed sections of his belly and neck; under his brows and bow; and on the side of his nose.

The darkest shading is in the areas that are farthest away from the light source.

The hatching lines are short, but of slightly different lengths.

The light color of my drawing surface shows through in the light areas.

FIGURE 207




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Dark shading, in such places as the flaps under the ears and the creases of the stitching, creates the illusion of depth.

6) Select two middle values of blue.

Some of your colors may be different than mine. Therefore test your 9 (sapphire blue) and 8 (medium blue) pencils (or two similar colors) and determine which is lighter and which is darker.

7) Add medium values to Wobby’s fur.

Work from the darkest colors toward the lightest to create a strong contrast in values.

With the darker of pencils 8 and 9, add medium values that graduate toward the light sections.

Use the lighter of the two blue pencils to add more fur to the sections of Wobby that are closer to the light source.

FIGURE 208




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8) Add the lightest values in sections that are closest to and in direct exposure of the light source.

Use your 13 (white) and 7 (light sky blue) pencils to add the light values to the fur.

Pencil 7 (light sky blue) works well to graduate medium values towards the lightest sections.

Hatching a few lines with a white pencil can make some of the light areas even lighter.

9) Draw the yellow fur on his paws and the insides of his ears. You need the following pencils for drawing yellow fur: 2 (yellow), 4 (dark ochre), 13 (white), 16 (dark brown), 17 (medium brown), and 18 (rust).

FIGURE 209




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Begin shading the darkest yellow sections with pencils 16 and 17. Use VERY few dark shading lines. The fur needs to look yellow – not yucky brown! Also, add the middle values very sparingly with pencils 4 and 18.

Use lots of 3 (yellow) to shade the light values.

In the lightest areas, leave some sections of your drawing surface showing between your hatching lines.

Use your 13 (white) to add some very light areas to the lightest sections of the yellow fur.

The yellow fur is lighter on the left side of the drawing and is very dark in the shadow areas such as his back foot and under the upper section of the flap of his right ear.

SHADING EYES AND NOSE Wobby’s personality is illustrated by your handling of the shading of his eyes and nose. Remember, you have a certified artistic license to use your creativity and make any changes you wish, including the colors of his eyes and (or) nose. Use a sandpaper block or fine sandpaper to keep your pencil points sharp. But, remember - don’t press too hard with your pencils unless you are burnishing!

FIGURE 209




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10) Select the following colors for shading Wobby’s eyes:

Irises: 5 (dark green), 3 (yellow), 16 (dark brown), and 18 (rust).

Pupils: 12 (black).

Lower eyelid: 14 (light gray) and 15 (dark gray).

Highlights: 13 (white).

11) Note the following in Figure 210:

The iris is darker at the top and on the side where the large highlight is.

The lower eyelid is a dark gray.

A large highlight is on the upper left and a small one is on the lower right.

The lightest value of the iris is around the smaller highlight (on the lower right).

12) Add shading to Wobby’s eyes.

Refer to Figures 210 and 211.

First of all, fill in the two large and two small highlights with your white pencil.

The larger highlights are a little below the tops of the irises because the upper sections are in the shadows of the brows.

With your 16 and 12 pencils, outline the circular perimeter of the irises. Shade in the upper section of the iris with your 16 pencil. Add shading to the lower sections of the irises with an 18 for the sections on the left, and a 5 for the sections on the right.

Use your 3 pencil to burnish (blend) these two colors and 17 together so the iris seems shiny. Outline the lower edge of the rim of each eye with your 12 pencil. Use a 15 to shade in the rim of the eye.

Burnish the center of the rim (or eyelid) with 14 to make it look shiny.

Shade in the pupil with your 12 pencil.

FIGURE 210

FIGURE 211




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Compare your drawing of Wobby’s eyes to mine and make sure you’ve forgotten nothing. Touch up any areas you are not happy with.

Time to add shading to his nose! The technique of burnishing your shading also works well to help create its shiny texture.

13) Sharpen the following colored pencils for his nose:

12 (black): the darkest values on the inside of the nostrils, and for the darkest shadow section of the fur on the lower right.

15 (dark gray): the outline of the left perimeter of the nose and the shading of the shadow sections of his nose on the right.

23 (dark red): the dark values on his nose.

21 (light red): the medium values.

19 (pink): the light values.

14) Add shading to Wobby’s nose.

Refer to Figure 212.

Fill in the four highlights on the nose with your white pencil. Two circular highlights (a big and a small) are located on the top of the nose, and two small oval highlights are on the lower sections of the nose

Take note of the reflected light sections on the left and bottom section of the nose and remember to leave them very light. Also remember to leave the highlights white.

Add shading to the dark section of fur (the shadow created by the nose) in the lower right.

Burnish the entire nose except for the highlights. Use 13 to burnish the light values, 19 to burnish the middle values, and 23 for the darker sections.

FIGURE 212




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SHADING A RAINBOW Graduations are the primary ingredient in realistic shading. Some individual stripes of the ribbon have more than one value of a specific color, requiring a graduation from one value to the next. The goal is to keep the transition between the different values flowing smoothly into one another.

For each color you use a light, a medium, and a dark value. The first number in the list below represents the pencil I used for the darkest value, the second number the medium, and the third the lightest value:

Purple: 11, 22, and 20

Blue: 10, 8. and 7

Green: 12, 5, and 6

Yellow: 16, 4, and 3

Orange: 16, 1, and 2

Red: 16, 23, and 24

15) Very lightly draw lines on the ribbon to identify the location of each stripe.

As a ribbon curves in different directions some sections are closer to the viewer than others.

Foreshortening creates the illusion that some stripes appear to be wide and others are narrow.

16) Shade the rainbow ribbon.

Refer to Figures 213 to 215. Use three different values of each color.

You may need to apply a lot of pressure with your pencil to make the dark values. If the light colors are not quite light enough, you can burnish them with white.

Each color in the bow is lighter on the left side of the drawing, closer to the light source. Take note that there are very few light values used for the sections of the ribbon on the right and under his chin.

FIGURE 213




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17) Add shading to the rose (if you have included it in your drawing).

Keep in mind that the rose is optional. You can draw it as is, leave it out, change the color, or replace it with something else such as a nametag or dog biscuit. Use your imagination!

ADDING FINAL TOUCHES In this section, you add Wobby’s other back paw, and some shading with horizontal hatching lines to create a cast shadow.

With a tiny section of a fourth paw showing under Wobby’s belly, he seems to be sitting more firmly on the ground.

Cast shadows give the illusion of weight by making it appear that the subject of your drawing is sitting on a surface.

18) First outline and then shade in a tiny section of his right back paw (Figure 216).

Use the same colors as used for his other four paws.

FIGURE 215 FIGURE 214

FIGURE 216




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19) Add shading to the cast shadow using lots of different colors.

First, lightly draw a few parallel horizontal lines as guides.

The shading of the cast shadow is darker closer to him and becomes gradually lighter as it moves outward.

Take a few minutes to check over your drawing, from the top of his fluffy blue head down to the yellow bottoms of his paws. Touch up any areas that you are not completely happy with.

If you wish you can outline various sections of your drawing with freshly sharpened, dark colored pencils.

Sign your name and put today’s date on the back of your drawing!

There are only three ways to improve your drawing skills - practice, practice and more practice!

CHALLENGE Grab more paper, and draw some more!

Use your imagination and colored pencils to draw another cartoon animal.

Maybe you could draw a cartoon of an animal you know well – such as your pet or one belonging to someone you know.

FIGURE 217

FIGURE 218




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BRENDA HODDINOTT As a self-educated teacher, visual artist, portraitist, forensic artist (retired), and illustrator, Brenda Hoddinott utilizes diverse art media including her favorites: graphite and paint.

Brenda is the author of Drawing for Dummies (Wiley Publishing, Inc., New York, NY) and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Drawing People (Winner of the Alpha-Penguin Book of the Year Award 2004, Alpha - Pearson Education – Macmillan, Indianapolis, IN). She is currently writing two books on classical drawing.

My philosophy on teaching art is to focus primarily on the enjoyment aspects while gently introducing the technical and academic. Hence, in creating a passion for the subject matter, the quest for knowledge also

becomes enjoyable. >Brenda Hoddinott<

Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Brenda grew up in the small town of Corner Brook. She developed strong drawing and painting skills through self-directed learning.

During her twenty-five year career as a self-educated civilian forensic artist, various criminal investigation departments have employed Brenda’s skills, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In 1992, Brenda was honored with a commendation from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and in 1994, she was awarded a Certificate of Membership from “Forensic Artists International”.

