STAGE 5

LAYERING STROKES

Pencil direction is very important. If it’s a portrait painting, knowing the muscle structure is necessary to make strokes in the right direction. In the initial block-in I work following the form, but when I switch to lighter colors and more layering I often shade the same areas against the form. This way I cancel out the strokes, although the first layers are still there to show the anatomy and muscle structure. At this step I shade with lighter hues that also blend the surface. Strategically, it’s about connecting the shadows to the highlights in a series of layered hues. I use lighter hues that I see as local colors like light flash, sky blue, warm grey I, brown ochre, cinnamon, ivory, sanguine, madder, dark flash, earth green, cream and white.

I pay attention to the color temperature too as I layer lighter colors. Warm cream and green balance out cool pinks and blue. Pencil pressure lets me control the values, and the same color would give varied results based on your pencil pressure. The initial block-in in the white shirt also includes olive greens and pinks that mark the darkest parts in the model’s shirt.