2 closed hands drawing12/25/2023 ![]() ![]() With the tonal value established, you have a dark, a mid-tone and a light. The rest will come together soon, and beautifully. You are chiseling away like the rough choppy beginning of a marble rock being formed into a statue. The initial paint strokes tend to result in a patchwork of a few colors, but if you’re refraining from drawing as you go and blending as you go, you will have a strong sense of Form. The tonal value of that section of whatever you’re looking at has that value because of it’s basic shape and how the light is defining it. In painting this way, lay in these initial brushstrokes with the same comprehension. Structural drawing is determined by comprehending the anatomy of the subject. Lay in the paint and build it all up as if you’re putting together a puzzle. Use your brush like a chisel, like a craftsman’s tool, like a knife. Look at that shape and lay it in with paint. Look at the shape of the mid-tone or the dark or the light. Lay in the paint like tiles for a mosaic. You have a drawing there already (if you followed along with the previous post) and that will serve as a map. Laying in these values, don’t concern yourself yet with drawing. Sometimes, however, I go immediately into the mid-range tones and work from there. ![]() In terms of dark and light, it is helpful to establish your darkest dark at the beginning in order to compare this to all of your subsequent value ranges. So, squint to see the basic color value, but never for the many subtle nuances of color. In this case, you are determining the Tonal Value with a very muted sense of color. When looking at your darker values and lighter values, consider the color in the same way. So this is my base and from here I darken down or lighten up as needed. And squint so you don’t get distracted by the numerous subtle nuances. Mix and mix again until you get it right. What matters is that you come to a color that is true to what you are seeing. You may come to a similar color with different paints and that’s fine. More to the point, I’m estimating a mix of Transparent Oxide Red with a bit of Viridian Green and a dash of Ultramarine Blue Deep. For example, in the image I’m referring to, the neutral color is a muddy reddish brownish sort-of hue. To establish the Neutral Color, squint your eyes down and determine what is it you’re seeing. I prefer to introduce some of the color immediately, but mostly the neutral color. There are some techniques where you would paint entirely in grayscale or monochromatic (“one color” for the Latin illiterate) and from there you would then introduce color based on the Tonal Value. Tonal Value means the difference between dark and light. The first step in painting is to consider the Tonal Value. The video for this can be seen on the post or on YouTube: How To Draw Hands (again, it opens in a new window). I’m working off the same image from my previous post. Learning how to paint hands will teach you much, much more. Painting consists of building up an image with tonal values, color and edges. Painting is not just coloring in your drawing. It’s important to frame in your mind the entirety whatever it is you’re about to paint. As for the Knuckles, just remember that there is always an invisible thread unifying each respective knuckle, and this will help keep your own drawn and painted hands having a sense of natural rhythm and structure. The Wrist Joint is the most important to understand because this is a section from where the entire hand fans out. The anatomy of the hand, as far as we artists are concerned, is made up of the Wrist Joint, the Knuckles and the straight sections between them all. I go into this more on my previous post How To Draw Hands With The Structural Method (opens in a new tab so you can switch back and forth if you like, or if you’re an obsessive multi-tasker like me). What matters is to have a sense for the rhythms of structure within how the hand operates. I don’t really know what those are and I don’t need to. How To Paint Dynamic Hands With The Structural Method Painting a realistic hand is made easy by understanding the basic structure of the hand’s anatomy and rhythms of hand operation.ĭon’t worry – this is not going to be a lesson in Metacarpophalangeal Joints and Lumbrical Muscles.
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