In 2003, Brenda retired from her careers as a forensic artist and teacher to work full time writing books and developing her website (Drawspace.com). This site is respected as a resource for fine art educators, home schooling programs, and educational facilities throughout the world.



DESIGNING A

OF A

GREASE MONKEY Brenda Hoddinott

Y-O3 ADVANCED: CREATING IN COLOR With so many tattoo designs readily available, designing your very own personalized tattoo is not for the faint of heart.

This heavily illustrated diary demonstrates the process of designing an original tattoo of a grease monkey, from its initial concept through to its final completion.

This article is divided into the following three sections:

THINKING WITH PAPER AND A PENCIL: As an artist, I prefer to think on paper; hence I begin to sketch a few ideas. Objects that I have not drawn previously are researched, and a final line drawing is prepared for shading.

ADDING COLOR TO A MONKEY FACE: I first choose the colors I want to use and then add shading to the hair, face, ears, fur and eyes. My favorite medium for this type of drawing is colored pencils, which work well for coloring both big sections and tiny intricate details.

SHADING A TIRE, WRENCH, FUR, AND CLOTHING: I add shading to the rest of the drawing, outline the basic shapes neatly in pen, and add a few final touches. The orange tones of his face and fur will contrast beautifully with the bright blue overalls.

Suggested supplies: An HB mechanical pencil is used for the initial sketch. Colored pencils work well for adding shading. The thin black outlines are drawn with Micron pens.

11 PAGES – 25 ILLUSTRATIONS This article is recommended for adults with good drawing skills, a basic understanding of color, and experience using colored pencils. The curriculum is easily implemented into instructional programs for home schooling, academic and

recreational learning environments.

Published by Hoddinott Fine Art Publishers, Halifax, NS, Canada – 2007


E-mail [email protected] Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com

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THINKING WITH PAPER AND A PENCIL About a month before my daughter, Heidi, got married, she called me with a request, “Can you design a tattoo for Chris; he would love to have a tattoo as my wedding gift to him”.

Chris works as a mechanic for large working vehicles, such as tractors and large dump trucks. When Heidi suggested designing a grease monkey tattoo, ideas began floating around in my mind. As an artist, I prefer to think on paper; so, I begin to sketch a few ideas.

Naturally, my initial thought was to draw a monkey. Never having drawn a monkey before, my first research project was to look on the Internet to find photos. With a basic concept of the shape of the face and ears, the rough sketch in Figure 301 escaped being thrown in the trash.

This was getting close to what I envisioned, but not close enough. He looks like he is leaning on a barbell or a dog bone, rather than a wrench!

Figure 301: The sketch that passed the first cuts.

Time to research a little more and find out what a more realistic wrench looks like.

By placing tracing paper over my rough sketch, I could easily refine the sketch and add a few extra details. I also decided to give him overalls and a facial expression that was a little less “cute and adorable” and more “manly”. Figure 302 shows a little more refined sketch of a monkey with a wrench.

Figure 302: My first line drawing demonstrates my ideas a little more clearly.

At this point, I showed the design concept to Heidi to get her ideas. She suggested that I have him leaning against a tire and holding a wrench. Ah ha! Perfect! Chris loves pretty much everything with tires and a motor, and they have a garage behind their home, even bigger than their house. The garage is always filled with “toys”, such as all terrain vehicles, mud-runners, motorcycles, cars, and trucks; all in various states of restoration.






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Figure 303: The sketch is now ready to be transformed into a more detailed line drawing.

When drawing a tattoo design, you have to keep in mind that the design needs to be kept as simple as possible. Even though the primary tool of a tattoo artist is a needle, extremely intricate details are more difficult to draw on the uneven surface of human flesh than on smooth paper. Also, keep in mind that tattoos can vary in size depending on what part of the body becomes the artist’s canvas. The actual tattoo may be smaller or larger than the drawing. Hence, you need to add enough details to work well for a larger tattoo, but also make sure that it is easy to simplify for a smaller tattoo.

If you are designing a tattoo for someone other than yourself, you really should show your design to the individual at this stage, before you get into the shading. He or she may also have ideas.

Compared to a motor, drawing a tire should be a piece of cake! Back to the drawing board! I used tracing paper to redraw the sections of the sketch that I wanted to change, such as replacing the oversized wrench with a tire. I moved his right hand up a little so it rested on top of the tire. The left hand held a wrench that is drawn with perspective so its end appears to be farther back than the front.

When I was happy with the changes, I used Photoshop to overlay the new parts of the sketch onto the old sketch. If you are not familiar with Photoshop, you can easily erase the parts you don’t like and redraw new sections.

Heidi suggested that I have a red hankie hanging out of his pocket. She also sent me a photo of a tire. In addition to Heidi’s suggestions, I added larger eyes, a furry perimeter around his head and arms, a tail, (I almost forgot the tail!), and work boots. The final line drawing in Figure 304 is illustrated the same size as my actual drawing.






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Figure 304: The final line drawing is complete and ready to be colored.

Colored pencils are very difficult to erase, so I need to be sure that my outline is accurate. I’ve added a lot more details, so as to make life easier when I get to the shading.

Take note of the shapes of the tire’s tread, the handkerchief hanging out of his pocket, the various parts of the rim of the tire, the seams of his overalls, the pupils, irises, and highlights of his eyes, and the addition of work boots (instead of blobs where his feet belong).

ADDING COLOR TO A MONKEY FACE In this section, I first choose colors and then add shading to the hair, face, ears, fur and eyes. My favorite medium for this type of drawing is colored pencils. I have tons of different colors to choose from, and colored pencils work well for both big sections and tiny details. The thin black outlines are drawn with a Micron 03 pen. The ink doesn’t fade and is archival; the tip doesn’t go blunt easily, and provides consistent line width. The paper is smooth and works well for both colored pencil and pen (Make sure you test your pencils and pen on the paper before you begin).






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Defining light and shadow is more than simply using light colors for light areas and dark for the shadows. Hue must also be considered in terms of warm and cold colors. Any cool color, such as blue can be mixed with the other colors for shadows. Yellow mixed with the other colors helps create the illusion of light, and is a fantastic choice for warming the lightest values. Also, complementary colors will be utilized in the final stages of the drawing to further enhance the contrast between light and shadow.

I begin by choosing a few shadow colors that will work well to darken all other colors. Most of the colors in this drawing will be oranges. Hence, blue, being the complement of orange, is a great choice for the overalls.

Figure 305: Shadow colors include a bluish gray, a medium blue, a light blue, and black (which will be used VERY sparingly).

Then I pick out a few skin colors that are easily darkened with the shadow colors. Yellow will be used only in the highlight areas to really bring out the illusion of light.

Figure 306: Skin colors include light and dark flesh colors, a warm brown and a pale yellow.

Chris is a redhead with blue eyes and a fair, pinkish complexion; hence, I’ll take this into consideration when choosing my colors. I want Chris’s red hair to stand out strongly. Hence my choices for his hair are the brightest I could find. The rest of his “fur” will be more subdued.

Figure 307: The hair colors are very bright; red, orange, yellow, and a light flesh to tone down a few sections.

I’ve already decided on an imaginary light source from the upper right front. The key, to making this cartoon look three dimensional, is to use this light source to navigate me through the placement of light and shadows.

Now for the fun part! I begin with the ear on the left, partially because it’s not an important feature if I mess up. In addition, this section is in the upper left, so I won’t be smudging my drawing as I work from the upper left downward (if you’re left handed, work from the upper right downward).

I made the hair style as close to Chris’s as a simple cartoon allows. Of course, I exaggerated the cowlicks! In addition, I added a few lines of darker color to show the direction in which his hair grows.

Figure 308: The skin tones are burnished with a white pencil in the light sections, and the hair is burnished with bright yellow.






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Outlines in pen should be added after the shading is complete in each section. If you add colored pencil over the ink, the ink becomes dull. In addition, if the ink is not quite dry when you touch it with a colored pencil, it may smudge and ruin your drawing.

If you outline everything, your drawing becomes disjointed and cluttered. You can create lots of forms with the colored pencils alone. For example, only the outside edge of the ear on the right is outlined.

The fur on his face, arms, and hands is made up of the following four colors along with a few of the shadow colors from Figure 305.

Figure 309: The colors for the fur are not as bright as those for the hair.

The eyes are shaded with two blues (Figure 310); a little dark gray is added in the shadow sections under the brow. The whites of the eyes are light blue, but will be a little darker in the final drawing.

Figure 310: The blue eyes contrast sharply against the bright orange hair.

The sections of fur on the right and left have shadow colors added to darken and tone down the brightness. The ears and nose are slightly pinker than the skin around his eyes and face.

Figure 311: This handsome monkey is actually beginning to look like my son-in-law!

