I thought I knew Degas' work quite well. Over the years I have returned again and again to his vast collection of drawings and paintings to look for new of ways understanding how to depict the moving figure. Then I was asked to write 'Paint Like Degas' for Ilex Press (now Octopus Books) and I found I had to look closer and harder if I was to be able to explain some of the master's methods. Here are 3 of ten things I learned in the process :
1. Draw plenty of lines to start your drawings (or paintings). Degas was famously advised by his master Ingres to 'Draw lines young man, plenty of lines'.
Try either a thin stick of charcoal gently searching for the best flowing lines to describe the figure - or dilute oil paint doing something similar with a thin sable brush on a prepared canvas.
2. Work on a tinted surface - off white paper for pastels and a mid-tone ground on canvas for oil paint. This allows both lighter and darker colours to stand out, particularly when they are opaque (as chalk pastels, or thicker oil colours are).
3. Build up colours in broken layers - Degas' innovative use of chalk pastels was characterised by hatched/scribbled broken layers of colour. When he returned to oil paint he emulated the pastel style and layered his colours in a similar way - sometimes scraping down a wet layer into the weave of the canvas, allowing a second layer to be floated on top.
4. ...coming soon...
1. Draw plenty of lines to start your drawings (or paintings). Degas was famously advised by his master Ingres to 'Draw lines young man, plenty of lines'.
Try either a thin stick of charcoal gently searching for the best flowing lines to describe the figure - or dilute oil paint doing something similar with a thin sable brush on a prepared canvas.
2. Work on a tinted surface - off white paper for pastels and a mid-tone ground on canvas for oil paint. This allows both lighter and darker colours to stand out, particularly when they are opaque (as chalk pastels, or thicker oil colours are).
3. Build up colours in broken layers - Degas' innovative use of chalk pastels was characterised by hatched/scribbled broken layers of colour. When he returned to oil paint he emulated the pastel style and layered his colours in a similar way - sometimes scraping down a wet layer into the weave of the canvas, allowing a second layer to be floated on top.
4. ...coming soon...
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