Under Painting (confused)

[Matthew Severson]

You'll probably be shocked at how ignorant I am when it comes to painting portraits. I was looking over some of the posts Karin Wells put up about under painting. What is the point of painting an underpainting if you're going to paint over it? *laughs*

Okay, I sort of understand, you build up with glazes over that underpainting. I think.. But I'm just very, very confused as to how that is all done.

The whole underpainting thing confuses me.

Matthew S.

[Michele Rushworth]

There are a couple of main reasons why people sometimes use an underpainting. One could be, as you mentioned, to add transparent glazes on top of it so that the underpainting is still visible. Another reason, especially if it's a monochromatic underpanting, is to work out drawing and value issues before dealing with color.