SHADING A TIRE, WRENCH, FUR, AND CLOTHING In this section, I complete the drawing by shading the clothing, tire, handkerchief, and wrench. The orange tones of his face and fur will contrast beautifully with the bright blue overalls. Blue and orange are complementary colors (as are red and green, or yellow and purple). When placed beside one another each looks brighter.

To give you an idea of how I shade around a form, the lower section of the arm is incomplete (Figure 312). You can now compare the bright orange hair to the dull colors of the fur. The bright colors bring the viewer’s eye toward the upper section of the drawing.






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The upper section of the tire needs to be simple so as not to take attention away from the face (Figure 313). The dark section of the tire under the hand is in shadow.

Figure 312: The fur on his chest is in the shadow of his chin; the under-section of his upper arm is also in shadow.

Figure 313: The blue of the overalls reflects onto

the tire.

The different values of the handkerchief were first shaded with a dark and medium red. Then, blue and gray were burnished into the shadows. Yellow was added to the lightest sections (Figures 314 and 315).

Take note of the rim of light blue (reflected light) along the tummy edge of the overalls. The tire rim is metal and therefore mirrors colors around it; hence, the tiny red and blue sections.

Figure 315: The blue of the overalls and the red of the handkerchief are used in the shading of the tire.

Figure 314: A few of the colors used for

shading the handkerchief.






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Figure 316: The drawing is more than halfway

complete; however, a few changes and additions will

be needed in the final stages, such as less

yellow in the highlights of the tire rim.

Figure 317: The tread of the tire is darker in the lower sections.

Figure 318: The overalls are lighter closer to the light source, and the wrench is shaded with black, light blue, and gray.






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Figure 319: The lower section of the tire is darker and less detailed. His tail is lighter closer to the front, but is darker farther back in space.

As I go back over the drawing I make a few final touch-ups. For example, all the outlines have been redone with a slightly thicker pen.

Figure 320: I erased and/or

covered up a lot of the

yellow in the tire rim and outlined its

perimeter a little neater.

Figure 321: The boots are a combination of colors already used plus yellow ochre (brown/yellow).

Figure 322: The pupils of the eyes are colored in with a black pen, and the outlines are neater.

Figure 323: A shadow is added to the ground with light and dark gray.






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A few additional touches were added, such as darkening a couple of sections and lightening others.

I will send the drawing to my daughter and son-in-law in a few different sizes; hence, he can choose the size that best fits wherever he plans to have the tattoo. The final design will be sent to the tattoo artist a week before Chris’s appointment.

Figure 324 and 325: The small and large versions of the final design represent the smallest size I would suggest (would need to be simplified) and the largest.






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Brenda Hoddinott As a self-educated teacher, visual artist, portraitist, forensic artist, and illustrator, Brenda utilizes diverse art media including graphite, technical pen, colored pencil, chalk pastel, charcoal, conté crayon, and oil paints.

My philosophy on teaching art is to focus primarily on the enjoyment aspects while gently introducing the technical and academic. Hence, in creating a passion for the subject matter, the quest for knowledge also becomes enjoyable.

Brenda Hoddinott

Biography

Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Brenda grew up in the small town of Corner Brook. She developed strong technical competencies with a personal commitment to self directed learning, and the aid of assorted “Learn to Draw” books. During Brenda’s twenty-five year career as a self-educated civilian forensic artist, numerous criminal investigation departments have employed Brenda’s skills, including Royal Canadian Mounted Police and municipal police departments. In 1992, Brenda was honored with a commendation from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and in 1994, she was awarded a Certificate of Membership from “Forensic Artists International”.

Her home-based art career included graphic design, and teaching recreational drawing and painting classes. As supervisor of her community’s recreational art department, Brenda hired and trained teachers, and designed curriculum for several children’s art programs. In 1998, Brenda chose to end her eighteen-year career as an art educator in order to devote more time to writing, drawing, painting, and developing her websites.

Drawspace http://www.drawspace.com incorporates her unique style and innovative approach to curriculum development. This site offers downloadable and printable drawing classes for students of all abilities from the age of eight through adult. Students of all ages, levels and abilities have praised the simple step-by-step instructional approach. This site is respected as a resource for fine art educators, home schooling programs, and educational facilities throughout the world.

Learn-to-draw books

Drawing for Dummies: Wiley Publishing, Inc., New, York, NY, this 336 page book is available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Drawing People: Winner of the Alpha-Penguin Book of the Year Award 2004, Alpha - Pearson Education – Macmillan, Indianapolis, IN, this 360 page book is available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally.





VVAALLUUEESS IINN

Brenda Hoddinott

Y-04 ADVANCED: CREATING IN COLOR

This heavily illustrated article introduces you to the single most important element of learning how to paint or draw in color; seeing the values of colors. You can color in an artwork of a realistic subject with hundreds of different colors, but without an intrinsic or learned understanding of values, your painting or drawing cannot possibly appear three-dimensional. No matter what colored medium you choose, or which colors you use, you still need to use a full range of values from light to dark.

This article is divided into the following three sections:

THE VALUES OF COLOR: Values in colors, refers to the lightness or darkness of a color; for example think about a soft pastel yellow (light value) beside a deep midnight blue (dark value).

VALUES IN SINGLE COLORS: Every color in the universe can become either a light, medium, or dark value in a value scale. However, if you try to render an artwork with different values that are all light, all medium, or all dark, you cannot create a strong illusion of three-dimensional reality.

VALUES IN MIXED COLORS: You examine a few sections of an oil painting to gain an understanding of how a full range of values in mixed colors helps create realism.

7 PAGES – 18 ILLUSTRATIONS This article is recommended for artists of all age who work with colored media. The curriculum is easily implemented into

instructional programs for home schooling, academic and recreational learning environments.

Published by Hoddinott Fine Art Publishers, Halifax, NS, Canada – 2007

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com

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THE VALUES OF COLOR Seeing the values of colors is probably the single most important element of learning how to paint or draw in color. The different values of the colors within the light and shadow sections of an object, visually define its shapes and forms. You can color in an artwork of a realistic subject with hundreds of different colors, but without an understanding of values, your painting or drawing cannot possibly appear three-dimensional.

More than likely, you’re already familiar with a grayscale value scale (Figure 401). The logical next step is to recognize values in colors.

Figure 401: A full value scale comprised of 9 different values and black arranged from the lightest to the darkest.

Seeing values in colors is much more challenging than in grayscale. Values in colors, refers to the lightness or darkness of a color; for example think about a soft pastel yellow (light value) beside a deep midnight blue (dark value). The only way to train your eye to recognize the values of colors is to practice drawing or painting with color. In the beginning, it’s mostly guesswork.

Figure 402 shows an assortment of colors, similar to what comes in jars or tubes of paint. Can you tell which color is the lightest in value and which is the darkest?

Just for fun, try and arrange all ten colors by value, from the lightest to the darkest. To help you a little, I used Photoshop to show you these same colors translated into grayscale (Figure 403).

Figure 402: A tiny sampling of 10 popular colors that are available as drawing or painting mediums, such as acrylic or oil paint, pastels, watercolor, or colored pencils.

Figure 403: Ten different grayscale values are created from the ten different colors in an imaging program.

When you are done, check out Figure 404 to find out which colors are actually darker or lighter than others.

ART SPEAK Values, the basic ingredients of shading, refer to the different shades of color or gray. Value scale refers to an arrangement of different values from light to dark or from dark to light.





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As you may have guessed, yellow is the lightest and royal blue is the darkest. Surprisingly, some colors are almost identical in value. Hence when used beside one another in a painting, their values will appear the same.

Figure 404: Ten different colors have values that are either similar to others or very different from others.

VALUES IN SINGLE COLORS Every color in the universe can become either a light, medium, or dark value in a value scale. However, if you try to render an artwork with different values that are all light, all medium, or all dark, you cannot create a strong illusion of three-dimensional reality.

For example, Figure 405 shows a value scale of all light values, with the lightest value from Figure 404 (the yellow) as the darkest value (now on the far right). Nine values are in fact lighter than the original yellow, but the colors are very similar.

Figure 405: The darkest value in this value scale is identical to the lightest in Figure 404.

Conversely, if you take the darkest value in Figure 406 (the blue) and make it the lightest value in a value scale, many of the resulting colors appear almost identical.

Figure 406: The lightest value in this value scale is identical to the darkest in Figure 404.

Technically, any color can be broken down into an infinite range of values from very light to almost black. However, common sense dictates that there’s no point in using colors that are so close in value that the human eye cannot discern one from another. The key to drawing realistically with color is to use a full range of values from very light to very dark, as with the greens in Figure 407.





