Gordon's Academy

Advanced Classes In Watercolour

Portraits for Beginners

Nov 29

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Portraits for beginners

A method for PORTRAIT DRAWING By Gordon Townsend

Acquiring the skills of portrait drawing is really not that difficult. It can be taught and learned.

It takes work and practice. The only truth to growing as an artist is to first acquire your skill which is drawing.

How to Begin…

Your first, and most important step, is to acquire when drawing  at a higher level of observation,

 I repeat a higher level of observation,  the ability to see and plot shapes when you are drawing portraiture is of paramount importance.

Although the subject is portraiture, I adapted the classical teaching method for drawing, and modifying it over the years to suit the way I draw for all subjects.

I start with a simplified gesture drawing done fairly quickly.

This is followed by a contour drawing drawn carefully and accurately.

Then tonal values are added to create form and space.

When teaching I briefly touch on contour before I start with gesture drawing, as I have found it helps when starting gesture drawing for the first time.

 Let’s try this simple excise

I have isolated three shapes from a photograph from our first portrait exercise.

 First draw these three shapes an accurately as possible using the following criteria 

1 Consider their placement in the rectangle the distance from the edges

2 Their relation in space of one shape to another

3 Accurately plot the contours of each shape.

4 Learn to judge length width and distance, you can measure or estimate size and distance.

 I go by what I call visual comparison this works for me but it does not work for everyone, most artists I know have some form of physical method of measuring.

This I will demonstrate later.

You have just drawn three contour shapes, below is the photograph of what these shapes really look like one is the line that describes the parameters of the nose,two describes the outer edges of the iris and upper lid.

The last is the top contour of that that is worn by the old lady.  how did you go with your  shapes                

 

Wether you are  contour drawing or gesture drawing your purpose  is the same, to draw the shape you are looking so as at to get a reasonable likeness.

A Gesture drawing is work of art defined by rapid execution. Typical situations involve an artist drawing a series of poses taken by a model in a short amount of time,  Gesture drawing is often performed as a warm-up for a life drawing.

In less typical cases the artist may be observing people or animals going about normal activities with no special effort to pause for the artist. For example, drawing from people on the street, performers, athletes, or drawing animals at the zoo.

More generally, a gesture drawing may be any drawing which attempts to capture action or movement. as define by Wikipedia.

As well as the above I use gesture drawing as an underlay to do a refined contour drawing; it helps to takes the guess work out of positioning and placement of the correct shapes in relation to one another.

Gesture drawing is done quickly with multiple lines in a scribble style.

These drawings can stand in their own right when rendered with finesse.

Here is the gesture drawing I demonstrated today which took about ten minutes, as a gesture sketch it’s border line at the moment and as not been helped  by having to restate the lines a bit heavier to illustrate it.

But it still sufficient to draw a  defined contour over it, don’t forget now hold the pencil lightly so has not to make the  drawing to hard to correct. 

But first I must determine where the corrections need to made, I won’t go over the whole sketch now as there are to many but for example the top part of the hat is too large to wide, so  in my contour drawing I will correct this along with any thing else that needs to be done.

Next week I will be demonstrating the contour drawing

 

Contour Drawing

Sorry for the delay, Christmas got in the way of completing  this post however I am back in business now.

When starting back on this painting felt the need to revise the composition instead if following the photograph it needed more of a narrative than an old lady standing there having her photograph taken.

After three false starts I come up with the idea to to create a  shallow space between her and the old building  so on the column and ledge could paint some snow to enhance the feel of a Russian winter.

 Iworked on  a value sketch below to determine how well it would work

This value sketch was getting closer to what I was seeing in my mind all I needed to do was was to bring the wall closer get rid of the window and place some robins on the ledge.

I commenced the contour drawing straight onto the watercolour paper as the image was firmly fixed in my mind, I pick Bockingford 300 gsm watercolour this paper is very white and contains quite a bit of sizing this would allow me to create the textures in the hat and coat, this paper will let you lift colour quite easy to reclaim the white of the paper.

