Welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday.
Here's your weekly dose of inspiration to build a creative habit.
One drawing at a time.
Brought to you by Sketchbook Skool.
Hi.
Welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday.
I got a question in, about how to decide what parts of your drawing to paint and color, and which parts
to leave white.
Well, I think it's partly an intuitive decision, but it's also a compositional decision and it's
about focus.
So let's have a look at one of my recent sketchbooks and hopefully I can explain a little how at least I
decide which parts to color and which parts to leave white.
Here, I started drawing the lady in the front.
I used a Pentel pocket brush pen and later in the drawing, it actually ran out of ink, but I like the
effect of it because that way, I could easily fill in the background without it being too much of a
focus.
Seems a little bit out of focus actually because of the soft brush strokes.
So as I was sitting there drawing, I noticed that the lady's shirt was actually in the same color as the
pillow she was sitting on so I thought that would be nice to use as a focus color for this drawing.
And then she also had some yogurt and red fruit in a bowl.
So I also painted that.
And as you can see in the back, there's a bunch of flowers.
It's not the same red but it also is a red and I think the repetition of that color really makes a balance
in this page.
I was focusing on drawing the people so I wanted to focus on those people in this drawing and that's why
I chose to color only them and leave all the other stuff white.
This way, you lead the viewer's eyes towards what you find important in that moment.
Here, I started with the plants in the buckets.
And from there I just drew the people sitting there, and it occurred to me that it looked so colorful
with all the different colors of shirts people were wearing.
So that's why I started to paint those different kinds of clothing.
Maybe also making some colors up so I could again repeat colors.
And I think the traffic sign and the outline of the tree on the left sort of form a frame.
That also steers the viewer's eye.
Particular here, the right page, I really chose to limit my coloring.
I just started drawing just to kill time as I was sitting in a bus.
I used a pen with gray ink in it and a lot of the interior of the bus was bright green.
So it made sense to me to fill in those greens quickly.
And then I also added color to the girls sitting in front of me because it seemed a bit flat.
Otherwise I could have also added a lot of shadows to the seats in the bus and all that, but I think it
would distract from the rest.
And still you understand what you're looking at.
I think you also need to leave a little bit to the viewer's imagination.
For this drawing.
I sat next to Inma Serrano, who is fantastic with color.
I tried not to feel intimidated while we were drawing the same view.
She actually started her drawing of this same view by putting big bright colored shapes on the page
and afterwards she would add details with line.
I did it the other way around.
I started with line, and edit some details and people in there.
And after that I quickly added some colors.
Just one layer to indicate the different colors and textures of the buildings.
When I sat down to draw here, I didn't really know what my focal point was but I was very intrigued about
the green on the water.
And obviously those birds were really liking it too.
So I just started drawing the boats and the green.
And the water of the canal is actually kind of murky and dark, so I considered painting that but then I
realized that the paper of this sketchbook isn't really great for watercolor and I would have
definitely made it too full and too muddy, and I'm actually really happy that there's so much white
space in this drawing.
Half of it is just white and it gives a lot of air and breathing space to the composition.
And I think that's what it's about.
About breathing space.
Here, for example, I love drawing my feet, especially if they're up on a lazy summer evening.
And our couch is green, so I painted the couch to, you know, tell the story of being a couch potato that
night.
And it really works.
I considered painting the clothing as well.
But I think with the hatching lines, I already indicated shadows and creases and it doesn't really
need extra color.
It's just extra information that this drawing really doesn't need.
Obviously, to this drawing, I did not add color.
If I would have done so, I would have only painted the row of people because that's just the focal point
already.
Here again, it is about repetition of color.
As you can see, I used the same yellow for the drink in front of me, the candle, the beer taps, and also
the curtains and the lights.
And that really steers the viewer's eye.
and that way you can tell your story.
If I would have also painted everything behind the bar and also added color to the bartender, where
would the focal point be?
At first I left this drawing black and white because I drew this while I was waiting for a play to start
in an open-air theater.
And when the play started, I just closed my sketchbook and enjoyed the play.
But then later when I looked at it again, I felt like it missed something.
So I added a watercolor wash to indicate how the evening was falling and it was getting dark and I think
it works.
It really gives a balance in this drawing.
I started to color the lady with the brown hair on the left.
And while I was drawing all kinds of other stuff, that guy in the foreground came and sit in front of
her.
So it seemed a little bit messy, but just adding color on her, and leaving him completely white, make
sense again.
He pops forward.
She's more to the background.
And it doesn't even matter that some of the lines just go through each other.
You still understand what's happening.
Again the background, I just left it all white because you know what's happening there.
It's a street with some cars, some trees, and that's enough.
Just those pen strokes are enough and the bit of color at the top of the page sort of frames the drawing
again, and it makes it more compact in a way.
So I hope this is helpful at all.
I mean, as you can see it is just deciding on the spot what you want your focal point to be.
What you want the viewer to see.
Maybe even steering the eye in a certain way through the drawing to tell a certain story.
You can do a lot with color.
And of course, it's fun to fill the whole page as if it was a coloring page and that can work too.
But sometimes white space can be a color to and it can be very important for breathing space and
bringing some air into your drawing.
I hope you try it out yourself.
Leave some white space for balance and composition and focus.
Have fun.
And I'll see you next week.