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Figure 407: Ten different values from very light to very dark (called a full range of values), are created from a green color.

Compare Figures 408 and 409. If you use a full value scale of a single color to render a drawing, you can achieve the illusion of three-dimensional reality just as well as with a value scale of gray (called a grayscale).

Figure 408: A three-dimensional drawing of a medieval dagger rendered in grayscale.

Figure 409: The same dagger with a full range of green values also appears three-dimensional.

VALUES IN MIXED COLORS In this section, you examine a few sections of an oil painting to gain an understanding of how a full range of values in mixed colors helps create realism.

Most color media necessitate that some colors be mixed together in order to create a realistic artwork. Wet media, such as acrylic or oil paint, are generally premixed with a brush or palette knife before being applied to the surface; dry media such as chalk pastels or colored pencils, are usually applied to the surface in layers to mix the colors.

No matter what colored medium you choose, or which colors you use, you still need to use a full range of values from light to dark.

Figure 410: Oil painting of a little girl with long blonde hair, playing in the sand at a beach.





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The skin colors in this painting are made up of a full value scale of ten different mixed colors, from very light (1) to very dark (10).

Figure 411: The ten skin colors are mixed with only primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) plus white.

Figure 412: Each different value of skin color is numbered in this close up view of a section of the painting.

Most of the arm is in sunlight; hence the values range from light to medium (1 to 6). The shadow section of her upper leg is painted with dark values (7 to 10).

Compare the numbered sections on the painting to the value scale of colors and find each of the ten colors.

Here’s a trick question; what color are the white polka dots in her bathing suit? Hint; not white!

Figure 413: The lightest value (1), used for painting white polka dots, is very light but not white. The other three values have identifiable colors, yellow

(2), pink (3), and light brown (4).

I rarely use pure white in my paintings, and never use black.

The dots that are in the bright sunlight are light in value but not white. Those in shadow sections are made up of other light values.

Compare the numbered sections in the close up of the bathing suit (Figure 414) to the value scale of colors (Figure 413).

Figure 414: The dot colors are mostly white with a little yellow, red, and blue added.





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As a final demonstration of values in color, examine her pink bathing suit. Most of the colors used are not pink; yet, as you look at the complete work (Figure 417), the bathing suit appears unmistakably pink.

Figure 415: The nine bathing suit colors, made from all three primary colors and white, range in value from light to dark.

Figure 416: Compare the value scale of colors to this close-up section of the bathing suit.

By now, you’re familiar with the goals of these visual exercises.

First of all, colors are not always simple; if you use pure colors as they come either in a tube of paint or in a colored pencil, you’ll be very disappointed with the resulting work. Colors need to be mixed with others to achieve realistic values and colors.

Secondly, values are much more important than color. Whether a bathing suit is blue, purple, or pink, you need to focus your attention on the values more so than the colors.

To make sure you are making good use of the values of colors, take black-and-white photos or scans of your color artworks in progress, to check and see how your values are working.

Figures 417 and 418: Compare the original painting in color to the one in grayscale. As you

can see, the subject appears just as

three-dimensional with only simple

grayscale values.





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Brenda Hoddinott As a self-educated teacher, visual artist, portraitist, forensic artist, and illustrator, Brenda utilizes diverse art media including graphite, technical pen, colored pencil, chalk pastel, charcoal, conté crayon, and oil paints.

My philosophy on teaching art is to focus primarily on the enjoyment aspects while gently introducing the technical and academic. Hence, in creating a passion for the subject matter, the quest for knowledge also becomes enjoyable.

Brenda Hoddinott

Biography

Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Brenda grew up in the small town of Corner Brook. She developed strong technical competencies with a personal commitment to self directed learning, and the aid of assorted “Learn to Draw” books. During Brenda’s twenty-five year career as a self-educated civilian forensic artist, numerous criminal investigation departments have employed Brenda’s skills, including Royal Canadian Mounted Police and municipal police departments. In 1992, Brenda was honored with a commendation from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and in 1994, she was awarded a Certificate of Membership from “Forensic Artists International”.

Her home-based art career included graphic design, and teaching recreational drawing and painting classes. As supervisor of her community’s recreational art department, Brenda hired and trained teachers, and designed curriculum for several children’s art programs. In 1998, Brenda chose to end her eighteen-year career as an art educator in order to devote more time to writing, drawing, painting, and developing her websites.

Drawspace http://www.drawspace.com incorporates her unique style and innovative approach to curriculum development. This site offers downloadable and printable drawing classes for students of all abilities from the age of eight through adult. Students of all ages, levels and abilities have praised the simple step-by-step instructional approach. This site is respected as a resource for fine art educators, home schooling programs, and educational facilities throughout the world.

Learn-to-draw books

Drawing for Dummies: Wiley Publishing, Inc., New, York, NY, this 336 page book is available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Drawing People: Winner of the Alpha-Penguin Book of the Year Award 2004, Alpha - Pearson Education – Macmillan, Indianapolis, IN, this 360 page book is available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally.





PAINTING WITH ACRYLICS: PART 1

Brenda Hoddinott

Y05 ADVANCED: CREATING IN COLOR

This is the first in a series of six lessons that takes you through the process of learning how to paint with acrylics.

This lesson is divided into the following four sections:

Introduction Basic Painting Supplies Planning Your Painting Five Simple Steps to Set up for Painting

This project is recommended for artists from age 12 to adult with good drawing skills, as well as students of home schooling, academic, and recreational fine art educators.


Published by Drawspace.com, Halifax, NS, Canada – (June, 2009)


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Figure 501

Figure 502

INTRODUCTION I’ve painted with oils since 1988. However, I’m becoming increasingly concerned about the toxicity of the various chemicals used in their manufacture. In addition, I’m not fond of the smell of the oils and mediums, the clean-up, or the long drying times. So, I’ve decided to teach myself to paint with acrylics.

As I go through this process, I am going to share my learning with you. Having had very little experience with using acrylics, I plan to simply have fun.

My subject for my painting is a tiny section of one of my oil paintings (Figure 501) that I modified into an abstract using Photoshop (Figure 502).

I have no delusions that my acrylic painting will be anything but a learning tool. I’ll start a “real” painting once I have conquered the basics!

As you can see in Figure 502, I drew a grid on my reference photo in Photoshop before I printed it.

However, I gave up on using a grid a few minutes into my preliminary drawing. I wanted to adjust most proportions and make several changes. Hence, freehand drawing worked perfectly!

BASIC PAINTING SUPPLIES Just in case I dislike acrylics more than oils, I decided to learn on a tight budget. Paints were my biggest investment.




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Figure 503

Figure 504

When I painted in oils I used only primary colors (two different colors of yellow, blue, and red) as well as raw umber and white. As you can tell from the painting in Figure 501, these colors can be mixed together to create any color you can see or imagine.

White is used more than any other color – so, I bought a big tube. The base colors (Figure 503) that I have used for more than 20 years are: 1) White 2) Alizarin Crimson 3) Cadmium Red 4) Ultramarine Blue 5) Cerulean Blue 6) Yellow Ochre 7) Cadmium Yellow 8) Raw Umber

As you can tell by the squished tubes, the paints are slightly used. I was well into the painting before I thought about sharing my learning process with you.

Acrylic paints dry very quickly, so my next purchase was something I call a wet palette. This big plastic thing with a cover (Figure 504) prevents my mixed paints from drying too quickly.

In addition to the wet palette, I also picked up a couple of packages of the special papers that fit inside.

TIP! I learned a few tricks as I set up my wet palette. I first placed a sheet of the thick absorbent paper into the tray, and used a large brush to add just enough water to make it wet. Easy! However, the top sheet of thin paper was not as cooperative! As soon as the thin paper was placed on top of the thick paper, it began to wrinkle. I finally discovered that by spreading more water on top of the thin sheet, I could gently brush out all the wrinkles. Then, I simply poured out the extra water.

On to something to use for mixing the paints! Since I really do not enjoy cleaning up, I went with disposable palette paper (Figure 505), which usually has about 40 sheets. I soon discovered that acrylic paints have to be mixed very quickly and then added to the wet palette. Otherwise, the paints will be dry before you get to use them.

Some artists who work in acrylics spray a small amount of water on their palette to keep the paint wet as they mix their colors. This did not work for me – the colors started running into one another and I soon had a palette full of mud.




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Figure 504

Figure 505

Figure 506 Figure 507

However, it works for many artists, so it may work for you? Maybe I added too much water? If you’d like to try this, you’ll need a spray bottle filled with a little water.

Anyway, I simply decided to mix my colors very quickly, which worked just fine for me.