Contour drawing 

My first washes was  Gouache, this was applied to the walls and fixed with a workable fixative and would later have transparent glazes applied over the Gouache, I planned to to paint the Russian lady in watercolour then use the gouache for texture this is a complete reverse to the background.

First wash Gouache

 As Bockingford has a very slick surface and is somewhat difficult to lay washes on, the effect is similar to hot press  I break down it down into small sections using natural breaks where you can hide overlaps such as forehead cheeks  etc, I normally complete the whole painting in the first wash before starting the second and so on.

But for the sake of the demonstration I have advance the left  eye area to show you how this works.

 

 

I slowly build up depth on colour saturation with multiple washes  and of course spraying a light coat of fixative between those washes,  failure to do that on this paper has caused me trouble in the past.

But you can’t have it both ways and in this case I needed the ability to manipulate the washes.

 

 

Multi Mixed Media

Oct 27

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Multi Mixes Media

This step by step demonstration was  intended to be watercolour washes over charcoal, however it did not develop along the lines I intended and in order to pull it together it was necessary to introduce other media, which was watercolour pencils and a fine liner Micron pen.

However this was a good chance to demonstrate that with perseverance and a willingness to risk all I can save the day, and what have I lost if it is a tear up, nothing because I still have enjoyed myself .

So I decided to post it on the site to show if at first you don’t succeed try again. 

This photograph of the still life set up on the workbench was the subject, naturally I could not work from it in the kitchen  so I took a photo of the kitchen wall tiles and placed the  still life on a table in the studio  and took the opportunity to arrange the lights more to my liking.

The composition was adjusted to to to suit what I see every day, most of the time the bowl is not correctly placed on the plate because we all tend to turn it around to choose the piece of fruit we want, secondly obeying the rule that no two intervals should be the same the four boarders are all a different distance from the fruit.

Both the composition and the tonal value drawing was done with a soft willow charcoal stick, this is my under painting for the watercolour so the tonal range is kept very close together

on the gray scale that is the white (1) and a mid grey about a 4 on the grey scale,

It is kept light because I don’t want the charcoal to dominate the watercolour, they both should have an equal role to play by uniting together.

 

Here  the first washes have been applied using the conventional washes ,  gradated and variegated, already the charcoal as done it’s job of creating form. I build up the saturation with transparent glazes, I would like to accomplish this with about three washes but it could take four of five.

 

 

I apply a second wash to the fruit, and the first wash to the shadow side of the white bowl and the blue plate.

 Repeating the previous wash I start to get some texture into the fruit small dents and blemishes in the pears , and colour striations in the apples etc.

 

 

 The main two media as been charcoal followed by watercolour, but now I introduce watercolour pencils to colour  the pattern on the tiles, using them in a single session and then brushed with water the reason being I don’t want them to have the same depth of colour as the fruit. then using a micron archival pens .005 and 1.0 I outline the tiles and fruit.

This painting is more illustrative than traditional watercolour, using techniques (I Believe or as near as I can see)  that illustrators used  about  1860 circa

If you would like to see a video demonstration on Watercolour over Charcoal  please go to  http://gordonswatercolourmagic.blogspot.com/

 

Turner’s Technique for creating light

Sep 27

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Painting in the manner of Turner 

A Demonstration using Turner’s Methods 

Lake Brienz 1809 

There is a lot to be gained for giving the methods of Turner a try, as outlandish they may seem to many present day watercolorists. Turner often worked on paper that he pre-tinted in advance  in several colours.

He would apply  washes to sheets of watercolour paper, Gradated,Variegated , Flat washes, then he would hang them on a line to dry. when out painting  he would pick the most suitable one for what ever subject he was painting

 Turners  production line methods for tinting papers or working on several  paintings going from one to the other,was to  satisfy the demand for his works and satisfy his inspiration. It is claimed  Turner was the first watercolorists,  to exploit the medium’s ability for wet in wet  effects— using the wet paper to float and mingle large areas of color, then blotting and scraping to shape lights and outlines.  He was known to put his painting in a bucket of water to remove colour.

  This range of techniques gave him the ability to describe the effects of atmosphere and light.

