Considerations

1. ALWAYS CONSIDER A TONED GROUND

There are many benefits to working on a ground. One of these is increased painting or drawing speed. A ground covers a drawing surface from the outset. It can act as mid-tone, with only black and white used to apply dark and light areas (as in the examples below) or be left partially visible in the final work. This results in an artwork that is much faster to complete 

2. INCORPORATE MIXED MEDIA /PATTERNED SURFACES / TEXTURAL ELEMENTS

As with using a ground, patterned, decorative or textural items can cover areas of an artwork quickly. Although this strategy should be used with care, selecting only materials which support or enhance your project (usually with reference to a relevant artist model) this can be a great way to speed up your project and introduce creative use of mixed media.

: note: scott waters uses a floral collage and insets it into his drawings - carefully matching color

3. WORK ON SEVERAL PIECES AT ONCE

Working in series – completing several drawings at one time – is a very helpful strategy for Art students. This speeds work up for a number of reasons:

• A single tone or object can be used throughout a number of works, without needing to stop 
• While one work is being considered, another one can be worked on
• Similar processes or techniques can be mastered quickly and repeated on subsequent works

In addition, when working on several pieces at once, ‘preciousness’ about the work tends to be lost, leading to more experimentation and greater work speed.

The studio of artist Willem de Kooning

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These photos of Willem de Kooning's studio show several works in progress pinned to the wall and scattered across the floor. 

4. THINGS IN THE RIGHT ORDER - BACKGROUND AREAS FIRST

Rendering things in an illogical order is surprisingly common amongst Art students. In almost all cases, the background should be completed first, followed by the middle-ground, ending with the foreground.AS what I say Start from the outside and go inwards - by initially blocking  your drawing, deciding where to place things then draw the basic contour, then structure.  The details always go last!!

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5. USE MASKING TAPE TO CREATE STRAIGHT EDGES

Some students are concerned that it might be necessary to ‘prove’ that a straight line can be painted by hand. This is not the case. Your control of a line can be ascertained immediately by looking at the remainder of your painting. Masking tape creates straight edges in seconds. Once mastered, this trick can save you hours – and make your lines - esp. thick ones sharper, cleaner and more professional in the process. If you haven’t used masking tape before, buy some now!

in these - straight lines were created using masking tape.

6. LEAVE ARTWORK PURPOSEFULLY INCOMPLETE

Artist work is sometimes purposefully ‘unfinished’. Art students shouldn't feel obliged to ‘complete’ every item. There are many occasions when a fully rendered drawing is not necessary. Drawings, especially those in sketchbooks, can be left with edges trailing away and tone only applied to some areas. Leaving work unfinished is particularly useful when conducting visual research, exploring ideas and experimenting with media. Depending on your artist influences, this may even be appropriate in final works – as a way to draw attention to focal points and direct attention within an artwork.

Note: This should not be used as justification for avoiding homework tasks set by your instructor!

Jim Dine

Jim Dine charcoal tool drawings combine precise, analytical outlines (which fade away and are incomplete in places) with perfectly rendered areas and gestural, and expressive mark-making in some of the negative spaces left around the tools.

*sometimes less is more!!

7. OMIT PARTS OF A SCENE

Deliberately picking out certain parts of a scene to draw has a strong impact on the final work and must be used with care to ensure that the resulting image supports the ideas explored in your project. As with the previous option, this allows you to demonstrate strong observational drawing skills, while saving time by omitting part of the scene.

A graphite pencil drawing by Langdon Graves

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Eliminating certain areas of a scene is a dramatic measure that brings immediate focus to an artwork.

9. FOCUS ON LINE

There are many occasions where it may be appropriate for a student to draw using only line (it is often the application of tone that is time-consuming for students, so working exclusively with line 

provide a welcome relief). Blind drawings, contour drawings, cross contour drawings and other hatched drawings 

 can form an important part of your project.

Note: It is usually necessary to demonstrate an ability to apply tone at some point to examiner, so it is not wise to exclude tone from your project altogether.

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These works by artist Federico Infante contain a focus on line (in this case used to create residual after-image effects) with tone applied in certain areas only. This helps to draw the viewer in to the world of the central figure, so we share the emotion of this captured moment in time.

10. INCLUDE PHOTOGRAPHS

While there is a certain quantity of drawing that must take place within  Fine Art portfolio, photography can provide an excellent mechanism for moving a project forward at a faster pace.

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Photography can be used as a tool to develop composition, as in the beautiful AS Sketchbook pages above. Rather than ordinary snapshots of source material, the photographs here are complex digital manipulations, which help refine ideas and compositions.

In addition to helping with composition planning, photography can be collaged into artworks or used as painting ground. If the photograph remains visible in the final work, less paint needs to be applied, thus speeding up the art-making process.

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These artworks by Charlotte Caron show animal faces painted on top of photographic portraits. Note the clever unity of the colours in each image.

11. PROGRESS TO ABSTRACT (OR SEMI-ABSTRACT)

Producing abstract work is often the first solution that comes to mind for those who work slowly; students can be fearful that this will not allow them the opportunity to demonstrate strong observational skills. The solution is to produce abstract work that is derived from earlier realistic works 

 

This project begins with precise, meticulous realistic drawing, moves towards impressionism and finally abstraction. This allows a student to benefit from speed in the later stages of the work, while still having the opportunity to flaunt superb observational drawing skill.

Another equally successful strategy is to incorporate realistic elements with abstract works, creating a work that is part realistic, part abstract

13. BE MORE GESTURAL

Instead of artwork being a laborious process that grinds away for days, images can be created quickly, using rich, expressive mark-making. Those who have only produced realist, tightly controlled drawings usually take some time to adapt to this approach and not all students find it easy; selection of the right drawing tools and mediums can help. Charcoal, chunky 5mm wide graphite leads, Indian ink, big brushes and paint applied with pieces of card all lend themselves to gestural mark-making 

if you are looking for more ideas). Even if this style of working is not your preference and not something you wish to pursue, it can be useful to practise, particularly when planning compositions and drawing from life.

These stunning paintings by Jason Shawn Alexander have tighter, more realist faces, with surrounding areas becoming gradually more gestural and abstract. This is a superb strategy for creating focal points and creating rich, gutsy images that command attention.

14.USE DIGITAL MANIPULATION

Scanning existing artworks and editing and combining these with other artworks holds exciting promise for Painting / Fine Art students. Once a student has practised using image manipulation software (such as Adobe Fireworks or Photoshop) creating images and then printing them can be a very fast way to create amazing artworks.