I love
C.F. Payne's drawing of the great illustrator, Charles Dana Gibson.
One reason Payne draws so damn well is that he draws insatiably. Within the confines of traditional drawing, he never stops looking and exploring.
He fills sketchbooks with drawings like this of artists, writers, actors and others who interest him. Through trial and error he invents different techniques to achieve the results he wants. Here he employed an unusual approach:
1. Start with a solid drawing. It can't be lightly drawn because it must have enough weight to handle the next phase.
2. Roll acrylics thinned with water and ultra matte medium using a brayer. The ultra matte medium is what gives the added texture that allows the final phase to work so well.
3. Draw with colored pencils, adding acrylic paints as desired for whatever look you want to create.
Payne occasionally adds color with a palette knife incorporating acrylic gel medium to thicken it up for application.
Of course, the key (as with all things in life) is to "start with a solid drawing." But looking at the edges of the drawing you can see what the brayer, matte medium and colored pencils contribute.
His color combinations may seem unusual but the warmth of the colored pencil adds an organic feel to the cold gray/green midtones.
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| Subdermal warmth from an unorthodox colored pencil choice. |
But most of all, I love the opinions in Payne's drawing. These highly magnified details show Payne's editorial choices at work.
