I’m a firm believer in planning out your paintings and creating thumbnails before diving into a larger, finished piece. They are one of the keys to successful painting and being consistent. But, one of the more frustrating things about painting is when you take the time to do a thumbnail sketch, and then your finished piece just doesn’t have the same flavor to it. Some of that may be due to expectations and making the finish a bit precious and less spontaneous, but there can be another factor that leads to an unsatisfying result. You might have neglected to use the same proportion in your final piece. This completely changes the relationship between the shapes. This might not seem like a big deal but when you are painting larger all those relationships are magnified, mistakes and all.
So what’s the solution?
Properly scaling your sketch!
Happy Painting,
Marla
