Painting Composition: Sketch Design and Use of Life Studies

Abstract

The article presents the principles of a professional approach to the execution of a preliminary sketch and usage of life studies in educational and creative painting. At the crux of the analysis lie objective complications that professional artists and students of art schools encounter while transforming a small-sized sketch into a large format, as well as potential negative consequences of unnecessarily detailed composition design. It delineates major tasks (search for the composition layout, location of its center and general masses, scale ratios) that are to be fulfilled under an optimally structured preparation of the sketch. Fine art masterpieces are employed to illustrate the principles of developing life study material for the execution of the conceived painting project, as well as changes in work techniques (from life drawings to full-color life-based painting sketches), which are entailed by the change of artists’ goals and objectives in the creation of paintings pertinent to various periods of the classical European school of fine arts. Particular attention is paid to the prioritization of the idea and artistic imagery over the life study material, combined with the need to cultivate artist’s ability to visualize the composed work of fine art and successfully implement this visualization in the intended format of the painting, while preserving valuable emotional components of the artist’s work.