New Year’s Eve: Step 2
After arranging a little photo shoot with the models, I used the resulting scrap to make this scale sketch. You can see that the buildings have been sized down to accommodate the firework display, and the pose of the figures has changed a little. It is very often the case that once I have models in front of me, I realize that the position of the figures in my original sketch is either awkward or completely impossible in the real world. I use the sketch to convey the basic idea to the models, and then get as close as I can to the correct feel of the pose. In this case, I think the final position of the figures is actually much better than the original. They feel more natural, closer and more intimate. Also, the difference in their height creates a nice diagonal in the composition.
The second sketch shown here is a cleaned up version that will be transferred onto the canvas. For this painting, I will use a grid to expand the sketch to full scale on paper. Then I will coat the back of the sketch with charcoal, tape it to the canvas, and trace over it like a giant piece of carbon paper. This technique works a little better that sketching directly on the canvas if, as in this case, the oil primer coat is quite smooth.
Tags: Bryan Larsen, New Year's Eve
