Portrait Thumbnails

Portrait Thumbnails

Here is a peek at my sloppy thumbnails that I do before painting a portrait.  I spend more time if I have been commissioned to do a portrait, but if I am just painting for myself I am usually pretty anxious to get to the painting part.  As you can see, sometimes I get distracted or maybe I was on the phone and started doodling.  It is good to take advantage of the benefits that come from drawing preliminary thumbnails.... so I am going to try to focus next time and maybe do a little less doodling and a little more problem solving!

Thumbnails are a really useful tool before starting a painting.  Especially if you are able to spend a little more time working out the composition.  It saves so much time in the end.  Anytime you can prevent having to paint over something, it is a good thing!  The most effective way of using thumbnails would be to test out different compositions, different values and even the shape of your canvas or paper.  It's amazing how many different versions of the same subject can be created!  So, I would challenge you artists out there (including myself!) to experiment a little more with thumbnails and we will end up with artwork that is fresh, well planned and maybe a little unexpected!