Figure Sketch in Oil

I’m continuing my work with the figure tonight by doing a male figure sketch in oil. I didn’t spend too long on this one, but I think it went well.

I was surprised that the drawing of this sketch went so smoothly. I was working mostly with form rather than line and blocked in the general placement of the figure quickly. From there I focused on modeling the light areas of the figure and trying to match the value and color as best as possible.

One thing I really noticed about painting from photographs, especially a photo that I haven’t taken, is the lack of color in flesh. I know for a fact when I look at a model or myself in the mirror I see far more indications of color than what I was looking at tonight. Most of the skin on the model tonight seemed to hover around an ochre color, and only in a few places did it go into alizarin and red.

Session Details

Session: 1053
Work: 886
Width: 10
Height: 8
Medium: Oil
Art Time: 2 hrs

Figure, From Photograph, Oil

Chris Beaven

I'm an artist on a mission to do at least 30 minutes of art every single day for the rest of my life and track that progress on my website for all to see. I'm past the 10 year mark and I'm still going strong. Now it's time to give back and help other artists create a life long habit of creating.