What is an
"under-Painting"? Skip to next section
Generally this is a transparent "oil sketch" which is made
mostly with pigment and turpentine, and which remains underneath the
finished painting. It can serve several uses ranging from being a simple
composition guide; to being an integral background element visible in
the finished painting.. It may be a very rough sketch, or a finely
rendered image. It's chief value is in creating luminescence in the
painting, since light reflects through it from the back of the canvas;
and also for uniting color values in the overall painting by adding a
subjective dominant color key .
Under-paintings can be tonal, or color blocked. Here are samples
of 3 types of under-paintings, and then the next layer painted on
top in local color..
| Under-Painted layer |
Next layer painted on top |
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Tonal Ground
The entire canvas has a single transparent color evenly applied
(or as a gradient), showing through as the shadow color to the
painting. This creates luminescent shadows, and tones the entire
composition. The greens and whites were painted on top after the
brown layer was dry. |
| Under-Painted layer |
Next layer painted on top |
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Tonal Under-Painting
Contrast only has been painted with a single transparent
color. The white parts are not white paint: they are unpainted
canvas. This is what's important! The lightest areas show the naked canvas underneath.
Notice how much brighter these highlights appear as more colors
are applied. This method can give you very bright and pure top
colors and gives you a strong start on developing the form of
objects, plus uniting the painting with a dominant color tone. |
| Under-Painted layer |
Next layer painted on top |
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Color-Block Under-Painting
Contrast only is painted, but with the local color of
each object or area. This also gives you the bright highlights
and jump on developing form, but you can use color composition
instead of tonal unity. |
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Using
different hues for mood.
I was thinking of painting some kind of
"Swamp Thing" unfortunately it looks like someone caught in
the woods without toilet paper.
That's what poor planning will do for you.
Choosing the hue of the underpainting should first
take into consideration the overall emotion to be expressed.
Second, it's good to think about how to color contrast shadows with the
rest of the color scheme to make the objects pop out
(which helps to create a sense of depth)
OR how to make backgrounds blend in such as foliage or background stuff
that you want to create an impression of, but don't
want to paint in detail.
| The previous tonal examples with the frog are painted with
Burnt Sienna, which is always a safe choice, and particularly
well suited for underpainting flesh tones. As a color near the
end of the visual spectrum, it works well as a shadow color, and
has a pleasant warm tone.
These next samples are of the bottom layer only -the
underpainting-. After this layer is dry you would continue to
paint local colors over most of it; but what remains or shows
through has a significant influence on the mood of the painting.
Other color examples:
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This is the basic sketch for the
canvas
When you apply paint as an
underpainting, don't use medium. Thin the pigment with
pure distilled Turpentine. As you paint
over in subsequent layers, this will lift off a
bit and blend seamlessly with the other
layers.
If you have an area that you KNOW
will remain exposed, it's best to first do a very
light tonal ground to get rid
of the stark white canvas. Then apply the under
paint with fresh medium and a brush
dampened with turpentine. This will bind the
pigment adequately.
If you use a lot of medium in the
first layers of a painting; you risk the outer layers
cracking and peeling off as it ages.
(read about binding in the Scumbling
section). |
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Cool transparent purplish- hues are
good for warm over-painted layers; Great for
the shadows in flowers, landscapes, and
lonely emotions This color is made from
Alizarin Crimson and Ultramarine
Blue.
A better color is a wine-red purple
made from 1/2 yellow ochre and 1/4 each
Alizarin Crimson and Ultramarine Blue. If you
add some white to that it makes subtle
Mauve and Rose hues that are very different
from the Sienna rose tones.
You will notice from mixing that
Cadmium Red really does not make any kind of
a good purple. Cerulian Blue also tends
to desaturate and grey the color out to a hue
that's really flat.
Blue tonal under paintings look very
cold, of course. |
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This is straight Yellow Ochre. Yellow
as an underpainting makes the climate look
hot. Ochre is preferable in under
layers because it has superior binding properties.
Yellow under-paintings also look
phenomenal for pottery and other still-lifes. |
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You can create different tonal areas
(this is not color blocking; where the color
matches the local object) Using
contrasting colors makes the composition dramatic
and often edgy. Using analogous colors
heightens the presence of objects, but
appears more stable. |
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This is basically a color-blocked
underpainting, where the colors match the
local objects. It's a quick way to
rough out the composition and basic color
scheme; if you find you don't like the
hue you can wipe off an offending color with
a turpentine rag and replace it.
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This was under-painted with Raw Umber
which is one of the best colors for
foliage backgrounds due to it's subtle
green-brown hue.
Some local color was painted in a
second layer on top. |
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