Unless you plan to use your fingers for the actual mixing (not a good idea), you may want to buy a palette knife. I’ve tried many different types and shapes of palette knives over the years. (The plastic ones are simply awful.)

My favorite is made of metal with a wooden handle and the shape is sort of an elongated diamond (Figure 505).

I didn’t want to ruin my good brushes (Figure 506), so I went to a local dollar store and picked up a few cheap brushes (Figure 507). These brushes came in a package of 6 (at less than 20c each, you don’t really care if some brushes are ruined!)

I was very surprised when I saw that they were almost as good as student quality brushes that cost much more (so, I bought 15 packages). Their ferrules had no seams, the handles were very securely attached, and the bristles did not fall out.




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Figure 508

TIP! Stay away from brushes with a seam in the ferrule. These brushes are usually too poor quality to use for more than a few minutes. Also, they tend to shed, and sometimes the handle detaches completely from the ferrule. Also, brushes with really soft hair are almost useless when you paint with acrylics.

You don’t need lots of expensive brushes to learn to paint. Check out lesson R02 Oil Painting Brushes to get an idea of the different types and how they are used. Acrylic brushes are slightly different, but the basic shapes and uses are the same. Every artist has their favorite types of brushes; so, try out a few different brushes to find out which ones work best for you.

The next step is to buy a canvas. The one I use in this project is 20 by 24 inches – an ideal size for loose brushwork. I suggest that you go for a stretched canvas mounted on a frame, rather than canvas board. Most stretched canvas comes already primed and ready to use.

When I began learning to paint, I used canvas board. Most of my early paintings were awful, anyway. However, I did a portrait of my son that somehow turned out fairly well. I regret now that I didn’t use stretched canvas. The acid in the cheap canvas board has started disintegrating, and the painting is slowly being eaten away.

PLANNING YOUR PAINTING When I paint in oils, I usually cover the canvas with a thin layer of brownish paint.

However, this is not a serious painting, so I’ll just jump right in and plan my painting!

You can draw anything you want on your canvas. However, I do caution you against beginning a painting without a plan.

If you are a total beginner, you may even prefer to draw a few random simple shapes. Remember, your first painting is not intended to be a masterpiece!

Many artists do their underdrawings with a small brush and diluted paint. I prefer to use a pencil.




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I used an HB grade of mechanical pencil to do my underdrawing on the canvas. I then sprayed it with a couple of thin coats of fixative. Finally, I painted the entire surface with a thin layer of Gesso and water. Just in case my painting turns out reasonably well, I don’t want the graphite to eventually bleed through into the paint.

TIP! If you’d like to paint along with me, feel free to use the line drawing on page 7. You can draw a corresponding grid on your canvas (as long as your canvas is the same size as mine, of course).

FIVE SIMPLE STEPS TO SET UP FOR PAINTING In this section, I break down the information in this lesson into five simple steps.

STEP 1: Buy your supplies.

Paints Brushes for painting

Wet palette Canvas

Disposable palette sheets Mechanical pencil and HB leads

Palette knife Gesso

Large soft brush Spray fixative

STEP 2: Plan your painting, and then draw an outline of your subject on the canvas.

Keep it simple! My subject is more complicated than it looks. However, if you wish to draw along with me, you can use my design (on the next page); you can either draw freehand or use a grid. If you use a grid, each square of a 24 by 20 inch canvas needs to be 2 by 2 inches.

STEP 3: Use your large brush to gently brush away any excess graphite on the canvas.

Make sure you wash the brush with mild soap and water when you are done.

STEP 4: Spray your drawing with 2-3 thin coats of fixative.

I use Windsor & Newton Artists’ Fixative, transparent, for pastel, charcoal, and pencil. Be careful not to inhale the fumes. I always use spray fixative outdoors.

STEP 5: Apply a thin coat of Gesso (mixed with water) to the entire canvas.

Use your large brush. You need to paint quickly because Gesso dries quickly. Don’t use unmixed Gesso - you need to still be able to see your underdrawing clearly!

TIP! You may want to experiment on a tiny section before you add Gesso to the entire canvas. The goal is to cover the canvas in such a way that you can still clearly see the faint lines of your drawing.




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Figure 509

In lesson Y06 Painting with Acrylics Part 2: Putting Brush to Canvas, you mix your colors and begin painting.




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Before you begin Part 2, complete each of the following lessons:

R01 Primary and Secondary Colors

R02 Oil Painting Brushes

Y04 Values in Colors











Brenda Hoddinott

Y06 ADVANCED: CREATING IN COLOR This is the second in a series of six lessons that takes you through the process of learning the basics of painting with acrylics. In this lesson, I show you how to set up a wet palette, mix paints, and paint a pattern of stripes. This lesson is divided into the following four sections:

Setting Up a Wet Palette Mixing Paint – Scoop and Spread! Mixing Background Colors Painting Stripes



Published by Drawspace.com, Halifax, NS, Canada – (June, 2009)


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Figure 601

Figure 602

Figure 603

SETTING UP A WET PALETTE As I briefly discussed in Part 1 of this series of lessons, a wet palette (Figure 601) is ideal for painting with acrylics. You may not find one exactly like mine, but most stores that sell acrylics, carry wet palettes of some sort.

1) Place a sheet of thick absorbent paper into the tray (Figure 602).

2) Use a large brush with soft hair to add just enough water to make it wet.

3) Gently place a piece of thin paper on top of the thick paper.

You may have to fight with this paper to prevent the edges from curling. If this happens, just brush on a little water to make the paper lie reasonably flat.

4) Brush the wrinkles out of the top sheet of paper (Figure 603).

Pick up a side of the paper and lift it slightly. Dip your large brush into clean water and begin brushing the wrinkles toward the side you are holding. Be very gentle! You don’t want to tear the paper!

If the other side of the paper is also wrinkled, repeat the process until the entire sheet is smooth. If the wrinkles don’t move easily, add a little more water with the brush.

5) Tip the palette on an angle so the excess water pools into a corner.

6) Pour off the extra water, or use a sheet of paper towel to soak it up.

Place the cover on the palette to keep the papers damp, until you mix your paints.

(The wonderful hand model is John Percy)




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Figure 604

Figure 605

Figure 606

MIXING PAINT – SCOOP AND SPREAD! In this section, I illustrate the step-by-step process for mixing paint:

I first put out tiny dabs of base colors (colors straight from the tubes). Then, I use a palette knife to mix the colors I want. I add the new colors to the wet palette. Then, I tear off the top sheet of the disposable palette, and throw it in the garbage.

I’ll start by showing you how to make black, and then change it into a dark gray.

1) Squeeze out small dollops of raw umber, ultramarine blue, and white onto a fresh sheet of palette paper.

Don’t tear off the sheet of palette paper until after your paints are mixed.

Oh, and don’t go anywhere – acrylics begin to dry in only a few minutes. If you need to leave, transfer the paint to the wet palette and cover it.

2) Turn your palette knife on its side and use it to scoop up a little of the raw umber paint (Figure 604).

3) Gently ease the paint off the bottom of the palette knife onto a clean section of the paper palette.

Refer to Figure 605. The movement is similar to spreading butter on a slice of bread.

4) Clean the paint off both sides of your knife with a sheet of paper towel.

5) Scoop up a little of the ultramarine blue (Figure 606).

Scoop up a little less than you did with the raw umber.




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Figure 607

Figure 608

Figure 609

Figure 610

6) Add the scoop of ultramarine blue to the raw umber (Figure 607).

TIP! Don’t use paint that is even slightly dry! You’ll end up with annoying dried lumps on your canvas. If your paint begins to dry before you have a chance to use it, throw it away and put out (or mix) fresh paint.

7) Use your palette knife to scoop up both colors (Figure 608).

8) Spread the paint back onto the same place on the palette

9) Continue to scoop and spread until the paint becomes a solid black (Figure 609).

If your black looks too blue, mix in a little more raw umber. Conversely, if the black looks too brown, add a little more blue.

TIP! When you are trying to mix a dark color, always begin by mixing base colors together. To lighten a dark color, you add a very tiny dollop of white and mix. If the color is still too dark, add a little more white and mix again. Keep in mind that acrylics become a little darker when they dry.

10) Add small amounts of white to your black until you end up with a dark gray (Figure 610).

In a value scale of ten values from white (1) to black (10), this gray should be a 7.

11) Add this gray color to your wet palette.

Replace the cover to keep it wet.

To avoid confusion between the two palettes – the one for mixing paint is called the palette and the other is the wet palette (used to store mixed paints to keep them wet).




