Thinking in Charcoal -The Use of Preliminary Drawings in Painting

The charcoal drawings I'm posting today are used as first steps in the painting process to develop the design and composition of a new painting.

They help decide what to put into a painting and even more importantly, what to leave out.

They also help to see how well shapes fit together in the composition and can be used to decide where values are most effective to create a successful final painting.

I don't always use preliminary drawings, but find them useful for certain paintings.They're interesting as a way of seeing the early stages of a composition. They're like windows into the artists mind during the creative process of developing a final painting.




Charcoal drawing for the oil painting "Summer Shower - Battery Park" (see below).




See post on July 25 for full details of this oil painting.










Charcoal study for a painting in progress titled "Shelter from the Shower" A painting of Live Oaks and the Band Shell at While Point Gardens.