As a result he could get dramatic effects, this led to increasing the size of his paintings to three feet or more. up to this time these sizes were used for oil, Here is a written description by someone who new Turner, 

Turner would scratch out details with his sharpened thumbnail or the end of a brush, stipple over this with dry brush technique, or remove colour with blotting paper after immersing the whole watercolour in a bucket of water. Highlights were sometimes added in gouache. Soft edges were achieved with the use of a sponge.

It was this  scrubbing off colour, adding colour,  scratching out details and finishing with a little bit of calligraphic detail that that gave his pictures  their  atmospheric effect.

I have adapted and have been using these techniques in my watercolours for many years using my own style,  however just for the sake of demonstrating the effectiveness of these  techniques I will use a Turner watercolour as a starting point to show how Turner techniques  have been used to paint this picture.

I will not attempt to emulate him,  the dimensions, colour, and placement of shapes will differ.

Pre-tinted Paper 

 

Turner would pre-tint paper in various colours to take on his outings, I assume this was to save time, I also have with me when on site not only white paper but paper prepared with Flat, Variegated, and Granulated  washes .

I picked this pre-tinted paper to do this step by step demonstration, It appears more blue here that it is in reality, I should be able to remove colour fairly quickly  because the colours I used are not staining colours.

 

 

I only draw  the major shapes to give me a guide for removing colour. Turner used a bucket to soak and wash of colour, I place mine under the tap and gently brush the colour and let it flow away.

 

The colour comes of easy, As this techniques removes some of the sizing I replace this with a weak wash of Gum Arabic  For this picture the sky wash made lighter behind the mountains and on the lake, This will be modified later with  washes. I wait for it to dry.

The mountains receive a wash of transperent Colbalt blue and IndianYellow   letting the colours mingle and merge

I can now see how it is starting to read as a painting this alows me to lift  or add colour to get the look that I am after.

The last stage is the calligraphy, add the boats and people touch up here and there, It’s not as good as Turners and never could be after all he was the master

To see a short video how the Sitar Player was painted using Turner Techniques go to http://gordonswatercolourmagic.blogspot.com/

 

Opaque or Transperent

Sep 4

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Opaque or transparent and why the difference

This article is for those  leisure painters who have not given much thought to the reason why paint manufactures  of quality watercolour paints disclose the technical specifications for each colour paint they have on their colour chart.

Watercolour artist who believe that the only good watercolour is one that relies on pure transparent washes, are missing out on another design tool.

The reason I say this is because the main plank of good design  is variety plus unity  such as light against dark , soft edge against hard edge, warm against cool. no two elements should be the same but at the same time

Transperent against Opaque,  It surprises  me when I see a good painting that could have been a very good painting  but misses out because of of the reluctance of the artist to introduce an opaque wash into their watercolour.

When I ask the question why do you think that the paint manufacturers have in their range transparent, opaque, staining, granulating colours some of them have not even thought about it.

So lets have a look at couple of paintings to  critique.

The Painting above the focal point is the white jug, fruit and flower. Transparent colours was used for the glazes on the orange and flower plus background.

The background glaze which I needed to be very dark in the lower half  was washed in with a purple mixed from phthalo blue and alizarin crimson and neutral tint all transparent and staining colours this rich dark colour was a perfect foil for the jug which needed to convey the feel of  hard ceramic  as apposed to the soft feel of the orange and flower

 This was painted with opaque  Chinese white and tinted on the shadow side with Payne’s grey also staining and opaque colour.In this still life there is contrast of colour, texture, and value.

 

 Girl in Green Jacket

A video  how “The Girl in the Green Jacket” was painted  can be seen on  http://gordonswatercolourmagic.blogspot.com/ the painting shown here is a bit fuzzy it was taken from the video clip, as  I no longer have the original.

I created a shallow space behind the girl but added variety  to this space with the shadow shapes.

This background wash was mixed with an opaque Tasman blue plus Ultramarine blue which is semi opaque to make it darker

This cool blue has the effect of making the girl who was painted with transparent glazes come forward, the flat wash is a contrast to the transparent washes.

