When you want to draw an object with realistic volume, or mass, it helps to be able to “see” the underlying shapes that make up that object.
These aren’t complicated geometric patterns—basically, you’re just looking for shapes like circles, squares, triangles, etc, and combining them together to form the structure of your drawings. In the following video, David Kitler demonstrates how he does it:
You can also get David Kitler’s full-length instructional video at Creative Catalyst.
Finally, my "big project" is finished! It’s been a crazy day with a lot going on, but foliotwist.com is finally live and online! Since I’ve kept it a complete secret up until launch, here’s a quick (mostly visual) overview of what it does. . .read more
Getting more intense colors sometimes means using paint directly from the tube. Other times, it means planning ahead and actually layering transparent paint so that the light can bounce through and pick up more color on the way back. In the video below, David Kitler demonstrates some of the di. . . read more
In this short video from Creative Catalyst Productions, Carl Dalio shares some great tips on painting realistic figures inside landscape paintings. As you'll see, it's not about adding lots of detail in order to create realism, but simply creating shapes that "feel" like human figures. Carl st. . . read more
In today's video clip, watercolorist Donna Zagotta walks us through her steps for creating a strong painting composition. As you'll see below, she takes her initial sketch and then re-works it to reduce the overall number of shapes within the piece. The final effect is a much more cohesive, vi. . . read more
In today's video, Dale Laitinen demonstrates how he mixes natural-looking greens, grays, and violet for use in his amazing watercolor landscape paintings. Take a look: NOTE: You can get Dale's full-length watercolor DVD tutorial at Creative Catalyst.. . . read more
Stay current.
Subscribe to EmptyEasel's free weekly newsletter for artists. Sign up today!