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Figure 613

Figure 614

MIXING BACKGROUND COLORS If you goal is to create depth in a painting, you need to understand atmospheric perspective. In short, colors in a background need to have very little contrast – no blacks or dark colors and no whites or light colors. The values of the colors in this background should be middle values from 3 to 7.

I start by painting a tiny background section in the upper left (Figure 611). You only need five colors (Figure 612) to begin painting.

1) Add base colors to your palette.

You need white, ultramarine blue, raw umber, cerulean blue, yellow ochre, cadmium red, and alizarin crimson.

2) Mix a medium gray.

Make enough so you can use it as a base for four more colors.

Mix the medium gray in the same way you made the dark gray – except you make it lighter by adding a little more white paint. Refer to Figures 613 and 614.

3) Divide your big blob of medium gray into four smaller blobs (Figure 615).

If you aren’t used to mixing paints, put three of these small blobs into the wet palette (with the dark gray) so they don’t dry. Then you can take your time mixing each color.

I plan to mix my colors quickly, so I have left lots of room on my palette around each blob. As I get each color mixed, I’ll add it to the wet palette. To get an idea of the colors I used, examine Figure 616.




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Figure 616

Figure 617

Figure 615 Color 1: is the dark gray you already mixed and added to your wet palette (Figure 616)

4) Mix four more colors (numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5 in Figure 616).

Each color begins as a blob of the medium gray base. Add only a little paint at a time, mix, and repeat the process until you are happy with the color. For example, if you prefer a lighter yellow, add more white.

Following are the colors I mixed with the medium gray to make colors in Figure 616:

Color 2: Yellow ochre and a little white. (If the color turns green, add a little cadmium red to the mix to turn the color back to a warm yellow).

Color 3: Cerulean blue.

Color 4: Ultramarine blue.

Color 5: Alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, and a little more white.

5) Add each new color to your wet palette as soon as it’s made, and replace the cover.

Your colors are mixed (Figure 617) and you’re finally ready to paint!

If you examine my very flat looking blob of dark gray, you can see why you should not add too much water to the wet palette. The paint spreads out and becomes thinner (but still usable).




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Figure 618

Figure 619

Figure 620

PAINTING STRIPES Finally! The fun part! In this section, I demonstrate the process of painting stripes.

TIP! Remember – your brushes can be ruined if the paint dries on the bristles or inside the lower section of the ferrule. Don’t lay a brush down anywhere except in a container of water. If the bristles are soft, lay them almost horizontal in a plate filled with a little water. Stiff bristles are perfectly happy to sit vertically in a jar or cup.

I did this demo on an inexpensive canvas board. I first drew a few lines to mark where the stripes belong (Figure 618). If you are following along with my painting, begin with the stripes in the upper left corner of your canvas.

TIP! As you paint, don’t tease the straight lines! First, place the tip of your little finger on the canvas to balance your hand so it doesn’t shake. Then, in one stroke, paint a straight edge along the line. When the paint runs out, reload your brush and start where you left off.

1) Paint each of the stripes with a thin layer of paint.

This is an underpainting. Your goal is to cover the stripes with the colors you mixed. If your paint seems thick, wet your brush, and mix it around in the outer edge of a blob of paint.

As you can see (Figure 619), I used a flat, square brush – worked great for painting straight lines.

TIP! Turn your canvas upside-down, at an angle, or sideways to easily reach the section you want to paint. Don’t touch and smudge the wet paint - work from left to right (or if you are left handed from right to left.

2) Take a break for a few minutes until the paint dries.




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Figure 622

Figure 621

Figure 623

3) Add the final layer of paint to the first stripe.

Begin with the outside edge and end beside the next stripe. I used a slightly smaller flat brush. Feel free to arrange the colors of your stripes in any way you prefer.

4) Before the first stripe dries, paint a long thin section of the second color beside the first (Figure 621).

Wipe your brush with a piece of paper towel. (Don’t wet it!).

Take your time and run the brush down the seam until you have a soft edge between the stripes (Check out the close-up in Figure 622). Don’t press hard – just the weight of the brush! If you need to blend a second (or third) time, make sure you wipe the brush with paper towel after each stroke.

TIP! Avoid hard edges between the stripes. Remember, this is a section of background and as such should be slightly out of focus. To keep edges soft, you need to slightly blend the colors where they meet.

5) Paint the rest of the second stripe and blend it into the third color.

6) Continue painting stripes until the upper left corner is done.

Refer to Figure 623 to see the final version of my demo.




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Figure 624

Figure 625

Figure 624 shows the upper left corner of my actual painting.

7) Paint the stripes in the other two corners.

Figure 625 shows the stripes in the lower right corner. As you can see, I added a few extra colors.

Feel free to mix any colors you want; however, don’t use bright colors, or very light or very dark colors in this background.

You’ll use brighter colors when you paint the middle ground. When you begin working on the foreground – you get to mix lots of VERY bright colors!

Figure 626 shows the upper right corner of my painting. In Figure 627, you can have a peek at all three corners completed.

The brown and blue sections (that are not stripes) are an underpainting of more sections of the background.

In Lesson Y07 Painting with Acrylics Part 3 – Painting a Background, I show you a new way to mix colors and a different method for blending.




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My philosophy on teaching art is to focus primarily on the enjoyment aspects while gently introducing the technical and academic. Hence, in creating a passion for the subject matter,

the quest for knowledge also becomes enjoyable. >Brenda Hoddinott<







Brenda Hoddinott

Y07 ADVANCED: CREATING IN COLOR This is the third in a series of six lessons on painting with acrylics. In this lesson, you learn how to do an underpainting, blend wet paint into dry paint without leaving a hard edge, blend paints so colors graduate smoothly into one another. Finally, you put these new skills into action by completing the background of your own painting in progress.


Doing an Underpainting

Painting on the Edge

Blending Colors Together

Completing the Background



Published by Drawspace.com, Halifax, NS, Canada – (July, 2009)


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Figure 701

Figure 702

As an aside, the demonstrations in the first three sections of this lesson are simply examples of painting techniques, and not a part of my actual painting. You get back to working on your painting in the final section of this lesson, Completing the Background.

DOING AN UNDERPAINTING In this section, you mix five colors and choose one to do an underpainting of a section of background (adjacent to the stripes you painted in Lesson Y06).

1) Mix any five colors that are close in color and value.

I mixed the colors in Figure 701 with cerulean blue, ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, and white. Following is a basic recipe for these colors based on the first paint color named being the largest quantity in the mix. For example, for Color 1, I used mostly cerulean blue with a small amount of white, and a very tiny amount of ultramarine blue.

Color 1: Cerulean blue, white, ultramarine blue

Color 2: Cerulean blue, white

Color 3: White, cerulean blue

Color 4: Cerulean blue, ultramarine blue, white, alizarin crimson

Color 5: Cerulean blue, ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, white

2) Use a middle value (Color 2 or 4) to do an underpainting.

Use a fairly large brush and make sure the paint is thin.

I dip my brush in water before I dip it in the paint. Then, I swish the wet brush around in a tiny bit of paint until the mixture is thin.

First, paint along the curved edge of your stripes carefully (Figure 702). Then use little x-shaped strokes (Figure 703) to finish the underpainting (Figure 704).




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Figure 705

Figure 706

PAINTING ON THE EDGE In this section, I show you how to blend wet paint into dry paint without leaving a hard edge.

3) Paint along the edge of the stripes with any one of your colors.

Wait until the underpainting is completely dry. Do not thin the paint. If your brush is still wet, dry it with paper towel before dipping it in the paint.

Again, make little x-shapes with your brush. Any type of brush stroke works – but eventually (as you begin to developing your own style) you will prefer a specific technique.

Avoid painting a sharp edge where the paint meets the edge of the stripes. Hard edges defeat the goal of creating a softly blended background.

Examine the close-up view of where the solid color meets the edge of the stripes (Figure 706).

The blue paint creeps ever so slightly into the stripes. From a distance the edge appears soft.




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Figure 708

Figure 707

Figure 709

It’s perfectly ok to see tiny unblended ridges of paint at the outer edges of a brushstroke. If you want your paint more blended, simply use a filbert brush (Figure 707) instead of a flat. (Keep in mind that I’m using cheap dollar-store brushes.)

However, if you end up with a blob of paint on the edge (where the wet paint meets the dry) that you don’t like:

1. Dry your brush with paper towel (do not wash it), or use a clean, dry brush (preferably a flat as in Figure 708).

2. Carefully place the wide part of the brush on the blob of paint.

3. Pull the blob back into the wet paint.

Most people’s hands become shaky trying to do fine details with a paintbrush.

When you need a steady touch, use you little finger to balance your hand (as in Figure 709).

