This week, I’m taking a break from the usual Tuesday Tutorial to announce a new, full-length umber under painting landscape tutorial.
Umber Under Painting Tutorial – Cloudy Landscape shows you step-by-step how to paint a landscape on Stonehenge paper, using colored pencils and the umber under painting method.
One of the most popular full-length tutorials on this blog has been the Umber Under Drawing Tutorial featuring a dark horse as the subject. It’s been a long time coming, but now you can see the same method used to paint a landscape.
Umber Under Painting Landscape Tutorial
See how I painted a landscape on colored paper from the initial sketch to the finishing touches.
The tutorial includes tips on composing your landscape, picking colors, and painting the umber under painting.
You’ll also see in detail how to choose colors, layer color over the finished under painting, how to lift color if necessary, and how to blend with odorless mineral spirits.
Even if you don’t enjoy drawing or painting landscapes, I hope you’ll enjoy this free tutorial, and maybe even pick up a few tips along the way!
Read the new tutorial, Umber Under Painting Method Tutorial – Cloudy Landscape.
Read Umber Under Drawing Tutorial – Dark Horse.
NOTE on TERMINOLOGY
Colored pencil pieces can be called either drawings or paintings. Many non-artists think of any work on paper as a drawing unless the medium is fluid, such as watercolor.
Many artists also consider any work in colored pencil a “drawing,” while others consider their colored pencil works as paintings.
In the past, I called my colored pencil works drawings to set them apart from my oil paintings. I put the same amount of time and effort into both mediums, and the results were similar. Terminology was one easy way to distinguish between the mediums for students and buyers.
Since I’m no longer using oils, I’m referring to pieces such as this one as paintings. I’ll be updating old posts, articles, and tutorials accordingly.
What you call your colored pencil pieces is a matter of personal preference. Either way is correct, so long as you’re consistent.
I learned underpainting from a nun when I was 10 or 11 yo in boarding school, in my mind, it was just for oil still life.
In the 70’s when I switch to acrylic I tried underpainting and loved it because the media dries fast, I did not have to wait like with oil. I used it more but never did it cross my mind that you can use it for landscape (my favorites) and with color pencils!
I followed your tuto and loved it again it easier to view where my drawing is taking me than going right to color pencils I use Verithins for it because of the possibility to erase, my second best tool ;(
Thank you again for your tutorial I really enjoy it and it helped me a lot.I lean so much from you.
Thank you so much for this tutorial, Carrie! I tried under painting for the first time – using lighter colors – in my latest piece. It made all the difference in the world, in being able to follow what I was doing, as well as a richer-toned final result.
Belinda,
Thank you for reading this tutorial and thank you especially for your very kind words.
Glazing color over an umber under drawing is one the best ways I know to get realistic landscape greens and to work out values that I’ve ever used. I started using in with oil painting, and find it equally useful for colored pencil work. I’m delighted it was helpful to you, as well.
What colors did you chose for your umber under drawing?
Carrie