Re: Advise on sketching/drawing materials for oil painting
- From: "jespersa@xxxxxxxxx" <jespersa@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 28 Aug 2006 22:08:10 -0700
Tell her she is dreaming.
Shalom
Jesper
http://www.whitepage.com.au/jespersa
CB wrote:
Most introductory painting books will address this issue, but if it's any
help I've posted what I know below, interleaved with your questions. A good
deal also depends on your painting technique.
<theunissen@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1156785604.635153.284640@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi,
I am very interested and motivated about oil painting and have some
problems starting. I would like to make a sketch/drawing on canvas
before starting to block in the first layer of colors but am confused
about the method and materials to use to create this drawing.
I am not sure which methods are apropriate and would like to know some
of the advantages/disadvantages for each of these methods. I would
really appreciate some comments on the following methods as an
underdrawing for oil painting:
1) Charcoal: What kind of charcoal would I use (willow, vine, graphite,
colored charcoal, etc...)?
Soft (Willow/vine charcoal) works very well, and has been tested for ages.
You have to be careful though to remove as much loose charcoal as possible
after you have completed the drawing - blow off as much as possible, and
then use a kneaded eraser or some ballon bread (like Wonder) to get the
charcoal remaining down to the lest amount you need to move on. Otherwise
the charcoal will mix into the paint layer as you apply it, which in itself
is not necessarily a bad thing, just something to be aware of.
2) Pencil: Is it appropriate for sketching underneath oil?
This generally considered a Bad Thing, as graphite can (or at least is
reported to) migrate into or through the oil layers. This isn't first hand
experience on my part. OTOH, pencil offers the ability to do much finer
detail than say charcoal, one option is to do a light underdrawing in
pencil, retrace it in ink, and then erase the pencil. Too much work for me
though....
3) Oil pastels: Is it possible, or would it blend too much with the oil
paint, or would the oil paint not stick on top of the pastel area's?
Oil pastels do mix to some degree with the oil paint, depending on how hard
you work the oil layers, and how much you thin your paint. I've heard that
over time you can run into trouble as oil pastels don't set the same way
that oil paints do, and for this sort of thing the oil sticks are more
recommended.
4) Ink - What kind of ink, and what to use to apply the ink?
I've used regular india ink, as well as the Pelican drawing inks, and never
had a problem with them mixing into the paint. However, if you paint thinly,
you might find that the ink lines hard to cover. Again, not necessarily a
bad thing, since you can also incorporate the ink lines into work itself.
5) Chalk: I've seen some sketching is done using chalk. Could it be
used as an underdrawing?
I would treat chalk the same way as charcoal; making sure that any lose
chalk is removed before painting, and be aware that some of it will probably
mix into the first paint layers as you apply them. But structurally the
addition of small amounts of chalk should't create a problem (it was
historically occassionally added to flake white to brighten the white for
highlights, and cheap student grade paints sometimes use it as a filler).
6) Brush pens?
This would really depend on the type of ink they use. (I don't use them at
all, since I find them very expensive for the amount of drawing one can do
with them).
Which of those methods is the prefered method and why?
Personally, I like charcoal the best, and india inks next, though it depends
on the type of work you are doing. I tend to do my first layer as a
grisaille in dead colours, and the addition of some charcoal from the
drawing actually seems to help that. As for ink, the big problem is that
once you lay it down, it's immovable (unlike charcoal, which can be removed
altogether or pushed around either at the drawing stage or the grisaille
stage) so I hope you are a good draughts-person :)
Thanks in advance.
Hope you get some more complete responses....
Cheers;
CB
.
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