Tonal figure painting

"Tonal painting" refers to a style of painting where small differences in hue and value (tone) are built up to create the illusion of form. Here are some nice examples from contemporary painters, Daniel Uribe, Martin Yeoman and Michael Borremans.

We'll continue to observe the relative contrasts of shapes and build these up gradually with hues from a reduced palette, that are very similar.

To do this we need to continue breaking down what we see into a series of inter related abstract shapes as we see them as forms (and not as a nose for example.)

Here's one I started that has too much invented colour creeping in already!

If you want to bring in an image of a figure to paint, make sure it has good shadows that define the form. Film stills are a good option since they have interesting lighting. I'll have a couple of options to paint from if you don't bring in a photo.

On another note, our second "Art for Research" exhibition opens in the Foyer on the 3rd of April. If you would like to support this by buying prize draw tickets please click the link. All proceeds go to Cancer Research UK.

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