Timelapse. Portrait on a dark background

Hi, friends!

What are your plans for the long weekend? Going somewhere, resting or working, planning to draw? If you are, I’ve recorded a timelapse with an unusual way of drawing — try this process on the reference provided, or take one of your own.

This timelapse shows the process of drawing with light on a dark background. We pick out the lit shapes, so to speak, and compose them against each other. The dark parts can simply stay dark, left unpainted.

The old masters used this approach when drawing under contrasty light in a dim room. The exercise is great training for working with masses, for proportions and for an artist’s sense of value.