Demonstration

Drawing of Fantasy Beach

Having collected a few reference photos, I decided which elements I would like to use within my scene. I had in mind a tropical beach, with sun-kissed white sand and overhanging palm trees – perhaps with a glamourous boat moored nearby.

I decided that the atmosphere and colours of the ocean and sand would be influenced by Reference Photo 1, but the characteristic rocks and palm trees would be used from Reference Photo 2. I also had a selection of boats to choose from in my photo of a Cornish harbour (all photos are shown opposite).

Step 1

For the first step, place the tracing paper over the reference image and, using a HB pencil, trace the outline of the element you want to reproduce. In this case, the palm trees, the end of the headland and the boat.

Step 2

1 Onto a tracing of the main sweeping beach, lay out your other tracings and arrange them in a fashion that you find pleasing. Don’t forget to keep your sea’s horizon line level. I also enlarged the palm tree on a printer and added this to the scene to create differing sizes and depth.

2 Generally, my trees were about a third of the way in from the right and the horizon line was about a third of the way up the page. Look for balance, but, as it’s your fantasy, no rules should apply!

3 I wanted a figure in the scene, but wasn’t sure who it was or what they should be doing. I did know that I wanted them on the beach in the mid-distance. You can play with ideas at this stage, either using your imagination or found images. In the final painting, the figure was loosely suggested so I wasn’t too concerned about detail.

Step 3

1 If your tracing is the same size as your final image, the process of transferring the tracing to your substrate is fairly straightforward. If you have a photocopier or scanner, copy your tracing onto a separate sheet of paper so you’ll have a pristine original to hand, just in case. Otherwise, go with your tracing. 2 Take charcoal, graphite stick or soft pencil and rub it on the back of your tracing, covering the area of your image. Lay this sketch side up over your paper or canvas, and with a harder pencil or Biro, draw over your sketch lines again. This will transfer a ghostly outline of your drawing onto the surface.

3 Alternatively, if you are painting on paper, use a lightbox or tape your tracing to a window and the image should clearly show through the paper, placed on top.

4 If you want your painting to be larger than your sketch, try drawing a grid over your sketch and transferring the image, square by square, to a proportionally scaled-up grid on your substrate.

5 Finally, you could freehand sketch onto the paper or canvas using your original sketch as a guide. In this case, I enlarged my sketch on a copier and transferred the image using charcoal on the rear.

Step 4

Once the sketch has been transferred, the image can be firmed up with a pencil. Use the original references to add further details and textures. This is your chance to make your image appear unified as though it had always been a single landscape. Importantly, think about where your sun is shining. Every element that you have placed in your landscape will have a shadow and keeping the direction of the shadows consistent will unify the scene. Draw an arrow where you think it should be, or sketch in some shadows as a reminder.