From Thumbnail To Finished Landscape Painting

[@karenwhite6140]

This video is really helpful! Thanks so much for posting this - and all your videos. I learn something new from every video you post!

[@philstarke.artist]

You're welcome Karen

[@lowslow3612]

This is great Phil! I love watching and listening to you. I will usually do 3 or 4 thumbnail sketches. I know of another artist who does lots more than I do, like 10-12. After I choose a thumbnail I like, I then do a notan study to really work out the lights and darks. I can adjust the composition if it isn't working for me. After that, I do a more detailed drawing and transfer that final drawing to my canvas. Then I make a monochromatic underpainting, like you did here, then continue with the painting in full color until it is completed. My process is long, but it helps me map out and rehearse the shapes and tones before beginning the final painting, and it gives me some really good references so I don't get "lost".

[@ronschlorff7089]

Sounds a lot like my process for doing wildlife or figure paintings, in the studio, where composition and Especially drawing are absolutely 100% essentials to get right, otherwise the finished painting will be ready for the scrap heap. LOL. Sounds like you are a studio painter of landscapes, where you have bunches of time to work. But for my landscapes, especially in the field, plein airs, where time is of the essence, and the light is changing rapidly, I'd be ready for a nap by the time I got to your 3rd drawing. And I'd also go back home with some drawings only, but no painting'! ;D

[@lowslow3612]

@@ronschlorff7089 Yes, you are correct, I have only done studio work so far. I just started oil painting last summer (2023) and am going to start doing plein air later this spring after it warms up. Plein air looks like a blast! Trying to find educational videos for plein air is how I came across Phil's KZbin. He's excellent at explaining and teaching.

[@ronschlorff7089]

You are doing it 100% right, get some "mileage" and "weight" under your belt as to length of canvases, and pounds of pigments. That's where you will learn to paint, anything, following the advice of good instructors like Phil, as you said. There is no hurry to go outside until you are "comfortable" with the medium. Then it will be a good way to learn a new thing that will only make your studio work better and your studio work will make the outdoor work better too, in the bargain. Also check out Eric Rhoades' vids, he has good guests on, including Phil a time or two. Good luck and happy painting!! :D@@lowslow3612

[@philstarke.artist]

Thats a good process!

[@gaildevaney6074]

Yes that helps. I don't have much time to paint so when time does materialize, I don't wish to waste it on other things - like sketching.....but you're absolutely right. It is a necessary first step in starting towards keeping one's painting on track, particularly for an impulsive like me.

[@philstarke.artist]

Glad it was helpful

[@ronschlorff7089]

Good one Phil, I never really do too much sketching in the field, maybe in the studio (prefer doing quick small color sketches, to work stuff out, say a 5x7, 6x8 before going "way up" to 8x10 or 9x12. LOL. I did do tons of them, pencil drawings, when I was primarily a wildlife painter; you simply Have to get the drawing right/accurate on those, and figures, otherwise it's an absolutely guaranteed failure for the painting. :D I dive into a painting, in the field, before the light and basic "reason" for doing the painting disappears. I have enough experience to know what works or not. And if it does not, then I just do another one. Never try to "fix" a sucky painting you've done, it will only get "suckier" in my experience. LOL. This is especially true for any compositional errors (the number one reason beginners' paintings fail). Also get rid of them, and as an old workshop teacher once said to us students, "Don't die with any bad paintings in your studio"!! LOL ;D

[@philstarke.artist]

Ha! good advice Ron

[@didgeridooblue]

Do you use the same approach of placing the dark shapes when painting a colorful sunset with colored clouds and minimal land mass?

[@philstarke.artist]

A sunset is much more simple, so a simple outline is all you need, too much burnt sienna wash might affect the color.

[@bonniemccarty6713]

Phil what size is your template for your 9x12 etc. Is it 4.5x6? Is this how you figure the correct proportions? I need to make up some to make life easier. 🙂

[@philstarke.artist]

Yes Bonnie, My 9x12 template is 4.5x6