On the second pass we will be blending between values; and I would advise you to paint the background first. The reason for this is, as you can see there is a great deal of blending in the background. If you were to paint the background and the figure together; while blending the background around the figure it would be very tricky to keep these colors from running together, and forget about keeping hard edges. This brings up a valuable point about painting. Always paint back to front. In this painting (on the second pass) I first painted the backdrop, then the table, then the figure. Look at the picture to the right. As you can see, it would have been very difficult to blend the background and still maintain the integrity of the arm, and thigh if they were both painted at the same time. This was not an issue in the first pass because we were working with rough shapes, without blending. It is possible to paint everything at the same time, but it would make things more difficult than they need to be. Allow the background to dry before moving on to the figure.
Like I said before in the overview, we will begin to use painting medium on this pass. For a complete guide to painting mediums that I suggest using, see my Suggested Painting Mediums page. The medium that we'll be using here is a stand oil, and turpentine mix (1:1 mix ratio). Next we need some paint. Just as we did in the first pass, mix yourself 10 even values (Titanium White, and Burnt Umber), with 10 being Titanium White and 1 being Burnt Umber.
We are still working in small goals here; however, your goals can be larger than they were in the first pass. Look at this example to the left, and step through the stages of this process (using the next and back buttons). Here you can see that I worked on the arm in three separate goals. The first thing that we'll be doing here is laying down a tinted layer of medium to knock back the under painting and give it a richness. Dip your brush in your medium and use a very small amount of Burnt Umber, just enough to tint your medium. Lay down a transparent layer over the area that you will be working on. Next we'll be starting in with some paint. For this entire process we will be using pure paint on top of a layer of painting medium. The first thing that you'll notice is that your paint lays down much more smoothly, because you are laying it down on a thin layer of medium. Start laying down your values like you did in the first pass, and use your under painting as a guide. While painting over your under painting remember that it's just a guide for you, don't feel like you must be a slave to it (that's what your source material is for). Next, blend these areas together with a small flat brush. Finally, use a very soft blending brush to lightly dust the surface of the area you are working on; to help these blended values run together more smoothly. This last step is where you need to be the most careful. Do not rely on your large blending brush to do the blending for you! Instead, Do your blending with your small flat brush and use your larger blending brush to help smooth the area. Check our Paint Brush Page for examples of these brushes, and descriptions for what they are useful for. The majority of your work on this pass will be with your small flat brush. The larger blending brush is just to help smooth the area that is already blended with your small flat brush. It is important to note that this pass can be completed without the use of your large blending brush at all, and there are some areas such as parts of the face, or the hands where I don't use this brush at all, so don't feel like you need to use it. A great way to keep your self on track with this brush is, use it to smooth the texture of the paint caused by the previous brush, and then stop. The use of this brush (large blending brush) is where most of your problems with over blending will come from. So try it, but if you find that it's giving you more trouble than its worth, stop using it, and continue the second pass without it. As I said before, don't ever feel above wiping an area down with turpentine, and starting again (I have been painting for over 15 years and I still do this).
Next I'll show you this same process on the face .
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