"Tenacity" - painted in the studio
October 2007
1.) If you've followed any of my other step-by-steps, you know how I start - underpaint, "draw" in that and then begin to apply color. That's how I began this one, but in this demo, I want to particularly emphasize the two-value approach that I often use. After I lay in my sky, I'm ready to start on the rocks, so I quickly define my dark areas scumbling thin paint with my brush to identify all the dark areas.
2.) Working back to front, top to bottom, I'll now concentrate on the rocks in the rear of the field of view. I lay in a color for my light area...my second value, the dark being the first. I don't lay it in uniformly, I allow for some texture varying the thickness of my paint, but for the most part, it's just one color of paint except for the very highest highlight area on the very top edges. Now, to begin to add detail I look again at just the dark areas and paint in a second dark value that's a bit lighter than the first...now I have taken the two value idea and applied it to a smaller area.
3.) I do the same in the light area of the front rocks, first apply one color of a particular value, now I have my two values for the foreground rocks, light and dark and then I go back and apply this concept to just the lights, introducing a second light value which is slightly lighter than the first on I applied and so now I have two values in my light area...
4.) I then do the same to the dark areas, adjust the overall value and also work it over some of the light areas that I initially missed, I then add a second value in the dark areas which I also warm up a bit to emphasize the reflected ambient light that exists in the shadow areas...this gives the rocks form and keeps them from being just a hard-edged mess...
5.) It's only now, at this point that I break out the smaller brush and begin to paint in some smaller details...typically I'm still just concentrating on small areas and looking for minor value introductions into those areas...still just two or three values per area...that way I don't get confused or overwhelmed with the details...
6.) Finally, I mix up a variety of bright colors for all the lichen on the rocks and then apply it mostly with my palette knife. Why have I titled this piece, "Tenacity", you must be thinking...click here to see the finished piece and find out why.
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