Vantage Point: Step 2
In a painting with a more complex background, I would begin there, and save the figure until the end. This composition, however, is all about the figure, and the background elements are simple and, to some extent, incidental. In addition, the figure is almost always the most fun to work on. In any case, I am going to paint it first. The only drawback to this approach is that when it is time to paint the background, I will have to take extra care not to paint over any of the finished work. To keep a soft edge to the arm, I am painting a dark border around it, which I can blend into and then paint over later. I am using a fairly simple palette of titanium white, ivory black, burnt umber, cad red and a very small amount of yellow ochre. Because of the relatively large size of the figure, over-blending the skin-tones can give a plastic look to the flesh. To avoid that, I am passing on the fan brush and doing most of the blending with a round brush.
