Leisure Painter - UK (2019-06)

16 JUNE 2019 http://www.painters-online.co.uk

I

n last month’s issue, I shared

with you some of the methods

you could employ to make the

representation of human figures

a much easier task in your drawings

and paintings. In the first part of

this painting project, I want to take

the next step by selecting a street

scene and populating it effectively

with people. As with most

paintings, time spent planning and

sketching is invaluable. It all helps

the artist flow into a final piece with

more confidence and accuracy.

Next month I will take you through

the painting of the scene. LP

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

nHow to paint figures

in a street scene

nObservation is key

nHow to plan a composition

Paint along with LP

Part 1Bring your paintings to life as you fill them with figures, by Stephen Coates

Painting project

Your reference photograph for this month’s project: a Venetian street scene. Photograph courtesy of Andrew Locking.

t

Step 1

I drew two carrot shapes,

which were overlapping

slightly, as the couple is

walking arm in arm. This

is done with a soft pencil

so it can be erased after

the ink has been drawn on.

t

Step 2

Using the pencil, I sketched

the details of the figures.

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PREPARATION

For this painting project, I planned a painting based on

a waterside street scene in Venice (above), but wanted

to populate it with figures in the mid-ground and distance,

and with a feature couple in the foreground. As the focus

of the painting, this couple became the subject of some

study beforehand and was sketched first with a little

more detail using the line and wash style.