Jack Painting Demo

To start, I made a rough drawing. Making dry brushed marks that are not fully committed to the location of shapes and edges. You can "sneak up" on more accurate marks later this way.

Blocking in the shadow shapes here. This is where the more committed drawing takes place. It's thin so there's still room for adjustments. Observing how the shadows are connected here.

Blocking in the background. The background is real simple, so why not get it all in first.

The full block in. Getting in all the basic planes.

From here you can move in for the placement of the features. Things still aren't fully committed yet to their location and size relationships. That's the great thing about oils, you can take a brush and move it around on the surface until it's in the right spot.

I haven't placed in my darkest darks or dark accents in the face yet or even my brightest brights in it either. I wanted the in between values placed first and then carve out the high and low values.

Jack
Oil / Canvas
9"x12"

The final painting. From the block in to the final you can see what was adjusted how the darks and lights were added to define the form more.

I used the palette knife to sharpen some edges. Generally, I'll work from thin to thick in paint and soft to crisp in edges. Although, it doesn't matter how you start your edges, you could start with all sharp and then soften them in the end.