A realistic painting captures a moment of life on the canvas.
Painting a realistic picture is something most beginning artists strive to achieve. A realistic painting displays the skill and craftsmanship of the artist. Creating a realistic painting may seem like a daunting task at first, however, by breaking the process up into small goals and steps, the artist can create a realistic image without becoming overwhelmed.
Create Your Line Work
Start your realistic painting off with very detailed line art on your canvas. Every project needs a solid foundation and the solid foundation of a realistic painting is highly detailed line art. Draw this on your canvas using a soft pencil. Be sure to draw out small details such as wrinkles and small folds in the flesh or clothing of your subject.
If you are drawing an animal, for instance, be sure to draw the outline and shape of the animals fur. If you are drawing clothing be sure to draw each fold of fabric as these details will all catch light shadows, and a realistic painting needs to take this into account.
Add Base Colors Before Details
Add your base colors to the painting. These colors should be the simplest hues of the painting. You are essentially creating separate sections of basic colors so that you have something to build upon later. Make sure to add all your basic colors. You can decide what your base colors are by looking at your reference and picking out the most dominant colors in your painting. Apply these to your canvas with bold strokes. You can refine the details later.
Adding Light and Shadow
Add highlights and shadows to the painting. Don't be afraid to use slightly different hues for these highlights and shadows. For instance, if you are painting dark fur or clothing, you could use a blueish gray as a highlight.
Keep in mind what direction your light source is casting light when adding highlights and shadows. If a light source, such as the sun, is casting light from the upper left corner of your painting than the brightest areas will be the upper left of the objects in your painting. When you are considering this, keep in mind that each component of your painting should be considered separately. For instance, the nose, cheeks and lips of a person should all be considered separate objects when adding highlights and shadows. However, you also must take into consideration how the objects play off of one another. For example, the nose of a figure could cast a shadow on the cheek. Be sure to blend these hues together smoothly by slowly pulling some of your highlights and shadows into your base colors.
As you work in the highlights and shadows, move to smaller brushes to add smaller details of light and shadow. These smaller strokes will help to add realism to your painting.
