What advice do you have for designing and painting a market scene?

Della Rainson, Australia

Charlotte replies

Painting a market scene gives you the chance to create something vibrant and visually interesting. Use repetitive shapes and directional patterns to draw the eye deeper into your composition, and add interest by using high saturation lighting and layering textured brushes. If you’re drawing a fantasy market you can afford to exaggerate these elements for greater effect by aiming to create contrast. Your focus here will be on the ambience of the scene, so be confident of your light sources and don’t be afraid to clutter your composition!

As you plot out your scene, give thought to the stalls you want at the forefront. These will give you a chance to render exotic and interesting materials that add a storytelling element to the environment, and enhance your chosen lighting conditions. For example, do you want specular reflective metals? Fine fabrics that filter your light sources? Incense that adds a diffusive, smokey film to certain areas? Each of these will give your painting a different mood, so making these decisions early on can be beneficial, enabling you to block out your composition with a confidence that will be reflected by the final result.