Underdrawing advise

Castillo

I seem to have issues viewing the white lines in my drawing, for some reason is not as easy to judge if something is wrong with It. I'm using the Derwent Pastel Pencil that's in the supply list and wondered if I will run into any problems, as when using a graphite pencil; if I switch to a darker DPP or do you think that I should just use charcoal.

I'm planning on making an underdrawing similar to this study of "The Trapper" done by David Gluck for my next painting but I'm not sure if this much pencil/charcoal will cause any issues once I start covering it with paint.

Any feedback or suggestions on what media to use for the underdrawing will be highly appreciated

Martin_J_Crane

I'm one of those who prefers to first do an underpainting with light and dark masses mapped out. It helps me judge my composition and I just feel that its more useful to me than just a line drawing. If I was doing something based on that drawing I would probably start with a grey toned canvas, put down a coat of darker grey, and wipe out the face (forehead, nose, cheek) with a cloth or q-tip. The idea would be to make sure that I have all of the light and dark shapes accurately rendered before continuing.

tjs

Please don't paint over this. It's beautiful. ^:)^

Martin_J_Crane

I don't think that's the underpainting, I think @Castillo is planning to do something similar to it.

Castillo

Thanks @Martin_J_Crane it seems that the method you described is the logical way to go although I was hoping to avoid an approach involving paint since my skills are nowhere near where I'd wished they could be. Will just have to start practicing after I finished James portrait.
@Kingston and @tjs wish I could take the credit but David Gluck is the one who made it for this painting

tjs

Kind of remember seeing this. Was this one of the finalists of the ARC comp a few years ago?

Castillo

@tjs he got the Bouguereau Award in the 2011-2012 salon