Sunday, April 23, 2017

Seven Minute Silhouettes

At Spectrum Fantastic Art Live here in Kansas City, we had a fun time talking about portable sketching setups. 


Then I did a quick demo of a quick paint-sketch technique, thanks to two volunteers who stood looking at their cellphones.


We set the timer for 7 minutes, and I limited my gouache palette to yellow ochre, perylene maroon, and ultramarine blue, plus white. I quickly sketched in the figure with a watercolor pencil. Then, using a synthetic round brush, I painted the silhouette as directly as possible.

Seven minutes were up in no time at all, but that's pretty much all the time you'd get in a real-world situation.

5 comments:

Timothy Bollenbaugh said...

Mr. Gurney:

Harold Speed's "Vast themes seem best expressed in simple terms", and Disney's letter to Don Graham concerning prioritizing the Silhouette and then attending to contents, and also an exercise in writing a description in direct terms...all these together have helped me to more firmly grasp that point concerning illustration and writing in the arts, sciences, and humanities. Many thanks.

Tim
bollent@wwu.edu

orchidartist said...

I'd be interested to know what you recommend so far as equipment for field sketching. I'm new to this! Thank you!

James Gurney said...

Orchid, please check out a previous blog post called "Watercolor in the Wild Materials" and there's one on gouache materials too, with loads of info.

Tim, yes, exactly. Most of my painting procedures start with the search for the simple statement, with details elaborated later, and as you suggest, that prioritization of big to small is at the heart of good writing and other creative strategies.

essay best said...

I was also the part of Spectrum Fantastic Art live. It was one of my best expereince. You did your best by accepting the seven minute challenge. You portrayed a picture which i cant do it in even 7 hours.:p You have real guts man

Howin said...

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