2DArtist — April 2017

2DARTIST MAGAZINE | ISSUE 136

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will contain. My plan is to put the earth magic
scene at the back, to make the narrative part
of the painting more mysterious. Something
happens further away, but we don’t really
know what it is. We are just the observers,
like the Bedouin and his camel in the front,
but they seem to know more about it.

Some of the Old Masters, for example the Dutch
Renaissance artist Pieter Brueghel the Elder,
also used this trick. It makes the painting more
interesting and gives the viewer different ways to
read it. I really like it when the painting contains
skill and an interesting story; like a good song
that has a great melody and good lyrics.

04

Lights in the foreground: Now go back
to the foreground. Take a smaller brush
and start to set brighter colors on the camel and
the sitting Bedouin. In my painting the light is
coming from the right side and falls on the backs
of both figures and the sand beneath them. I
paint these elements in warm colors, as the sky
in the background has a cold and a dark color. A
bright and warm color will bring the objects to
the front and make them appear more important.
On the back of the camel I make a colorful seat.

I think it is important to learn how to use light and
dark contrasts and also warm and cold contrasts.
You can make things come to the foreground
if you set more contrast on them, so add lights
and shadows. You can also make things go to
the back, if you make the colors colder. I will
show this in the next step with the background.

05

Background, mountains and skies:
To make the desert appear wide
I create a mountain chain in the back. The
mountains also underline the main rock, where
the magic takes place. I keep the background
in cold, dark monotone colors, but because of
this the figures and shapes in the foreground
need more work. I also don’t want the sky
to be too simple, so I give the clouds some
more shape. To do this take a wide brush
and make some fast strokes, not forgetting to
keep all your elements on different layers.

I also correct some parts of the magic rock. Try to
work in every part of your work; don’t concentrate
too much on the figures and elements. The
painting has to grow from all sides at once.

Start coloring the shapes with your key colors

Set lights on the shapes in the foreground

Create the background with cold colors, working on all parts of your painting simultaneously