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In 07 Mark will be offering a DVD "HOW TO PAINT DRAGONS" .
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FORMULA FOR PICTURE MAKING  

“I do a bale of sketches, one eye, a piece of hair. A pound of observation, then an ounce of painting." – Gardner Cox

Beginning artists think they have to envision the entire painting from concept down to the smallest detail within their mind’s eye.  If they can’t, they believe they are not creative or have no imagination.  There will be times when you will have a clear and complete idea as well as an understanding of how to achieve it.  More often than not, there will only be a rough abstraction or a small semblance of an idea.  This does not mean the artist is not creative, only that a few more steps must be taken to bring it into focus. 

An artist does not simply paint a picture.  They are built through a series of steps, each designed to build on top of each other clarifying the idea.  Envision a funnel with hundreds of marbles, each representing a small piece of the total idea.  In order to paint the best picture possible, an artist’s job is to refine all the marbles to one cohesive whole.

The steps are:

  • The development of an idea.
  • Research.
  • Thumbnail sketches
  • Composite/rough sketch.
  • Posing, photographs and gathering of reference materials.
  • Finished sketch.
  • Color sketch.
  • The final painting. 

Many practitioners preach style and individuality over fundamentals.  But how good is a good idea if you do not have the technique to pull it off?  An understanding of the formula of picture making frees your imagination beyond the limits and boundaries.  How to accomplish it is no longer a question.  Think now only of what you want to visually say.  Your imagination is a muscle, the more you use it and exercise it, the stronger it will become.