Mixed Media Drawing

For many artists it is natural to use layers of different media to achieve the artistic result they are searching for.
The process is different for each artist. These eleven artists each give us some insight into how they work.

Artists Who Use Mixed Media Drawing as part of their process

All images copyright of the artists
(click on images for larger views)

Wendy Brooke-Smith

Wendy Brooke-Smith tells us about her process:

“Drawing is a really important process in my work as a landscape painter. From initial quick sketches, photos and memories, I usually develop my ideas for paintings through a series of charcoal drawings in the studio. These can range in size from A3 up to 1.5m across (the full width of my Fabriano roll of paper). Sometimes I incorporate pastels or acrylic paint at the paper stage, either monochrome to concentrate on composition and tone, or with more colour to explore mood and temperature combinations for the final outcome. My paintings on canvas can be either acrylic or oil, or both. Acrylic can be good for ‘asking the questions’ and oil for finding different answers!

I used to consider my preparatory drawings as just experiments before the real work of painting, but I now value them as important and integral components in the work, displaying a freshness and spontaneity which is sometimes difficult to capture in the finished painting. The drawings are certainly very popular with clients. My next solo exhibition will be in London in November at Gallery Different.”

Twitter: @WendyBSPainter

Jessica Gale

Jessica Gale tells us about her process:

“I vary my media from acrylic and oil paints, to charcoal, pastels and printmaking. I’m inspired by colour and the subtleties that light can produce. I enjoy mixing chalk pastels and acrylic paint, washing over them with water and watching them blend together. I feel that I’m evolving from a ‘tight’ painter to much looser. Whereas before I was obsessed with getting the exact details down, now I want to show the emotion and ‘feeling’ in a painting or a drawing. I am a traveler and wherever I have lived I have always felt the pull of nature, enjoying the opportunity to observe. I am particularly drawn to the contrast of calm versus drama that Mother Nature can bring, and the nobility and soul of all animals.”

Jessica is a student at the Heatherley’s School of Fine Art in Chelsea.
Jessica is currently exhibiting at The Strand Gallery in London, 23-29 March.
Twitter: @jess55gale

Siuan McGahan

Siuan McGahan tells us about her process:

“I work on wood and use an iterative process, using Photoshop to mock up scenarios as I proceed. Firstly, I do a photo shoot. I will often take up to 200 images. When I choose the image I want to work with, I take it into Photoshop. In Photoshop I work with scale and placement for the piece of wood I am working on. When I have the image placed and scaled, I print out a photo which I use for reference to render the hair and skin with prismacolor pencils. I then use oil paint for clothing and any accessories. I then take a photo of the picture at this point and take it into Photoshop again to play around with making a digital collage. Then I use ink, pencil, chalk, acrylic and oil paint and sometimes even gold leaf to render the completed image, using the digital collage for reference.”

Twitter: @siuanm

Teri Anne Scoble

Teri Anne Scoble tells us about her process:

“My work process is that, before beginning a work on canvas or panel, I will draw and paint my subject from life, using a variety of mixed media. Graphite, chalk, gouache, inks and watercolour. I prefer to draw on hot pressed paper (or brown paper as used in ‘Lydia with a Green Scarf’) as it provides a nice smooth surface.
My latest project is an eight foot oil painting of Edward Watson, Principal dancer with the Royal Ballet. I have a sitting with him this week at The Royal Opera House and will be going armed with my full kit of watercolours and pencils.”

Twitter: @TeriAnneScoble

Tim Diviny

Tim Diviny tells us about his process:

“Peacemaker Dismantled is an acrylic, inkjet transfer and ballpoint pen artwork on 30” x 40” Canford paper. To transfer the image of the dismantled Colt Peacemaker onto the paper, I printed it out on A4 pieces of baking paper. The sheets of baking paper are very slippery and by themselves don’t go through the inkjet printer without jamming or simply not going through at all. I discovered if I lightly sprayed the baking paper onto a sheet of photocopy paper with removable spray adhesive I could get them printed out without hassle. I’d then carefully tear off the baking sheet and quickly rub each down each part of the image onto my large sheet of paper, while the ink lay wet on the baking sheet. I then filled in the image and got it nice and black by drawing over it with a black biro. Before painting, I sprayed on fixative so the water-based inkjet pigments wouldn’t react with the acrylic paints, then masked off areas with sticky tape before painting with fluorescent paints and black. I’ve since discovered you can paint a layer of acrylic matt medium over a drawing to protect it from any water-based painting.”

