7 PUT IT INTO PRACTICE

It’s time to get more from Artrage Vitae’s brush and canvas settings…

A Identify interesting source material

Find a subject you’re interested in that has strong lighting. Loosely map in your subject with whatever tool you feel comfortable using. I like using the Oil Brush, Pencil or the Pen.

B Explore stokes

Next, set the Oil Brush to one of the medium to dryer settings from the brushes that I’ve listed previously. Find one of the darker values in your reference picture and try some experimental strokes.

C Use a larger brush

Now make your brush larger than you would normally. Making yourself use a larger brush will enhance the focus on your brush strokes and markmaking, forcing you to work in a simplified fashion.

D From dark to light

Make yourself work fast, moving from the darker values first, toward the mid-tones and then finally the highlights using big, bold brush strokes. Block in your subject with that medium to dryer brush, and you should be able to grasp the rhythm of light and dark shapes.

E Stay focused when putting down strokes

Now that you have local colour painted across the surface you can begin to refine and add detail. You may want to explore the Impasto brush or the dry brush technique. Whatever you do, make sure to focus on making individual strokes in your painting instead of scumbling your stylus in a thousand different directions.

F Sculpt accurate light and dark values

Remember that when we paint like this we’re painting light, which means value. We’re not worried about perfect colouring or even the perfect shape of our subject. We want to portray accurate light and dark values. When we paint these bold brushstrokes of light, dark and mid-tone we’re sculpting the volumes inside of our picture plane. Let’s sculpt confidently!