This creates variety plus unity two requisites for a successful painting.

MORE ON PIGMENTS TO COME

Assess and adjust your painting

Aug 6

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Assess and correcting your painting

STEP ONE

This watercolour was a class demonstration for wet on wet and glazing, but when you are demonstrating quite often time runs out on you before you have brought the painting to a conclusion, I had to leave this particular painting with the bottom left hand side looking opaque I fixed this by gently washing that area under the tap which let some light into that area. 

 

Following are the  steps that I used to adjust this painting

 

 

Step 4

Composition Design Principles

Jul 25

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Composition Design Principles

 

  

Composition Design Principles 

This picture turned out like this with planning, it was no accident.

Understanding the principles of composition and design plays a vital  part in the painting of pictures 

You can be born with this talent or you can learn it  the end results are the same you will paint a better picture more consistently with this knowledge than with out it.

It does take a bit of time to study design, but your improvement will show from day one in your art.

These are the design principles in order of importance

“Centre of Interest.”

  ”Centre of Interest.” It is about dominance and influence. Most artists place this on the thirds of the format or the Golden Mean. With some minor secondary interest to create balance.

In the box below, the contrast which is always required for the focal area is situated in the top right hand quadrant, the three symbols of a different value are called the focal area and the centre  of interest  is the white one this is called a centre of interest has the greatest value contrast.

Design principle the greatest contrast must always be in the focal aera

In the box below the contrast is Value

In the box below the contrast is colour

In the box below, the focal area in the bottom right hand quadrant is edge contrast notice the sharp edges  of the symbol in the centre of the quadrant the rest are soft edges

 

So to sum up the centre of interest must always have the greatest contrast and this could be any number of opposites .- using contrasting visual concepts.  Light against dark, hard and soft edges,Colours contrast and so on, any artistic device that is used to produce an effect on the viewer.

 

Overall Design Principles for the picture

Harmony -

As in music, complementary layers and/or effects can be joined to produce a more attractive whole. The composition is complex, but everything appears to fit with everything else. The whole is better than the sum of its parts.

 Unity -

 When nothing distracts from the whole, you have unity.

 Unity without variation can be uninteresting – like travelling on the Nullarbor Desert without change for hours.

Opposites -

 Uses contrasting visual concepts. Light against dark, hard and soft edges,

Colours contrast and so on, any artistic device that is used to produce an effect on the viewer.

  Balance

 is the consideration of visual weight and importance. It is a way to compare the right and left side of a composition.

The balance in ” Green apples with plant”  Is from the top right to bottom left, the quite passive area on the left balance the busy side on the right.

 

Symmetrical balance

 Of course a butterfly, even though it is symmetrical, doesn’t look stiff and formal because we think of fluttering butterflies as metaphors for freedom and spontaneity.

 It is a case of subject matter and symbolism overpowering formal design effects.

Variety

- You create variety when elements are changed. Repeating a similar shape but changing the size can give variety and unity at the same time.

 Keeping the same size, but changing the color can also give variety and unity at the same time.

 In visual composition, there are many ways you can change something while simultaneously keeping it the same.

Depth -

Depth can be portrayed by linear means or  gradated colour or saturated colour, notice how the butterfly on the Right seems closer although they are all the same size.  

Size Variation

Size can apply to shape, form, etc. Notice how size can effect how close or far something can appear to be from the viewer.         

Repetition can be used on all of the Visual Elements. If things are repeated without any change they can quickly get boring. However, repetition with variation can be both interesting and comfortably familiar. Repetition gives motion.

 

 

 

Compositional Design

Jul 25

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Compositional Design at work

 The best paintings contain

Variation of shape value contrast. and no two intervals the same.

 And contain a focal point  in which  is placed centre the of interest.

SHAPE   

When you have shapes or intervals the same it is boring and the viewer becomes tired quickly,

The top shape is static and boring those below it are a little interesting

This shape is a lot more interesting the shapes are varied  and are different sises

 

 

I will use this 15 minute class demonstration as the subject to illustrate the principles of design,

 lets imagine this was a quick field sketch, that I want to paint a finished picture from.

