After Rubens portrait underpainting

The old Masters often used an underpainting to lock in shapes and values.  One method is called a wipeout where you draw contours and and shadow shapes onto the canvas, then apply a thin layer of raw umber or burnt umber.  Using cloth from an old t-shirt you wipe out the lightest values first and then the other light and mid-tones.  You can add back in darks that got wiped out using a brush.  Below is a quick study I did after a portrait by Rubens.

Hands

Drawing and painting hands can be challenging but the expression of a hand can be extremely powerful.  They can say so many different things with a simple change in position.  They can show us the way, excitement, anger, frustration, openness, and when joined with another's hand love and friendship.  On the Figure Drawing and Gesture website you can find lots of pictures of hands to practice your drawing.  Here is my attempt at drawing and painting a hand that to me is expressing a point of view.

Prometheus Bound

A few weeks ago I was at the Philadelphia Museum of Art with one of my daughters and had the pleasure of seeing Prometheus Bound, one of the most amazing works of Western Art by Peter Paul Rubens.  Last night I felt compelled to sketch Prometheus where I could really appreciate Rubens mastery of anatomy, perspective, composition, and lighting.

Anatomy of back

Continuing to practice sketching anatomy of muscles.  In this case the back and arms.  The width of the shoulders is a bit short which points out how important perspective and constantly checking measurements are.

Anatomy of lower leg

I recently purchased the Essential Muscle and Skeleton Anatomy software by 3D 4Medical to practice drawing human anatomy.  It is really easy to use by zooming and selecting different anatomical parts.  Here is a sketch of the lower leg.

Bargue 38

Here is a sketch of Bargue plate 38.  It definitely helps to keep checking proportions and values. I was a little sloppy with my initial construction.

Master copy sketch

Here is a quick master copy sketch of a figure from Ruben's Martyrdom of St. Livinus.