Putting People in Your Paintings

by Laurel Hart

Overview

Capture the essence of people in your paintings

Add a personal touch to you watercolors with 11 step-by-step demonstrations that cover people in a variety of scenes and situations. Award-winning artist, Laurel Hart, gives you the techniques you need to capture the living, breathing essence of people. Inside you'll find:

   • Tips for seeing the basic shapes of your subject using lighting and shading techniques
   • Easy methods for successful design and composition
   • Techniques for translating photographs into compelling, beautiful paintings
   • Complete instruction for placing people in settings including cityscapes, landscapes and interiors


Laurel guides you through the process with practical tips, chapter summaries and motivational "Hart-felt insights" that will inspire you to see the beauty of your subject and transfer your emotional response to watercolor. Putting People in Your Paintings gives you all the tools you need to make your paintings come alive!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440319761
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/17/2007
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	17 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Award-winning artist Laurel Hart has studied with some of watercolor's most famous names, and she's a signature member of the National Watercolor Society. Her work has appeared in countless juried exhibitions, as well as The Artist's Magazine, Splash 8 and Watercolor Discoveries.

Table of Contents

Introduction     8
Some Words in Parting     124
Index     126
Getting Organized     10
Supplies and setup
Maintaining a car kit
Using reference photos
Using a video camera for reference
Hart-Felt Insight: A painter's life
Simplify to Capture the Essence     18
Exercise: Figures are patterns of light and shadow
Exercise: Mass the shadow shapes to find the shadow pattern
Exercise: Use the shadow pattern to paint a good likeness
Exercise: Simplify: Use negative painting
Exercise: Simplify: Use a strong light source against a dark background
Exercise: Simplify: Backlighting helps unify your subject
Exercise: 9 ways to soften and lose edges
Use an underpainting to the your subject to the background
Hart-Felt Insight: You can best show truth by painting an illusion
Designing Strong Paintings     30
What is design?
Seeing good design and composition?
Viewfinders help determine format
5 classic compositions to sell your subject
The focal point, or center of interest
Where to put the focal point
Putting it all together
Hart-Felt Insight: Thoughts on finding your own voice
Value: 10 Ways to Get It Right     44
Use a ten-degree value scale
The foolproof way to paint shadow-side values
Identify patterns of darks and lights with value sketches
Work from black-and-white photos
Neutralize color to accentuate value
Squint at the subject
Create monochromatic paintings
Paint directly over a value sketch
Vary your valueratios
Place your subjects in strong light
Overstate your values in watercolor
Hart-Felt Insight: Value does the work
Color Mixing and Watercolor Technique     58
Set the temperature
Color combinations that work
The watercolor laundry method
Demonstration: Use the watercolor laundry method to create a painting
Keys to applying pigment
Demonstration: The pull-down technique
Hart-Felt Insight: Thoughts on finding the perfect medium
Painting People From Life     74
On-Location painting success
5 steps for painting on location
Basic figure proportions
Demonstration: Using the spontaneous method: Working from a model
Demonstration: Semiworking from life: Combining techniques
Hart-Felt Insight: Put life in your art
People as the Main Subject     86
Demonstration: Create dimension at the focal point
Demonstration: Create multiple contrasts
Demonstration: Use an unusual pose to add interest
Hart-Felt Insight: Shedding light on the main subject
Putting People in an Environment     100
Demonstration: Putting people in a landscape
Demonstration: Putting people in a cityscape
Demonstration: Painting people in an interior setting
Hart-Felt Insight: Paint what you see, not what you know
Paining the People You Love in Watercolor     112
Demonstration: Painting people from old photographs
Demonstration: Freezing the moment in your paintings
Demonstration: Put the people you love in your paintings
Hart-Felt Insight: To love what you paint, paint what you love