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painting from a
black-and-white photograph
The advantages of painting from old black-and-white photos is that the images are simplified into dark and light values, with few or no halftone details. Halftones* can be confusing when painting from life or color photos. Sometimes they suggest a dark and sometimes they suggest a light.
All good drawing depends on comparing the correct placement of one shape in relation to other shapes. Never think of a shape in isolation. It's all about the relationships of shapes, edges and colors.
Sometimes you'd like a bit more information than a black-and-white photo has to offer, but the advantage is that you also won't be confused by the detail in halftones. Simplify and combine different parts of your subject that are in shadow. Simplicity is our goal.
| * Halftones - These are transitional values that act as a bridge between a darker value and a lighter value. Halftones can be very troublesome. Sometimes they look like shadows, but they may be fooling you. Squint to make sure you see actual shadow shapes. If in doubt, always assume that a midtone is closer in value too your lights. Never make a midtone closer to your shadow. |
Demonstration in Watercolor by Charles Reid
Study the photo, noticing how many darks merge with adjacent darks. Try not to think of painting a horse and two men. Instead, look for shapes of lights and darks. Look for cast shadows and other shadow shapes. They'll be the foundation of your picture.
Look for definite hard edges. They are easy to see in this photo. Softening edges take practice. If an edge appears definite in the photo, leave it hard in your painting rather than fussing with it.
Look for the lost boundaries between different "objects" in the photo. Notice that you can't see where the underside of the hat ends and the face begins in the center figure. If you can't see a separation between the saddle blanket, saddle and horse, don't imagine a separation. Let the horse's underside, blanket and saddle merge.
Paint the cast shadows on the ground. Apply the paint to dry paper rather than wet-in-wet to achieve hard edges on the boundaries of the cast shadows, but combine the dark parts of the horse's hooves, the man's boots and his companion's legs. Don't paint the horse's and men's legs separately from the cast shadows.
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Low-Country Friends
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1Sketch the Photograph
If you would like to use my reference photo (above), make a color copy of it.
Be sure to keep the heel of your hand on the paper. Draw very slowly, keeping the pencil anchored to the paper as well. After drawing the central figure, use him as the guide for drawing the horse's proportions. Draw the legs out into the cast shadows on the ground. Plan where you'll leave your dry, white-paper highlights.
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Make swatches like these before trying to paint the horse. Make sure you can paint a rich dark. Mix your different darks on the paper using whichever colors you choose. Your paints must be wet. Don't fuss with your brush. Get the right amount of paint and enough water so the paint can mix itself. I've used several color combinations. Try them all and see which suits you..
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2 Paint the Darks
Paint your darks around the planned lights in your drawing. Rinse and shake the brush so it's between damp and almost dry. |
3 Soften the Edges
Quickly, using single strokes, soften the edges of the dark shapes. Don't use a fussy brush; don't lift and dab. Keep your brush halfway down to the ferrule. Make one pass with your brush to soften. I restated my darkest dark with Payne's Gray, wet-in-wet. |
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4 Paint the Horse
You must paint the horse in one go. I leave bits of dry white paper to create highlights that help describe the form of the horse's chest, upper leg, saddle, bridle and trees. The dry paper highlights stop the wet paint from flowing out of control in places that definitely need to be kept light. Never paint a positive shape (the subject figure) without painting the negative shapes (the adjacent background). |
5 Paint the Saddle Blanket
Using Viridian and Yellow Ochre, paint the saddle blanket right over where the saddle will be. When you have two objects of similar value, or if the overlapping object is darker, paint the lighter object first. Don't worry about the boundary between them at this point. |
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6 Paint the Saddle
I let the blanket dry, then painted the saddle with Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna and Cerulean Blue. I allowed the colors to mix on the paper, leaving highlights of dry white paper. When the colors are dry, paint the dark separation between the front of the saddle and blanket with Burnt Umber. |
7 Start on the Central Figure
The underside of the hat brim and the head are in shadow. Merge the two adjoining shapes into one by creating a lost edge between the two shapes. |
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8 Paint the Hat and Face
Continue painting into the face (review the skintone swatch above). I've left white paper for the top of the nose and chin. In the photo, the nose isn't out in the light, but I thought the face would have more form with a lighter nose. You need to use plenty of paint so the underside of the hat brim (Cerulean Blue) and scarf (Viridian, Ultramarine Blue and Mineral Violet) can blend with the face without a watery bleed. Immediately combine the hand with the Ultramarine Blue cast shadow. Always use darker colors directly from your damp paint supply wells. Don't mix paint with water in the mixing area. Paint the hat with Cerulean Blue and Raw Sienna.
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9 Add Clothing and Boots
See the variations of the central figure's colors in the swatch and find them in the man's tan suit. Allow the colors to combine and mix on the paper. Think of his suit as a color swatch with a specific shape. I used Cerulean Blue and a bit of Raw Sienna in the shirt.
The boots are Burnt Umber and Cobalt Blue or Ultramarine Blue. I painted wet-in-wet, but left dry white paper for the shine on the boots. Also, leave a bit of white in the top of the left boot to hold the edge. You'll need to do some softening in the boots, but make sure you save white paper highlights.
I painted wet-in-wet in the left leg, then waited for the initial wash in the clothing to dry before adding darker details wet-on-dry.
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10 Paint the Right Figure
Be very careful to paint a descriptive shadow shape under the hat of the figure at the far right. Keep the light parts of the face dry white paper. Keep the tip of your little finger on the paper to steady your hand. You should be able to see the tip of the brush. The brush handle will be pointed up at about a 45-degree angle in relation to the paper. I like to work in sections when I'm painting darks in a fairly large section, as in the man's suit. I find places to stop where there is a definite light boundary. Never stop painting a dark--or any value area when it's partially finished; otherwise you'll have value "break-ups" with awkward contrasts within an area that should be a single value with color changes. |
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11 Finish
Every painting should have about one half of the edges lost and one half found or hard edges.
Most of the middle darks and darks are mixed on the paper. Use areas of pure color in your darks. Every value area or object should have an "escape route" where there is a lost edge that connects that shape with adjacent shapes.
Here is an enlargement
Low-Country Friends
by Charles Reid
Watercolor on 140-lb.(300gsm) cold-pressed paper
Visit Charles Reid's Website
This demonstration is from the book Charles Reid's Watercolor Solutions and is
published by North Light Books, an imprint of F + W Media, Inc. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.
See the full listing for Charles Reid's book at Amazon
Artwork and Text Copyright 2012 by Charles Reid. All Rights Reserved.
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