I decide to make the hay barn and farm my focal point, and my centre of interest.

Design is established with a series of thumbnail sketches.

It is at this stage that you divide the picture space in the major shapes,

 About three to seven shapes is all you need below are the changes

I Have made to the class demonstration  

                                

If the picture reads well in gray scale providing you match the values of the colours to your gray scale the picture will work.

I intend to make more of the hay barn and farm hands at work, they are going to be my focal point.

I made a line drawing on cartridge paper and transferred to an A4 size piece of Bockingford watercolour paper Note only the major shapes are drawn,

Applying the washes  

  

I apply a wash to all the major shapes first,

 these first wash will have darker values dropped in while the wash is still wet

              

 As these washes start to dry I add stronger washes to suggest detail

When this stage is reached it is time to asses the picture and consider if and where the adjustments should be made

  This picture is not what I had in mind and is often the case when you are demonstrating;

 your mind is not in the creative mode So I will make the necessary changes 

Finished picture 

 

Learning Points and Critique

  Does the picture have to many shapes?

1 Blue sky and distance hills  2Trees and middle distance hill, 3 Barn and foreground, 

 Shapes should be kept to only what is necessary, usually 3 to seven shapes 

This picture meets that criteria

 

   

Centre of Interest

 

Does the picture have a focal point and a centre of interest?  The focal point is that darkest value up in the top left quadrant and the centre of interest the barn and house

Is there an eye path to the focal yes any thing that is implied? Path, fence, post, or a darker or lighter value such as in the sky or foreground.

Variation

 

Intervals mean variation of  space between object and their relationship  to the borders

True complimentary colour wheel

Jul 25

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Making a True Complementary Colour Wheel

Designed by Gordon Townsend

COPYRIGHT 

Over the years I had been bothered by not being able to satisfactory go beyond the base value of primaries using complimentary or analogous colours until about four years ago I read an article where the artist modified his watercolour with   Ivory black,
I had stuck religiously to what I had been taught, which was to not include black into my watercolour palette, but here was this artist using it quite successfully so I added Ivory black  and Payne’s Grey to my palette which enable me an extra option to portray extreme  light to dark values that you get in certain situations  both exterior and interior subjects.
I have place these charts to show what is possible  with Ivory black and a comparison to desaturated with complimentary colour.
 
Primary colours made lighter with water and darker with Ivory black,  compare this chart to the one below where complimentary colour has been used to darken the primary colour
Both these methods have their uses and I use which one is the best for the job  of example if I want to darken a Ultramarine blue I would use Ivory black or Paynes’ grey as it does the job better.
Because yellow is   easy to be come contaminated  I would use a complimentary Purple,  see bottom chart, or the earth colours such as Raw or Burnt sienna
I now have three three options which has made life a lot better. 

 

  

 

  

  

Making a True Complementary Colour Wheel

Designed by Gordon Townsend

  

                                          

  

                                        

          Colour wheel with shades                                                                     Colour wheel with tints 

 

The advantages of making your own colour wheel from your regular pigments on your palette are.

You know the colours on the wheel are exactly the same as your paints therefore there will be less wasted paint.

Your secondary colours will be brighter

The semi neutrals, neutrals, plus shades and tints will stay closer to their original hue.

 

This colour wheel is different from the conventional three primary colour wheels that were designed by Munsell.

That are still taught to this day by art schools and used by artist.

The three primary colour systems does not take into account the colour bias of the primary colours for example a warm blue that leans towards red and a cool blue that leans towards green.

We now know that to make clean green the blue and the yellow primary must both have a leaning towards green, this is the same for all the primaries.

 

So in fact on the colour wheel you need a warm and cool version of red blue and yellow.

A warm red that leans towards orange a cool red that leans towards violet, likewise you need the same with the yellow and blue hues.

The problem with this however it makes a 15 segment colour wheel.

 on the inner wheelSo consequently unlike the traditional colour wheel where you have a complimentary colour there is no colour directly opposite. 

