PREPARATORY STUDIES

Tempted to just get started on a final painting straight away? ROB WAREING shows you why completing a single-session study first can enhance the finished work

- ROB WAREING

This project will walk you through painting a preparatory study – that is, a painting to prepare you for a more complete painting. This study is what I would typically aim to produce in a single sitting and will provide many valuable lessons.

If you’d like to follow along exactly to practise, you can copy the charcoal drawing below – but I would encourage you to use your own sitter. You might also try painting a self-portrait, as this is a good way to study skin tone closely.

The proportional drawing you make on the canvas should not be too embellished but should take into account the angle of the head, its placement on the canvas, the width of the face in relation to its length and the positioning of the features.

If you are working from your own study or doing a self-portrait for this exercise, make sure that light and shadow can clearly be seen. You will see below that I have indicated the corner of the face in shadow, establishing that the light is coming from the left. Do bear in mind that the drawing will be totally obliterated with broad brushwork as you progress, so don’t get too fussy with it – see it merely as a starting point and concentrate instead on getting the skin tones right.

You will need…

•Brushes Filberts, sizes 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10; soft filberts, sizes 1, 2, 3 and 4

•Oil paints Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Titanium White, Raw Sienna, Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Yellow Pale

•Canvas

•Prepared medium (one-part dammar varnish, one-part stand oil, five parts turps)

•Turpentine or white spirit

•Glass jars

•Rags and paper towels