Demonstrations of Drawing and Painting Techniques Step by Step

These are demonstration posts of my drawing and painting techniques step by step with still shot pics and videos.

Pencil drawing

These are not how to draw or paint step by step approaches however but showing various ways I work on my own projects in step by step manner. More in-depth tutorials are available here.

The way I approach drawing and painting techniques step by step depends on different circumstances and moods I’m in. For example, if I had a model who is available for only one sitting, I would use more bold direct painting approach that doesn’t involve drawing or underpainting. Then if I’m doing more of a finished refined piece with multiple sittings with a very available model, such as myself for self portraits, I would use safe and slow approach involving developed grisaille as underpainting to be colorized afterwards.

But whether the subject matter is of a figure, portrait, animal, flowers, landscape, I don’t differentiate them and my changes in approaches doesn’t depend on the subject matter. This is because whatever they are, I don’t look at them as what they are but as forms, shapes, values, and colors. I don’t find it useful to learn to draw the figure and study anatomy, then learn how to draw some other subjects formulated for its purpose separately. I don’t find such approaches as versatile.

It’s more important to learn to see than to learn any painting techniques step by step in formulated ways involving how to make marks then onto other marks etc. How I make marks is flexible. Marks or brush strokes I apply are only pieces of clay that I daub on to build the sculpture. I approach everything I draw and paint this way where I’m basically clay modeling within 2 dimensional paper or canvas.

Formulated approaches can also be boring and make it look like all the others that also uses that same formula leaned at same school. Beauty of painting is in the spontaneity of making marks as you feel it and interpret it in that moment without having to stick with any formulated painting techniques step by step.

My demonstrations of painting techniques step by step comes in different stages as end results due to working exclusively from life and models sometimes not being as available. It’s still important for me that they are all of my same style whether they are finished or less finished looking. If one used painting techniques step by step where it’s starts from big to small building everything up at the same time, there won’t be a separation in styles whether it’s stopped at an earlier stage or finished fully till the end. Just like how it would be for a clay sculpture where you’d start out by throwing on big masses of clay then get more and more defined all around building it up equally. If the painter used rendering approaches where they’d render out small section then evaporate it out from there, could result in just unfinished rendering of stopped early. This kind of painter would consider it a separate style when they’d see a painterly work suck as an alla prima painting, when to the one who did that alla prima painting it’s just a piece that ended earlier. All valid approaches but just different.

I’m also using different medias for these posts. Sometimes pencil, sometimes charcoal, paints, pastels. I like to use different medias and not treat them differently. My painting techniques step by step would pretty much remain similar regardless using watercolors or oils for example. If you use specific methods that works only for certain media such as the glazing method for oil painting, it could make you struggle adapting to different media. My painting techniques step by step would show that I treat media’s the same way and mix the paints the same way whether it is with oil, watercolor, acrylics, or pastel. I’d like to be a painter, not oil-painter, or watercolorist etc.

I’m planning on painting more flowers in the future because they are very pretty and can be more appreciated to the general audience. Since I paint models portraits of certain people, they aren’t really something people would generally want to buy and hang it up on their walls. Not that I paint to sell but it never to paint things that are also sellable. There are many painting techniques step by step showing how to paint flowers but again I’d treat it no different than any other subjects that I paint.

I usually like to record my demonstrations under time lapse but you will find some in actual speed if they are very quick sketches. I think it’s sometimes helpful to observe things in real time. I would usually indicate whether the video is in real speed or time lapsed in the descriptions.

Demonstrations are what I learned from most myself by watching my teachers paint. I’ve never really learned drawing and painting from verbal lectures or by reading instructions but by watching a good painter paint. Especially if he or she was painting the same as he or she would in the studio, not necessarily to show painting techniques step by step as demonstrations for students. You can get a lot out of seeing how they work as they naturally would naturally with their virtuosity and feel the energy. Same goes for learning cello which I’m also pursuing. I watch a lot of videos on YouTube on great cellists’ performances, really trying to feel out their energy as if I’m them. It is very helpful for learning. I suggest you to view my demonstrations here the same way and just relax and enjoy feeling it out. Feel free to ask me any questions.

I’d also love to hear of what demonstrations or subject matters you’d like to see me post. I usually draw and paint the portraits and figures but I want to try and paint what others want to see as well. To me, art is also about relating with audiences and their reactions and how they resonate with my work is important to me. It’s not priority as the artist shouldn’t main focus on doing what he or she is truly passionate about but audience appreciation can definitely add extra value to the art and the artist.

I must mention that some of the background audios you hear are indeed from movies and TV shows that I’m watching, on the ones that are in real time. Most of the times when I draw and paint I watch TV shows of movies. I wouldn’t enjoy painting as much without it. I used to not think it’s even possible to watch TV while painting but one day long long time ago when there was this movie rental place called Blockbuster Video, I ran into fellow painters who informed me that they are renting movies to watch while painting. Ever since I started to do that as well instead of just doing nothing else but sit there staring at the stupid box. I highly recommend you to do the same as drawing and painting actually can get boring sometimes and watching TV can be a good backup for enjoyment. You could even watch demonstrations of painting techniques step by step;)