Just enough is more than enough...

A Sketch for an Oil Painting
Oil on Canvas, 2 Feet x 3 Feet (24" x 36")

I see some of my Artist friends spend too much time in getting more details into a sketch for an Oil/Acrylic Painting. From my learnings, failure & successful experiences, sketching is an important first-step in Painting, but it must be fast and fairly accurate. It is the beginning phase with which an Artist can quickly decide on the composition and do quick outlines of the main objects with just minimal details.

Oil Painting, particularly is relatively longer anyways, and offers opportunities for corrections at any and every given stage. So, there is no need to spend too much time upfront on the details. Even if you put in all the details, they go away covered by paints once you start painting. As long as the composition and proportions look fairly accurate and good to you, that is good enough. I wouldn't spend more than 15 to 30 minutes on sketching for an Oil Painting.

Many professional oil-painting Artists do sketches very quickly. If a more detailed study is needed they do it separately on a Paper with a pencil or a pen. Good Painters are also good at drawing and sketching. I have seen and heard people saying that Painting doesn't require any experience with drawing. That is a complete-lie and totally wrong. It's like saying, you don't need to know how to walk in order to run. Drawing skills are basics in Art. Aspiring Artists must practice and keep practicing basics. There might be shortcuts for earning money, but not in learning. Practice is the only way! The more you practice, the more you learn and the better you will be.

Learning is a life-long process. The moment we step into this world, our learning starts. We only graduate in life moments before we die, if we live a full-life, of course. Those who don't make it that far are only dropouts.

This sketch with left over oil-paints is fairly big in size, 2 feet x 3 feet (24" x 36") and I spent about 30 minutes to do both my sketch and underpainting. I am all set now for another colorful journey, can't wait to get my hands dirty with Paints all over ;)

"He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough." - Lao Tzu

Happy Painting!
Do not stop learning, do not stop growing!

The progress - Step by step

Details

Mediums: Oil on Canvas

Reference: A photograph from my collection

Size: 2 Feet x 3 Feet (24" x 36")

Surface: Artist's Loft Stretched Canvas board, Gesso'd to cover an abandoned sketch