Online Art Mini Lesson 22
Thumbnails
A student asked:

“I was looking over the thumbnail assignment. Are they painted thumbnails or are they pencil sketches of items I would like to paint?”

Both or either ..the idea is to plan your painting before you get involved in the details. You have to find your own way and as you develop as an artist, you will evolve your own personal steps to preparing to do a painting.

Two examples of how I thumbnail prep for a painting:

1. Here I did just black and white pencil thumbnails because I was working from a pile of photos I shot:

http://www.bridgemillartcenter.com/PaintingManuelsTavern.html

2. Here I show a couple of dozens of color thumbnails done before starting the painting:

http://www.bridgemillartcenter.com/Pescadou_Folder/Pescadou.html

Let’s say you are doing a still life and have an apple, a banana and a pile of grapes on a table.

Where do you put each one?
Where are each in relation to each other?

Where are each in their position front to back of the table …which nearer, which further back?

How are they lit? …from the left? …. From the right? … and so ... see below

You could answer the above and more questions by moving the fruits and lighting around and looking for the best arrangement … of photograph each arrangement and studying the photos next to each other … or you could sketch (thumbnail) different arrangements  …all three approaches are forms of “thumbnailing” but I find sketching my way to test ideas for a painting in black and white and in color… I usually do both.

The idea is to apply what we have studied already, form, drawing, light and shade, composition before we start a painting

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