APPLYING FORM TO A PAINTING

Now for the moment you’ve been waiting for: applying form to an actual painting. To do this, you’ll combine the optical and the conceptual models and bring together all your knowledge of light, color and value. In this demo, I will show how to paint one object—a lime—in a larger still life setup.

STAGE 1 TRANSFER THE DRAWING

The first step is to transfer the drawing to the painting surface—in this case, linen that has been lightly toned with burnt umber.

STAGE 2 SEPARATE LIGHT FROM SHADOW

The next step is the underpainting, done with a color like burnt umber or raw umber. Just by separating light and shadow, you’ll begin to give the image dimension.

STAGE 3 ESTABLISH THE LIGHTEST LIGHT AND DARKEST DARK

Next, establish the lightest light and the darkest dark values. On this lime, the lightest lights are the surface highlights. The darkest darks are the crevice shadows under the forms. By doing this, you’re adding a bit more dimension—as in a heightened chalk drawing.

STAGE 4 FIND THE LOCAL COLOR/VALUE AND MIX A LIGHT-TO-DARK STRING

Finding the local color of the lime is essential to mixing a light-to-dark string for that color. Mixing a color and then checking it by holding it up to the light part of the halftone will get you pretty close to the local color. Then, find lighter and darker versions of the color to mix a string.

STAGE 5

ESTABLISH THE DIRECTION OF THE LIGHT AND THE LIGHT MOST FACING THE PLANE

The first step in modeling form is to establish where the light is coming from. The direction of the light informs everything in a painting no matter how big or small the light source is. You may want to lightly draw an arrow at the top of your painting surface to indicate the light’s direction. This will remind you to not fall into painting what you see but rather to paint with the light in mind. The light most facing plane should point to the light source.

I often mark the light most facing plane, too.

When starting to render values, you must always find the light most facing plane. Finding this is like putting a stake in the ground to remind you of your lightest value.

STAGE 6 DEFINE THE TERMINATOR

I also stake out the terminator and then roll toward the light, painting all the transitional colors/values between it and the light most facing plane. Essentially, you are taking the colors from your color string and wrapping them onto the form in the correct order.

STAGE 7 BEGIN ROLLING THE FORM

Now, roll the form toward the light source—applying the values from the terminator up to the light most facing plane. Remember that the biggest transition of values occurs right out of the shadow, in the area known as the halftone.

STAGE 8 CONTINUE RENDERING THE FORM

As you continue to render the form, you can either follow the path of the light (as shown by the upward pointing arrows on the image) or you can render across the form (as shown in the arrows pointing left on the image). I always roll forms from the shadow toward the light source (from dark to light), but you could choose to work in the opposite direction—light to dark—instead.

Rather than just copying values, I am always asking myself, am I turning the form toward the light or away from the light?

STAGE 9 ADD SOME COLOR NOTES

Adding some color notes to surrounding objects is a great way to begin to see how the various colors of the composition will relate to each other.

Besides those color notes, though, do try to resist the urge to hop all around the painting adding color here and there. Instead develop the painting so that it looks as if the painting is growing out of a center. Every area you paint should be connected to an area that has already been considered.