Our Process: Early sketching + layouts

One part of our process that doesn’t take long but is SO important is actually laying out the composition on the chosen board before starting.

I have mentioned before that one of the ways I try to keep within the practice of traditional iconography is to often make the person depicted in my new piece positioned in the same way as older pieces. This may mean that they are holding arms or legs in a similar way, they may have their head turned a certain direction, or even be moving in a more particular way. This early sketch lays down the foundation of where the large color blocks of my first layer of paint will also be, and getting it right is so important because it is much easier to erase these lines than to go back and fix a part of the nearly finished painting later on!