BLENDING COLORS TOGETHER In this section, I show you how to blend acrylic paints (while they are still wet) so colors graduate smoothly into one another.

4) Continue painting a small section of the same color outward from the striped edge.

Leave room to add sections of the other four colors.

5) Wipe your brush with clean paper towel (do not wet the brush).

6) Dip your brush into the next color you want to use.

(The wonderful hand model is John Percy)




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Figure 710

Figure 711

Figure 712

7) Paint along the edges of the wet paint with the new color.

Work on a tiny section at a time, so you have plenty of time to blend before the paint dries.

Apply the new color slightly into and over the edges of the first color so the underpainting is showing.

If you closely examine Figures 710 and 711, you can see where the darker blue ends and the lighter blue (the new color) begins.

8) Wipe your brush with clean paper towel again.

9) Use short x-shaped strokes to blend the two colors together in the small sections where they meet.

Needless to say, both colors have to still be wet in order to blend.

If by chance the first color is already dry, add more of it along the edges where you will be adding the new color.

Then, blend them together. I often find it easier to blend in the same direction as the line where the two colors meet.

However, with practice, you’ll find the technique that works best for you.

Use a fairly soft brush and don’t press too hard. You want to gently blend the colors without moving very much of the paint.

10) Finish painting a shape with this color before you add the third color.

11) Continue painting shapes of different colors and blending them into one another.

Use the various techniques discussed in this section.




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Figure 713

Figure 714

COMPLETING THE BACKGROUND I’ve decided to call this painting “Playing with Acrylics”.

In this section, your goal is to catch up with me by completing the background.

You can mix any colors you want. However, try to come as close as possible to the values of the colors I used.

Begin in the upper left section of the painting. Refer to Figures 713 to 716.

You don’t have to paint with the canvas right-side-up. Rotate your canvas as you work to more easily reach some sections.

Keep in mind that the subject of this painting is not based in reality. Hence, feel free to change anything you want.

For example, you can completely ignore the bumpy blue-green form on the upper right (Figure 715) that separates the stripes from the rest of the background.

Maybe, you’d prefer to add more background or paint something else in its place. Remember, you learn by making mistakes - if you don’t like something, you can just paint over it.




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Figure 715


Also, remember to do an underpainting before you add the final colors – unless of course, you prefer to see sections of the white canvas showing through (and lots of artists do prefer this).

Refer to Figures 716 to 722 as you paint the background sections on the upper right.




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Figure 718

Figure 719

Figure 719

Oh, and if you do plan to paint the bumpy, blue-green form, it’s not nearly as difficult as you might think.

You apply and blend the colors together in the exact same way. The only difference is that you need to plan where to paint the light and dark values in much the same way as you draw a three-dimensional sphere.

According to an upper right frontal light source, the lightest value is the highlight, and the darkest values are in the shadow sections.

Cast shadows are visible on the background, and the purple of the background reflects light onto the left sides of the forms.




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Figure 720

Continue painting the background sections as you move toward the lower half of the painting. Refer to Figures 723 to 729.

The colors that you choose are not as important as their values. Try and mix colors that are dark in value for the darker sections, and light in value for the light areas.




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Figure 726

Figure 724

Figure 723

Figure 725

The thin, pale yellow grass that grows up toward the middle of the painting is painted with a brush I call a liner (Figure 725).

Your paint needs to be a little thinner when you use this type of brush. Hence, you may need to add an extra layer of paint.

You may notice a few tiny shapes in the background that I painted white so I can remember where I want to add extras in the middle ground.

Look at the two small white sections in the lower left of Figure 726. They were added after I painted the background (Figure 724).




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Figure 727

Figure 729

Figure 728

Just ignore the underpainting (pink) in a few places. At this stage I’m getting bored with the background and looking forward to painting all the fun stuff in the middle ground.

In the next lesson, you finally get to use bright colors to paint some rather unusual characters!




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Brenda Hoddinott


This project features the process of doing a professional symmetrical design in color that can be used for many applications, including tattoos. I use colored pencils, but the basic process can easily be translated into digital art in a program such as Adobe Photoshop. This lesson is divided into the following three sections:

CREATING THE UNDERDRAWING: You press very gently with an HB pencil to sketch the lightning bolt and the various parts of a wing.

ADDING COLOR TO YOUR DESIGN: You choose your colors and add color to your design.

OUTLINING WITH A MARKER OR PHOTOSHOP: You use a black marker (or your Photoshop program) to neatly outline shapes and feathers.



Published by Drawspace.com, Halifax, NS, Canada – (August, 2009)


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Figure 1003

Figure 1004

CREATING THE UNDERDRAWING In this section, you press very gently with an HB pencil to sketch the lightning bolt and the various parts of a wing.

The design in this lesson was created as a tattoo. However, the basic design may also work nicely for other applications.

1) Follow along with Figures 1001 to 1007 to sketch the outlines of the lightning and wings.

Feel free to use a ruler to draw the bolt.




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Figure 1005

Figure 1006




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Figure 1007

Figure 1008

Figure 1009

Figure 1010

2) Use a kneaded eraser to lighten all your lines.

ADDING COLOR TO YOUR DESIGN In this section, you choose your colors and color your design.

3) Choose the colored pencils you want to use for your design.

4) Follow along with Figures 1008 to 1014 and add color to the lightning bolt and the feathers of the wing.

Take note that most shapes have more than one color.




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Figure 1011

Figure 1013

Figure 1012




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Figure 1014

Figure 1015

OUTLINING WITH A MARKER OR PHOTOSHOP Use a black marker (or your Photoshop program) to neatly outline shapes and feathers (Figures 1015 to 1017).

Colored pencils can sometimes gum up the tips of markers. Hence, I used inexpensive dollar store 0.5 markers.

I ended up retouching some lines in Photoshop anyway.




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Figure 1016

Figure 1017

My final step was to scan and bring my design into Photoshop.

To add the second wing, I decided to:

Flip the design horizontally.

Select the wing.

Copy it.

Flip the design back.

Paste it.

Move it into place.

Trim the edges with the lasso and eraser tools.

Flatten the layers.

You also have the option of simply drawing the second wing!




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Judith Campanaro Art educator, art therapist, and author


The project in this lesson (inspired by the life and work of Romare Bearden) provides you with an opportunity for success regardless of your technical abilities. Observation and awareness of the feelings expressed in your work may become a catalyst for additional discussion and/or journal work.

Supplies needed include: pencil, colored markers, glue, tissue paper, paint brush, heavy white paper.


History of the Harlem Renaissance Movement

Biography of artist and musician Romare Bearden

Observing details on a selected musical instrument and listening to music that features that instrument

Creating original art reflecting the instrument and music using the bright colors of the Caribbean preferred by Bearden

This lesson allows success regardless of technical ability is recommended for students of all ages, as well as students of home schooling, academic, and recreational fine-art educators.


Published by Drawspace.com, Halifax, NS, Canada – August, 2010

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Copyright to this lesson belongs to Judith Campanaro and may not be reproduced or used for any

commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Judith Campanaro. Email: [email protected]

HISTORY OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE MOVEMENT The Harlem Renaissance was a birth of African-American social thought which was expressed through the visual arts, as well as through music, dance, theater and literature.

Centered in the Harlem district of New York City, it had a profound influence across the United States and even around the world.

The intellectual and social freedom of the era triggered a community that became the economic, political and cultural center of black America.

The writers, painters, artists and musicians of the Harlem Renaissance celebrated the cultural traditions of African-Americans.

The New Negro Movement as it was called began in the early 1920’s to the 1930’s. The individuals and works associated with the Harlem Renaissance continue to influence artists and writers even today. The years following World War I and leading up to the Great Depression were ones of racial segregation and economic instability. But in the Harlem district this period was also marked by a gathering of creative and intellectual minds.

Artists at the core of the movement included William H. Johnson, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, prominent musicians, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday, and dancer Josephine Baker.

BIOGRAPHY OF ROMARE BEARDEN Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1912, Bearden’s family moved to Harlem when he was three years old. His father was very active in the New York art scene and his mother was a prominent Harlem figure and community activist.

Romare grew up among the artists and musicians of that era.

Bearden received a degree from Columbia University in mathematics and later studied philosophy and art history at the Sorbonne in Paris.

He started painting in 1935 which was later than many other artists of his generation and seemed to have trouble finding his own style and subject matter. In the early fifties feeling he was unable to paint and struggling to find his artistic vision he turned to music and founded the Bluebird Music Company with composer Dave Ellis.

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Music, especially jazz, was an important part of Bearden’s life and is usually the theme of his compositions. He grew up listening to jazz and the blues and was acquainted with many musicians including Duke Ellington.

