Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Tracing paper

A very good trick for getting an accurate drawing before you spend hours on an oil painting only to realize your initial drawing was way off: Do the drawing on tracing paper, then pull out that page and put it under the next page. Trace the lines that are correct then remove the page and do the drawing again. Repeat this process over and over, maybe 5 times or more if needed. Each time you should be able to tighten the drawing and get much closer to the correct proportions. This is the 3rd try at this drawing, the first was not nearly as close but I like this one. Actually the second and third were very similar, its a great exercise and you will get better as you do it.

I plan to paint this soon(I hope).

9 comments:

Ben Hatke said...

Nice tip! I did something similar once but your method looks like it would give a tighter drawing to paint from.

I wandered over here from the US Mint of all places. You do good work and have a nice style!

Mary Bullock said...

What a great idea! Saves time and paint.

Giulio De Vita said...

simply terrific!

best regards
Giulio

Unknown said...

That's a cool trick and great way to practice!

oliver said...

Excellent tip. Just a question, how do you transfer the drawing from the paper to the canvas?
Thanks

David Malan said...

Thanks all,
Oliver, I often scan it then print it out to the desired size. Then I will tape it on and use transfer paper to get it on the board.

Soluto said...

Cher Monsieur,
Je reviens régulièrement sur vos pages car je trouve vos dessins et tout votre travail absolument extraordinaire de justesse et de sensibilité... Voilà... Je voulais juste vous le dire...
Bravo!!!
Soluto

David Malan said...

Soluto,
merci beaucoup!

Lance Rubin Fine Art Prints said...

That is a great idea!! But.... you have problems with proportion? HAHAHAHA... doubt it...