The difficult art of figure painting

by Tissa Hewavitarane

Figure painting in watercolour has a reputation for being difficult, if not downright impossible. But, as it so often happens in watercolour painting, the biggest difficulties usually arise from the artist's lack of confidence and unwillingness to let go and allow the medium its fullest expression. At times an awkwardly drawn or painted human figure will depict the student's lack of confidence with its rigid pose and tightly drawn outlines or wrong brush strokes or usage of colour. Therefore, the solution would be learn to enjoy the fluid and mercurial qualities of watercolour - qualities that make it ideal for depicting the subtle lines and curves of the human form and the play of light upon its surfaces.

The best watercolour portraits are not "posed" at all but are painted on the spur of the moment, perhaps when the subject happens to be relaxing in an armchair or strolling in the garden. There are no boundaries. One that should be dropped like a hot potato is that of drawing a rigid outline of the figure and filling it in with colour. This kills any feelings of life and movement in the figure and effectively cuts its off from the background so that it looks like a cardboard cut-out.

By all means make a few light pencil marks to plot the position of the figure, but do not treat them as boundary lines that cannot be crossed. Nothing should be allowed to inhibit the speed and flow of your washes. If you work in a dry and sparing manner, with timid brush-strokes and a brush that is starved of paint, it's not surprising if the finished product looks lifeless.

Always use a large brush to discourage fiddly strokes and load it with plenty of pigment. It is always good to work on damp paper as it makes it easier to lift out colour for highlights or to wipe out mistakes. It also means that your colours can flood into each other wet-into wet, creating subtle, translucent skin tones.

Once you have learned to construct the figure correctly, the next step is to give shape to the drawing. This is done with colour and various light effects that are carried out on the paper, just like other themes that can be painted with watercolour, a certain amount of light is projected onto every figure.

This means that some areas can be represented with light and other with shadows. The light areas always have to be those reserved by the darker tones. It is precisely this effect that produces the volume. There are many techniques that normally can be used to paint human figures. Beside being able to represent the colours, it is important to master and study the human anatomy, to draw and paint correctly.