Although Bearden had twenty of his own songs recorded his success as a songwriter did not satisfy him and he accepted a job as a social worker and painted in his spare time. After fourteen years of social work he finally began to make enough money from the sale of his paintings and collages to support himself through art. He achieved success in 1964 when he set aside abstract oil painting and began to work in collage.

Bearden's primary medium was the collage, fusing painting, magazine clippings, old paper and fabric, like a jigsaw puzzle. But unlike a puzzle, each piece of a Bearden collage has a meaning and history all its own. Shortly before he died of cancer in 1988, Bearden said “working with fragments of the past brought them into the now.”

OBSERVING DETAILS ON A SELECTED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, AND LISTENING TO MUSIC THAT FEATURES THAT INSTRUMENT

Suggestions for ideas -

If you don’t have access to an actual instrument use clip art to find exaggerated photos of musical instruments

Google– there are many websites which offer downloads of music from the era of the Harlem Renaissance

Musicians from the era include names such as – Billie Holiday

Duke Ellington

Louis Armstrong

Bessie Smith

Fats Waller

Len Horne

Ella Fitzgerald

Dizzy Gillespie

Suggestions for your drawing –

Listen to music that features the instrument you have chosen

What draws you to this instrument?

What is the predominant feature of the instrument?

Study the shape and contours

What is the part of the instrument that you like the most?

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1. Spend several minutes listening to the music and studying your chosen instrument or photograph

2. Once you feel the rhythm and mood of your chosen subject begin your composition.

CREATING ORIGINAL ART REFLECTING THE INSTRUMENT AND MUSIC USING THE BRIGHT COLORS OF THE CARIBBEAN PREFERRED BY BEARDEN

3. Choose one important part of the instrument to sketch such as the keys of a piano or the valves of a trumpet.

4. Draw the featured part of your instrument on a heavy white paper. Let the shape of your sketch match the music you are listening to. You might want to make your drawing wavy or angular. Just feel the rhythm and let your hands flow with the beat.

5. Make sure you extend your drawing across the entire page. Turn your paper in any direction you want but start the drawing on the edge of the paper and run it off another edge of the paper when you are done.

6. Using bright colors fill in your design. You can use flat color by filling in the space evenly with one color or use textured color which is using more than one color or making patterns with the colors.

7. Once your drawing is completed and filled in with color, begin creating collage in the background or negative spaces around the drawing.

Mix equal portions of white glue with water to make a glaze.

Dampen a small area of the background with the glaze. Place a piece of tissue paper or cutout from a magazine on the damp area and then coat it with the glaze.

Continue using pictures from old magazines, fabric, ink and pencil designs and/or bright colored tissue paper until the background is completely covered.

Note: Bearden said “when you sang or played the Blues, you always felt better.” He wanted feeling in his artwork and combined the rhythm and movement of the Harlem Renaissance and the music he loved into his colorful collages and paintings. He believed that working with fragments of the past brought them into the now. Using cut and pasted papers, images, paint, fabric, ink and pencil designs Bearden created images which filled his work with history and meaning.

REFLECTIONS FOR YOUR JOURNAL: Does your collage represent a feeling?

Does your collage tell a story?

What did you learn about yourself while creating this lesson?

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TWO OF MY PAINTINGS BASED ON THIS LESSON I had so much fun creating these paintings!

I was listening to the blues - and my feet were tapping and my booty moving.

Rhythm and Blues

Jiving with the Stride

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JUDITH CAMPANARO Creative arts therapist, award-winning artist, art educator, art curricula designer, and author of two books: Art for the Soul, the Healing Magic of Creativity and The Journey of Me, An Adventure in Self Discovery.

An art therapist by trade, Judith holds a BA in Psychology, an MA in Professional Counseling and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Art Therapy.

In addition to teaching, Judith has had many solo shows both in the United States and the Caribbean. Her paintings are also included in numerous public and private collections.

ABOUT MY COURSES:

It is my personal belief that art in any form whether it be viewing, teaching, or creating, is food for the soul. Creativity is and has always been an excellent path to self discovery and personal growth.

As an art therapist, it is my desire to aid my students in finding their own voice. Whether you are experiencing a creative block, need an outlet for stress management or just plain want to relax and have fun the creative process can and does provide solace for whatever need you might bring to the table.

My courses are designed to help you as the student find ways and means of self expression. The lesson plans are non-threatening. There is no right or wrong way to achieve them. The work is in the process and through the process the completed assignment becomes the product.

It is an amazing journey and one which will never cease to surprise you. It is a journey of self discovery through exploration of the creative process.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE:

Creative Arts Therapist for Child Haven, Seattle, Washington

Art Instructor for Parks and Recreation, Mill Creek, Washington

Art Instructor for VSA (Very Special Arts) Reno, Nevada

Adjunct professor for Ottawa University, Phoenix, Arizona

Former Owner of the Hobbit School of Art, Ventura, California

You can find out more about Judith and her art at: http://www.judithcampanaro.com

References for this lesson: www.beardenfoundation.org

www.artsedge.kennedy-center

www.community.npr.org

Introduction to Pointillism Brenda Hoddinott

Y12 Advanced: Creating in Color Pointillism is a method of drawing or painting

with several layers of small colored dots, strokes, or individual brushstrokes. In this

lesson, you try your hand at shading a section of a rose with pointillism and colored pencils.

10 Pages – 27 Illustrations

Supplies: Good quality drawing paper with a weight of at least 90 lbs, pencil sharpener, sandpaper block, and colored pencils that are similar in color to those in Figure 101. The range of values created by these colors is shown in Figure 102.

Figure 101

Figure 102

Recommended for traditional and digital artists, as well as students of home schooling, academic, and recreational fine art educators

Published by Drawspace Publishing, Halifax, NS, Canada (2011)

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Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com

Lightly Sketching a Rose Follow along with Figures 103 to 111 to very lightly sketch the outlines of the rose with your lightest yellow. Remember, if you press too hard, you’ll destroy the paper’s tooth .

Figure 103

As you can see in Figure 103, my actual sketch is too light for you to see well. So, all sketch lines (Figures 104 to 111) have been darkened in Photoshop so you can see them.

Also, don’t worry about getting your proportions exactly like mine – as, you know roses are all different. By the way, my drawing is less than 4 in (10.16 cm) wide.

I began with the innermost section of the rose and worked my way outward to the edges of the petals on the left.

Figure 104 Figure 105 Figure 106 Figure 107

Figure 108 Figure 109 Figure 110

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Figure 111

Getting the Point of Pointillism Values are integral to creating the illusion of form in colored drawings. You need to combine the following three methods to create a range of different values with pointillism:

o Use colors that are light in value for light sections and colors that are dark in value for darker sections.

o Dots are farther apart for light values and closer together for darker values.

o Smaller dots are used for lighter values and larger dots for darker values.

A close-up view of pointillism rendered with colored pencils clearly shows a few of the thousands of dots of various sizes and shapes. Compare the color and grayscale versions to get a realistic sense of the values of the color palette with which you will be working.


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Drawing Lots of Rose-dots When viewed from a distance, the dots in pointillist paintings and drawings appear to blend together to create the illusion of depth, visual masses, and forms. Nineteenth-century French impressionistic artists (including George Seurat and Paul Signac) helped this genre to become a highly respected style of painting, and (more recently) drawing.

The process used in this drawing to create a broad range of values is to work from light to dark. The lightest values have small sections of the white paper showing through. The darkest values have mostly large dots and an occasional small dot and short line to better define edges. You need a lot more patience for darker values because you need to draw many more dots that are closer together.

You may want to print this image of the completed drawing to supplement the individual step-by-step drawings.

Figure 114

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Follow along with Figures 115 to 127 and use whichever colors work best to create graduations of values. From this point on, the values shown are close to those of the actual drawing. Also some images are slightly cropped to emphasize their sections with shading (cropped illustrations have a gray border).


Figure 117

Figure 118

Feel free to add a few short lines to identify the edges of areas that need to be dark in value

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Figure 119

Figure 120

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Figure 121

Figure 122

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Figure 123

Figure 124

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Figure 125

Figure 126

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Figure 127

At this point, I usually show students a large illustration of my final drawing. However, drawings created with pointillism usually look better when viewed from a distance.

So, here’s the final image - smaller than its actual size.

Brenda Hoddinott Co-owner of Drawspace.com, owner of Drawspace Publishing, art educator, visual artist, portraitist, forensic artist (retired), illustrator, and author of several art-related books

“My philosophy on teaching art is to focus primarily on the enjoyment aspects while gently introducing the technical and academic. Hence, in creating a passion for the subject matter, the quest for knowledge also

becomes enjoyable.”


