Painting and drawing often go together. Many artists use a combination of both mediums. There are a number of techniques used for drawing and painting that work well in either medium or as a way to combine the two. Here are some painting and drawing techniques you can use to bring both your drawings and paintings to life.
Acrylic Paint over Charcoal and Graphite
Charcoal and graphite pencils are ideal drawing tools because they are so easy to manipulate. You can use the tip of your finger to smudge and blend charcoal and graphite to create deep shadows and textures in your drawing. Try doing a drawing in charcoal and graphite; then go over it with acrylic paint. The charcoal and graphite base drawing gives you a foundation to paint upon and stands out through the paint to create an extremely dense final painting.
Wet on Wet Painting
Wet on wet painting is typically used for oils. Wet on wet means you apply layers of wet paint on top of one another without allowing previous layers to dry. The technique of wet on wet is used to produce paintings at a quick pace because the usual extended drying time between layers is omitted. Be sure to layer your paint from light to dark because light paints blend well with darker paints when the darker paints are placed on top. Painting in this fashion will leave your painting with a soft appearance. Because you don't need to wait for drying, you can capture the image in your mind while it's fresh.
Charcoal Impressions
Many sketch artists find it hard to reproduce the impressionism of Monet's paintings. Painters can use color to achieve the look of impressionism, but sketch artists sometimes have difficulty capturing the look. Impressionism does not rely on detail as much as light and the absence of hard lines. This makes charcoal an ideal tool for sketch artists who want to bring impressionism into their drawings. Charcoal can be used to blend various shadings to create shifts in color and light.
Slinky and Crosshatching
These two drawing techniques are similar but produce different results. Moving your pencil back and forth in a rapid motion is using slinky strokes. The effects vary depending upon how soft or hard your strokes are. The crosshatching technique combines the slinky with varying directions of strokes. Again, soft and hard pressure produce the results you want. Both of these techniques are essential for depth and color in pencil sketches.
