Bonus Download: Grab my free Color Theory Cheat Sheet. What is Color Saturation? Color saturation refers to how vivid, rich, or intense a color is. It is one of the three elements of color, with the other two being hue and value. Below is a saturation scale showing what happens when you take a vivid red…
A Closer Look at Bedroom in Arles by Vincent Van Gogh
Bonus Download: New to painting? Start with my free Beginner’s Guide to Painting. In this post, I take a closer look at Bedroom in Arles by Vincent van Gogh—a colorful depiction of his bedroom, with an awkward perspective, and the typical van Gogh style. Vincent van Gogh, Bedroom in Arles, 1888 (First Version) Key Facts Here…
Color Mixing and Application – The Ultimate Guide for Artists
Bonus Download: Grab my free Color Theory Cheat Sheet. Successful use of color in painting requires a thorough understanding of both color theory and color mixing and application. I wrote about the theory in a previous post. This post will provide you with everything you need to know about color mixing and application. George Henry, River…
The Bull by Pablo Picasso – A Lesson in Abstraction
Bonus Download: New to painting? Start with my free Beginner’s Guide to Painting. Pablo Picasso’s The Bull is a series of eleven lithographs created in 1945. It depicts the bull at various stages of abstraction, starting with a fairly realistic depiction and ending with nothing but a few lines. Pablo Picasso, The Bull, 1945 The first…
How to Paint like John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent (1856 – 1925) was a remarkable and prolific artist, having created over 900 oil paintings and 2,000 watercolor paintings during his life. You will notice that I use his work to illustrate many of the posts on Draw Paint Academy. In this post, I take a closer look at his work to…
Photoshop for Traditional Artists
Photoshop is a remarkable tool which can complement the work of traditional artists. I don’t claim to be a Photoshop expert, but I use it on an almost daily basis to help me explore compositions, identify colors, and alter reference photos, and so on. In this post, I will run through some of the ways…
A Closer Look at Ophelia by John Everett Millais
Bonus Download: New to painting? Start with my free Beginner’s Guide to Painting. In this post, I take a closer look at the remarkably intricate Ophelia by British artist and founding member of the Pre-Raphaelites, Sir John Everett Millais. John Everett Millais, Ophelia, c.1851 Key Facts, Ideas, and Subject The figure in the painting is Ophelia,…
How to Paint Waterfalls
Bonus Download: Before diving into this post, make sure you grab my free Landscape Painting Starter Kit. Waterfalls are a fantastic subject to paint, particularly as a study of edges, color, and movement. But they can be challenging, with all the twists, turns, breaks, reflections, and turbulence as the water crashes down through the rocks.…
Sir Winston Churchill – Painter and Prime Minister
Bonus Download: New to painting? Start with my free Beginner’s Guide to Painting. Most people know Sir Winston Churchill for his role as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945. But few know that he was also an avid painter. In this post, I take a closer look at some of his…
A Closer Look at Portrait of Madame X by John Singer Sargent
Bonus Download: New to painting? Start with my free Beginner’s Guide to Painting. Portrait of Madame X, or Madame X, is an elegant portrait by John Singer Sargent featuring a young socialite named Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau. Sargent ranked this as one of his best works, but it was also one of his most controversial.…
