I realized that I never post anything useful in my blog. This post will try to break that. I thought I'll share one of my working methods with you. And may be you benefit from it.
Now this method is one of my working methods and not the only method I follow. But I thought of sharing this because I thought it may be a little unique, and its just so much fun.
Whenever I work from photographs I don't directly work from it. There is an intermediate stage where I make a sketch using the photo which usually involves moving things here and there, eliminating stuff, adding elements, playing with tonal values etc. The idea is to come up with a composition from the photo which can be painted. Mostly I do this step with pencil. But sometimes a clear idea does not get formed even after trying out a lot of things. Or may be sometimes I want to get a lot more clarity on the idea. Then I do this.
I do a few fun sketches in watercolor itself. This is how I do it.
1. I tape my paper (usually half imperial) to divide it into four parts. Sometimes the parts are equal and sometimes they are not. Really depends on my mood.I picked this paper division thing from Robert Wade.
2. Then I do my drawings.
3. Next I generally put down a note on top of each part mentioning the time of the day/mood that I am aiming to achieve in each part. Not always though.
4. Then using only 3 primaries (generally) I start coloring them simultaneously. This way I don't have to wait for layers to dry in a painting.
5. I try out whatever ideas I have in my mind. This is important because I get a general idea about what will work for that painting. And more importantly what will not work.
6. Remove the tape in the end and again make note of what has and what has not worked.
This way I get a reference for my painting which has a lot of information and lot of clarity of thought while having loads of fun. Sometimes one of these sketches turn out just perfect. A finished painting in its own right.
Stage 1: Drawings are done. Note about the time/mood has been made.
Stage 2: A snapshot of simultaneous paintings. Just trying out everything I have in my head
Stage 3: All sketches done. Now its time to reflect and find out what worked and more importantly what did not.
Another older study
Let me know if you enjoyed this post. If you learnt anything from this it will be great. Let me know.
