The process I will be talking about today is the process I use for my abstract art. Although I have been creating for as long as I can remember, I have only been creating abstract art for a couple years. Luckily my art experience has helped me develop a process that is effective while remaining expressive. There are three major steps to creating that I have found: 1 prep 2 work 3 revise. This method can be easily transferred to many art forms yet this post will be customized to my abstract work.
Prep
I find the first and last steps are the most likely to be forgotten. To prepare for creating a piece I will find at least one image per piece I am going to create (when creating abstract art I will often work on more than one piece at once). These images inspire my shapes and color pallets. I prefer to use free stock images as to avoid copyright infringement, though, since I render each images to shapes and often use multiple images for color pallets it's not necessary (my favorite site is Pexels)
The next step to prep is to gather my supplies. My abstract art is most commonly watercolor mixed media pieces. I enjoy having all my supplies and colors fully visible and at the ready.
My supplies include;
watercolor paint
gouache paint
acrylic paint markers
India ink based pens (I use the micron brand)
pencil's (both colored and graphite)
mixed media paper (I prefer a heavy paper as it takes paint better)
paint brushes (variety in size and texture)
water (to clean brushes)
tissues or paper towels (for mistakes)
Work
The work stage is when most of my planning comes together. I will start by blocking out the large shapes from my images in paint. From this basic state I can start to visualize color pallets and compositions for each piece. My color pallets can begin to form during both the prep and work stage as I will often be inspired by both shapes and colors. Once my basic shapes are dry I’ll start to go in with paint pens and gouache to add some expressive marks and layers. I will work at this step until I am satisfied with the balance of the piece. This step will make the painting look almost complete though it won’t be perfectly polished at this point.
Revise
I find this step is the most likely to be overlooked by creators. Once the painting is bone dry (if it is not the pens will bleed) I will begin to go in with my micron pens to add the detail. If I have a main subject in the painting the color block will be given its final shape. This is when I will take a step back from the painting and look at how to polish the piece. At this time I will often add outlines, dots, cross hatching and many other pen techniques. If I blocked out my shapes with a pencil before painting in my basic shapes I will erase the left over marks now. Last but not least I will sign and date my piece (I like to date my art to see my improvement). This stage can vary in length depending on how much of the finishing details you are wanting to add.
This structure for creating helps me to think in layers which is very handy when painting. I created this model to be flexible to fit a more intuitive art style. As always my art is meant to be fun and I hope you are able to create some beautiful pieces and have a great time using this method. If you make art using this method please share in the comment section below.
Kommentare