I have overcome this problem with my colour wheel by placing the compliment of each colour on an outer rim from the main wheel.

The compliment is made from an equal mix of the two colours beneath it.

The complimentary of  primary colour Yellow is a equal mix of the two purple colours on the inner wheel making the purple that lays on the out side colour wheel.  

 

Fig One    

 

Template

  

 

Enlarge this Template of THE TRUE COMPLEMENTRAY COLOUR WHEEL to the desired size and copy it onto 300gsm watercolour paper cold pressed.

You will need for this project

1 Pipette

Six containers for primary colours

Small mixing containers for secondary and tertiary colours

Mix a warm and cool of the primary colours at full chroma, enough to complete the entire wheel,

   Paint the six primary colours with three vacant spaces each side for the secondary and tertiary colours.A warm colour will have slight orange look  a cool will look slightly greenishIf in doubt as to the bias of a colour you can find by a process of elimination.Yellow for example first mix it with a known warm red such as cadmium red the mix it with a known cool blue such as cerulean.If it makes a bright orange then it is warm, conversely if it makes a bright green and a dull orange it is cool
   
   Measure with the pipette equal amounts of the cool yellow and cool blue this will give you the green hue.Make sufficient to carry out further mixing.Paint the middle space between the yellow and blue, this will leave a space either side for a Yellow green, and a blue greenMix the green two to one with the yellow and paint the yellow green.Mix the Green two to one with the blue and paint the blue green.Continue around the colour wheel making the other secondary and tertiary colours
  To mix the complementary of yellow take equal amount of the violet and the red violet as in the illustration  And paint the outer space also shown in To paint the semi neutrals and neutral measure into the pipette one of violet and five of the yellow.Paint the next segment down from the bright yellow when dry this should look like a slightly dull yellow.To the mix add one violet and paint the next segment, this should look even duller.Continue on in the same manner for the next two segments.Complete the wheel using the same formula   
  How To Use The Colour WheelThis colour wheel with shades and the colour wheel with  is used in conjunction with templates that show a complementary colour palette.Split complementary with discord or accent colours.Analogous colours with discord or accents.Triadic colours Tetrad colour schemes.Or a full colour Palette   
  How To Make the Templates      The complementary Template at right was made from white card.Make a tracing from the blank colour wheel the segments you want to cut a window in to show the colours of the appropriate colour scheme.There are four colour schemes belowThere is also a full palette no template needed for that and a Tetrad that’s seldom used   

  

The Palette at work

The five pictures below were painted from traditional colour schemes.

This clearly demonstrates how useful this system can help the beginning artist

 

 

                                                                                                  Complementary                                                                                                                        Split Complementary                            

                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                              

                                                                               Triadic                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                               

The Palette at work

The five pictures below were painted from traditional colour schemes.

This clearly demonstrates how useful this system can help the beginning artist

  

Painted with a 

ART  SPECTRUM WATERCOLOUR 

 

 

       

 

Effects of Cling Wrap

Jun 20

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Paint snow on branches with Chinese white

Add shadows and twigs  to ground

 

 

 

Granulation

Jun 12

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Granulation

Choosing granulating pigments to describe texture.

Knowing which pigments granulate and what granulating pigment to choose to help describe a particular texture, can greatly enhance that touch of realism into the picture.

In this step by step demonstration of an old stone urn I picked two  pigments who’s granulating 

 is finer than for instance Ultramarine  and Burnt Umber.

They are Raw sienna and Australian  turquoise, which will describe the texture of  a fine stone

Detail of granulation 

Draw the composion lightly onto 300gsm watercolour paper, and apply a veriegated wash of raw sennia and australian terquiose to the urn.

A flat wash of a sepia looking colour made from the two colours above which made a green plus the green’s compliment red.

While it was still wet I reclaimed some whites for the flowers .the floor was washed in with a phthlo blue and wiped out the reflection.

 

Viridian Green which is also a granulating colour with a bit of raw sennia was used for both the urn and leaves, when doing the leaves I left whites for the flowers.

 

 

The fine details was acomplished with watercolour pencils.