The process of painting in modern times, starts with the selection of paper. In case of water color painting, Paper with maximum gsm is recommended. Use of acrylic colours appear best on canvas. Each artist has his or her own preference, when it comes to choosing medium of painting. Some artists shift from one medium to other over period of time. It doesn’t matter which medium is selected. It is rather important, to follow process of painting properly in order to get best result. Following is the general process for painting. Every artist has his or her own preferred way of painting. A painting can be done by memory or by actually keeping the subject in the front. Apart from these two, a painting can be created by imagination. Eg. a painting of flying elephant.
Modern Process – How to create painting –
Creating linework – It is good to have a reference image to create line work for the painting. Such linkwork can be very basic at first. Slowly it can be improved.
Correction proportions and anatomy – In case of a living being, drawing must show correct anatomy. In case of object, it should be drawn in right perspective. If there are more than one design element, then arrangement of those elements must be such to create interest and bring clarity.
Adding shades of the colors – After creating Linework, many artists prefer painting with one colour on canvas. Here Under painting is done to get the idea of highlights and shadows. It is to facilitate creative thought process. In this case, darker areas are painting with darker shades and lighter with light shades. Here paint is less saturated, with more water in it. It is good way to start in this fashion than painting on white background.
Right side shows How artist first planned shadows and highlights in the painting and then added vivid colors to it. This is called underpainting where painting is painted with one color initially.
Use of various brush techniques – While painting, different types of brushes can be applied. An artist can change the grip and put different pressures to have different types of strokes.
Texture in painting makes it more appealing. It gives more realistic feel. So Textures can be created in the background, using paint.
Once background is ready with texture, then middle and foreground elements are painted over it.
Adding gloss effect – After creating painting, it should last longer. So there are various solutions in the market which can be applied to finish painting. Such liquid can be sprayed over the painting. Some of the solutions are used to add glossy effect to the painting.
Ancient method of creating painting in India
In ancient sanskrit text ‘Vishnudharmottara Purana’, chapter 40, shloka 11-15, the process for creating painting is is mentioned -” After performing rituals and worshipping masters of the painting, an artist wearing clean white clothes can start. The learned painter should draw outlines, with white and black brushes in due order. After drawing, one should fix them on the measured place and then proper colors should be filled in. The dark or whitish faces of the figures should be painted accordingly.”
Above description mentions steps of creating painting. They are as follows –
1. Prayer and rituals – For an artist, calm focused mind is necessary to create an art. He is advised to wear clean white clothes. What a person wears, it affects his feeling. White is color for peace. Wearing white clothes will naturally bring peace to his mind. While performing rituals, an artist worship god, chant the mantra and takes the blessings from his master. All these rituals not only purify his mind but also bring the divine supreme impressions in his mind. With blissful mind, He is motivated to create art that is pleasing and inspiring to the viewer.
2. Creating Linework and preparing the surface – Process starts with drawing black and white outlines for the subject. The medium was either Bhojpatra or Himalayan birch leaves, textile or surface of the wall. The detail method to preapre wall surface is given in many sanskrit text such as chitrasutra in Vishnudharmottara purana. Please read this blog post here
3. Emphasis on proportions – These drawings must be in proportions. Hence precise measurement is required while drawing outlines. Proper measurements and proportions are given in chitrasutra in Vishnudharmottara purana. Here is blog post about it
4. Selecton of right color combination – Right color combinations must be used to fill the areas of the drawing. This is one of the ancient design principle. Here is the complete list of Ancient design principles –
5. Shading – Then Shadows and hightlights must be shown with darker and lighter shades.At this stage, Highlights or Bright shades are added. Dark, midtones and hightlights together create illusion of depth. It is essential to create proper shading otherwise painting will look flat and unnatural. In case of shading, many layers can be added to get desired result. Shading is also done to show light in the painting. Hence it is important to study how light affects the objects, shadows,midtones and highlights in the reference image well in advance.
6 Creating pictorial space –A pictorial space can be observed in Ajanta paintings, where there is depiction of cities, palaces and houses.
In above painting, arrangement of pillars, couch together create illusion of depth. People in foreground appear away from those inside the palace. It also helps to create pictorial space in the painting.
7. Ancient design principles were used to create Ajanta paintings. One of them is Lavnya yojna. In other words, It is about adding aesthetics to the painting. It can be similar to the adding element of beauty. Eg. In the Ajanta painting of dancing queen, Ornaments are addition to her beauty. Here artist followed the design principle of Lavnya Yojna. To learn more, Please visit this Blog
8. Element of acting – In story telling, Acting is an important aspect. When a character expresses emotion for right reason, it wins the trust of audience. After two thosand years, viewers can easily relate to the stories shown in Ajanta paintings. It is because artists drew each character considering the story and role of the character. In every ajanta paintings, whereever there are characters, they are shown expressing emotions as per the story. Just like actors would act on the stage, each character in the Ajanta paintings, are shown with precise body language and facial expressions. It shows how much ancient artists in India were well trained and knew art of acting.
At Ajanta monastery in India, Two thousand years ago, paintings were created as per steps mentioned in Sanskrit texts like Vishnudharmottara purana.
Conclusion: Modern paintings give importance to aethetics and composition. Viewers prefer paintings which are pleasing to the eye. Hence abstract paintings are created by modern artist. In case of Ancient art in India, Certain discipline regarding following design principles can be observed. And due to this artistic discipline, Ancient art of India is outstanding even after many thousand years. Ancient paintings in India express emotional behaviours rather honestly and beautifully. They are more realistic even if they were portrayed as concept art. They excel in many ways in terms of colors as rich minerals and actual gold, were used to create Two thousand year old Ajanta paintings in India.