Twitter: @timdivinyart

Alice Sheridan

Alice Sheridan tells us about her process:

“As an ex-graphic designer I like a degree of precision within my work; the direct control I can have with a coloured pencil through pressure and change of direction. All my work starts from location drawings in my sketchbook and sometimes I need to make fast notes for myself about colour. Although I tend to use line drawings instinctively, I found that using watercolour is the quickest way to cover areas, although sometimes it doesn’t give me the intensity I need. I’m also impatient so while I’m waiting for it to dry I began to use coloured pencils to draw back into the areas of wet paint. What I’ve found is that this mix gives me something unexpected and a new, more abstract, starting point once I’m back in the studio.

I prefer to work on a hard surface so the Jackson’s plywood panels are ideal as this gives a good resistance if you want todraw back into the painted areas. Sometimes I include elements of collage but moving between paint and a drawn line gives a liveliness and playfulness that I like to keep.”

Alice has written a great article on her blog about Mixed Media drawing.
facebook.com/AliceSheridanArt
Twitter: @AliceJustAtHome

Mia Pelletier

Mia Pelletier tells us about her process:

“As far as process, it’s literally all done randomly, if I think something will look cool in a picture I’ll use it. If you look at my page you will see a post yesterday that is an example of it. My process is basically something comes to mind, look for reference photos often, layout in pencil, and then off I go with whatever medium I think will work. The Madonna icon was actually a commissioned piece specifically, but I chose the gouache because I’d never used it before.”

Facebook: Mias-Art
Twitter: @danmia123

Too Creative

Artist duo Anna and Ricky of Too Creative tell us about their process:

“Our preferred mediums at the moment are Derwent and Faber-Castell pencils and Liquitex inks. These inks are acrylic drawing inks and they are fantastic as you can achieve great and differing results by altering the techniques used. Sometimes we go for the softer watercolour effect and sometimes for the more graphic effect. It makes our artwork very different from each other, and gives it great variety.

The process will start with a design from #TooCreative artist Ricky. He will normally work on a computer and do his design work digitally. We then sketch the design with pencils and turn it finally into a Liquitex and pencil mixed media drawing. Sometimes it is #TooCreative artist Anna’s artwork at other times Ricky’s. We work together, and we truly love what we do!”

Twitter: @smolander_anna and #TooCreative
Instagram: @smolander_anna

Mandy Hunter

Mandy Hunter tells us about her process:

“My works are developed from sketches and photographs. I work up my drawing onto mount board as this takes the various mediums well. I work in watercolour for the figures and creatures. I then block in strong background colour in acrylic and finish off with coloured pencil to strengthen the image.”

Twitter: @MHunterart

Denise Laurent

Denise Laurent tells us about her process:

“It was a hot, sunny day and the crows were looking for food on the beach. As I watched them I was imagining the swirls of hot air flowing through their feathers as they banked and turned above the sands. To capture this I used watercolour on Fabriano Artistico rough watercolour paper. I love the texture it has. I put it on wet and splashed it around, then let it sit for a while to allow the colours to flow into each other. I used Schmincke Horadam Translucent Orange and Daniel Smiths Quinacridone Coral as the primary colours coming off his wings.

As the wet paint started to dry I worked in some watercolour pastels. I have Winsor and Newton watercolour sticks and Caran D’Ache Neocolor ll. This is a fun process as the pastels melt into the watercolour, you can smear them, wash them in, spray them or use them thick and juicy. You can build up quite complex layers over your surface, especially with rough textured papers or over interesting grounds like Golden’s Fibre Paste. When it had all fully dried I used thick strokes of Cobalt Turquoise across the wings to give me strong contrasting lines.”

Facebook: DeniseLaurentArt
Twitter: @DeniseLaurent

Jonathan Woodall

Jonathan Woodall has made a video explaining the uses of acrylic mediums. At the end he shows some close-ups of the texture in his work:

Twitter: @jwoodallartist

Draw on your paintings!

If you wish to experiment with different surfaces and sizes by preparing your own drawing supports or layering drawing on top of painting this might be just right for you. The ‘Draw on This’ Golden Acrylic Grounds Intro Set contains introductory sizes of six drawing surfaces: Fine Pumice Gel, Fiber Paste, Acrylic Ground for Pastels, Crackle Paste, Coarse Molding Paste and Silverpoint Drawing Ground.