Building an Oil or Acrylic Painting
FROM SKETCH TO HIGHLIGHTS
So you’ve applied your underpainting, and you know what you want to paint. What’s the next step? Below are a few notes to keep in mind as you tackle the “big picture” of painting.
The Sketch
There are several tools you can use for sketching on your canvas. Unlike watercolor paint, acrylics and oils will cover up your sketch so you can be much bolder with your groundwork. Painters use everything from graphite or charcoal to indelible pen (which I prefer, as I don’t have to worry about sediment mixing in with the paint). Some also create the sketch using thinned paint and a brush rather than a drawing instrument. When you create your sketch, avoid adding too much detail; block in only the most important divisions in value.
Fat over Lean (applies to oil only)
Artists generally begin an oil painting with thin layers of paint (diluted with solvent). They then build up the shapes and colors slowly, using thicker paint (containing more oil) and more deliberate strokes with each layer. This common approach is often called “fat over lean” and helps prevent cracking on the surface of the painting.
Working from Dark to Light
A common approach to oil painting involves working from “dark to light,” which refers simply to applying darks and shadows first, leaving lights and highlights for the later stages. This eliminates the need to apply each intricate shadow individually, allowing you to focus on that which is illuminated and saving brushstrokes in the long run. —ETG
A
B
C
Caroline Zimmermann works from dark to light in the above step-by-step sequence. After applying the underpainting, she blocks in the shadows (A, B), builds up the middle values (B, C), and finishes with the highlights (bottom).