May 19

May 19 Stop Coloring Everything. Try This Instead

Last week we looked at how foreground and background can add depth and focus to a drawing. This week we play with color again with intention.

The idea is simple but effective. Instead of coloring everything in, you leave one area blank and add color only to the other. That one choice changes the entire mood and story of your drawing. Color draws the eye, so wherever you put it, that's where the focus will be. It's a small decision with a big impact, and once you know it, you'll use it all the time.

In today's Draw Tip Tuesday video, I draw a still life again in two planes, foreground and background. I use the same approach as last week: shape by shape, no overthinking, just drawing what's in front of me. After about 10 minutes of drawing I add color to the background only, leaving the foreground completely colorless. Same scene, different story.

While making this, I thought about something that stuck with me after a recent workshop I took. Artist and sketcher Isabel Carmona said "three minutes is a lifetime for drawing, actually." That really is true. In class, she had us paint a scene in three minutes, then add the essential extra info in line, in another three minutes. It's amazing how much you can do in such little time.