Anyone Can Draw a Figure

Anyone Can Draw a Figure

In this short workshop I will show you how to create a Fun, Colourful Surf Babe Painting
We will be playing with layers of colour and pattern to create a wonderful tropical coloured background to draw our figure on.
Remember to keep everything fluid, confident and with lots of positive energy!

DESCRIPTION OF LESSONS

First thing we will do is have a little play time to create a splashy underpainting on which to draw the figure.
We will be trying to incorporate this colourful splashy background into the figure.
I start with the Pyrole Orange and drip and flick the paint around. Use the hairdryer to create ‘fingers’ of paint across the surface.
Just remember to let each colour layer dry completely.
Next i use the magenta,
Then the green gold
Then the azo gold
The last layer is turquoise and i use various stencils to create pattern and more textured layers.

The drawing phase.
I use a shapie pencil, which is indelible!..you may wish to use a regular pencil but try very hard not to erase any lines you draw. I do not even own an eraser!.
NB, if you use a charcoal or reg pencil you will need to spray your work with fixative before we start painting.
Remember it is ok to exaggerate the figure , this is a stylised figure so don’t worry too much about strict anatomy.

The painting phase
We want to save and include as much of the underpainting as we can here.
I start with the highlights and actually stop using the reference photo. Try and go your own way now.
After the highlights, i mix a bit of raw sienna with the white ti create a sandy colour and go round the figure again, creating some shaping and value..i am not blending, but layering the colour. I add a tiny amount of red to warm up the body and work round the figure again.
With the face we won’t do any detail, but just create the idea of a highlight with white.
Then with that white on our brush just go round to brighten up some of the figure highlights.
With the turquoise we can start to block in some of the background to make the figure more prominent BUT do not block out all the wonderful colour and pattern we created.
Finally i love to go into the painting with my Stabilo mark all to re define some lines, add new lines even words and phrases.

MATERIALS

Below is a list of the supplies that I will be using for the projects in this course.  However, you are always encouraged to use what you have on hand.

An A3 sheet of suitable paper (i use water colour paper)
Masking tape
Selection of stencils
Selection of colours, i use fluid acrylics but you could use inks or watercolour paints etc
I used Pyrole Orange
Quinacridone Magenta
Quinacridone Nickle Azo Gold
Green Gold
Turquoise
Titanium white
Raw sienna
Pyrole red
All by Golden but of course use what you have to hand.
A brayer and /or a squeegee
Water spray
Paper towels
Hairdyer
Foam roller for the stencils
Palette
Black Sharpie china graph pencil (amazon)
Black Stabilo mark all pencil (amazon)
3/4 inch aprox flat edge brush