Bryan’s 100 Day Challenge: Figure Drawing in Oil Pastels

[Bryan Mccabe]

Day 75. A few more hours work on this one.

[Joshua Jacobo]

Great work here. You’re really putting the time in.

Suggestion: Proportions.

You need to study proportion or at least observe and measure more carefully to cultivate your eye to detect what looks right.

For example here the head and neck appear too large compared to the body. Eyes appear too low on the head. Head is probably not deep enough. Proportion is not something you just learn it’s something you have to work at for years but some accuracy study could help. The Russian Course has a great section on measuring with knitting needles that would help you I think.

[Bryan Mccabe]

Day 76. I decided to use oil pastels today. Now I remember why I switched to oil paint. 

[Bryan Mccabe]

Thank you Joshua. I will work on the proportions.

[Bryan Mccabe]

Day 77. I worked on a charcoal drawing for a new self portrait. Not entirely done drawing yet, but it is too hot out to continue. 

[Ian Coltman]

Hi Bryan,

You have very expressive work and I enjoy your digital paintings in particular.

It seems like your traditional oil painting work is presenting an opportunity to explore the medium further in terms of the early process.

If you are looking for an easier/forgiving way to establish initial values in your paintings, I highly recommend that you go through Reilly Method Head Drawing: Unit 4 – Underpainting Demonstration with Mark Westermoe.

He demonstrates a centuries-old way to map tone early with a brush and a rag that is arguably easier to control than charcoal – and given the way you work with an iPad, I really think you should try it.  It will allow you to be more calculated with your expressive marks later on in the process without waiting for the paint to dry.

By the way… what app are you using for the digital work?

 

[Debbie H]

Hi Bryan. This is a nice composition. You’d know this but my thought is to keep in mind that your head is tilted slightly, so the centre line you’ve drawn is going to need to tilt to follow suit as it runs through the face. Then make sure the horizontal lines run at 90 degrees from the new centreline and the facial features follow those lines in parallel. Good work 🙂. So, back to oil paint? It’s nice you’ve found a medium you enjoy.

[Bryan Mccabe]

Thanks Ian. I’ll check out the Mark Westermoe lesson. I’ve watched a couple of his lectures, and really liked them. Right now, I’m feeling a bit bombarded by the amount of information I’m trying to absorb on both drawing and painting at the same time 🙂. I’m using Art Set 4 for my digital work. It is a really great app in number of ways, but it also has limitations compared to some of the other apps like Procreate.

Thanks Deborah. I will spend some time checking measurements and angles tomorrow before I start painting. I know some are a bit off. Thanks for the advice 🙂. Yeah, this will be an oil painting. I’m finding it much easier to get predictable colors mixing the oil paint compared to the oil pastels. The oil pastels involves a bunch more guesswork and mistakes can’t be corrected as easily. I think I will keep using oil pastels, but more for sketching and not finished paintings. I might try using soft pastels at some point as well.

[Christopher]

Hi Bryan,

I really like that you can see a constant improvement in your work. I really wish I also could give you more suggestions but at least I can visit your thread from time to time and remember you about how fascinating it is to see how you progress while learning so many things at once 👋

[Bryan Mccabe]

Day 78. I measured for quite a bit this morning, and ended up with a confusing bunch of lines on the page, so I decided to ink my best guesses, and go from there. 

[Bryan Mccabe]

Thank you Christopher. I’m feeling the joy and the aggravation at the same time 🙂

[Ian Coltman]

Hey Brian… I see you tried the Rubens underpainting technique… Nice!  If you continue to define shadow with a few wash coats of raw umber – very thin fast drying heavily diluted coats… I suspect that you will be well-poised to bring out your signature heavy artillery toward the end.

All of this is best done in a single session so that you can wipe back with your rag if necessary… I was taught the process without linseed oil… turp or mineral spirits work fine.

Also, if you don’t already, make sure you wear the appropriate hand protection when handling solvent soaked rags.

I’ll shut up… can’t wait to see where you go with this.

 

[Bryan Mccabe]

Day 79. I had a very busy day today, so I didn’t get to do much. I played around with the art set app testing out different colors for my portrait a bit, but that’s about all. 

[Bryan Mccabe]

Thank you Ian. I was using burnt sienna instead of raw umber because I read that it was better for higher key paintings, and I wanted to avoid a lot of darks like in some of my previous paintings. I was planning on going pretty light for the background on this one. Do you think I need raw umber, or could I just more burnt sienna for the darks? Thanks for your input 🙂

[Ian Coltman]

Hi Bryan,

I love where this is going!

As for the color… that’s a personal choice… when I suggested raw umber, it was for drawing purposes only and not for top layer finish… what’s important here is that your underpainting provides utility and direction for when you lay on the thick stuff.

[Author]

Posts