RENAISSANCE DRAWING
ABOVE Emily,
charcoal, sanguine
and white conte on
paper, 45x35cm
WHICH COLOUR GOES
DOWN FIRST?
With a three-colour drawing, there is
no fixed order in which to apply the
colours. Whichever you choose first,
the results will be more or less the
same. Generally, if a drawing requires
darker values and deeper shadows,
I start in black and then add red.
However, if the subject is
predominantly warm and light, I tend
to start in sanguine and then deepen
the shadows with black.
Red pigment is present in all parts
of my portraits – it is what addswarmth and makes models look alive.
Black features in all of the shadows,
but sometimes the light areas too.
I add it very sparingly and mix it with
white to create cool bluish shades in
the eye sockets or around the mouth
and chin.
White should only be reserved for
the light areas. Never ever add white
to the shadows as it will muddy dark,
warm colours. If you need to lighten a
shadow area – to add reflected light,
for example – lift the pigment with a
paper stump or putty rubber to
expose some of the paper instead.Start by sharpening all of the
pencils you plan to use. First,
carefully expose the pencil’s core
with a very sharp knife, then
sharpen it to a long fine point on
a sheet of sandpaper, being
careful not to apply too much
pressure. Consider preparing
several pencils of each type at
once, so you can grab a new one
without losing the momentum.
Once all the pencils become
blunt, take a break and sharpen
them all again, using the
opportunity to step back and
review your progress.STAY SHARP!
WHY DRAW ON
COLOURED GROUND?
Although it is technically possible to
work on white ground, drawing on
coloured papers in blue, grey, pale
green and yellow shades produced
various beautiful effects. I particularly
like the mid-value Canson Mi-Teintes
paper in a warm grey called
‘Moonstone’.
When used as a base for portraits,
Moonstone serves a number of
purposes. Firstly, it effectively
becomes an additional colour in my
limited palette: showing through
translucent veils of pigment or
peeking through particles of broken
colour deposited in the tooth of the
paper, it creates various optical
mixing effects and significantly
broadens the range of skin tones.
Being a muted grey, Moonstone has a
cooling effect on all the warm colours,
especially sanguine, which can easily
become too hot and overpowering.
Left exposed in many parts of the
drawing and in the background, it
adds unity and harmony to the
finished artwork.Artists & Illustrators 57