1 Drawing and silhouette

After a quick graphite drawing of what I want to paint, I go in and define the silhouette with burnt sienna and some muted browns and blues. While defining my silhouette, I decide that I want the top portion of the figure to be light against a dark background, and dark against light for the bottom. Together this forms my light/dark pattern.

Burnt sienna makes for interesting effects when it shows through under layers of other colours. This is one reason why I prefer to use it initially. I use a flat brush and fill in the masses with large brush strokes.