Drawing Rembrandt - A study in 4 colour chalk - Original content for Steemit

To begin, i started with Arches Aquarelle Cotton paper in Hot Press (smooth). This was paper i had previously prepared for oil painting by giving it a few coats of white gesso primer, then adding a Rose Grey gesso primer. By painting each layer horizontally, then vertically and back and forth a few times, you can get a nice canvas style grain which allows the paint - or in this case the chalk to stick. Here's a break down of the drawing process:

I used General's MultiPastel chalk pencils in Sanguine (red), Burnt Sienna (yellow), Van Dyke Brown (light brown), Black & White.
This is a very similar palette to what Rembrandt would often paint with. He would mostly use earth colours in a simple palette when painting his portraits simply because bold colours like blues & greens were very toxic and expensive to create back in his day - circa 1650's. He would sometimes use those colours in a commissioned painting but in his self portraits he would usually stick to basic earth tones that where easy to mix and which could convey a full range of light and shadow.

In this image you can see how the pastel chalk sits on top of the paper. It is very easy to move around and layer but also very easy to smudge and spoil. Being right handed, i had to move across the image left to right to make sure i didn't smudge it.

And here is the final piece. Drawing Rembrandt is something i think every portrait artist should try. You'll learn so much about forms and light by following his mastery. He had a very simple technique when you break it down but it was performed at such masterful levels that it takes decades to achieve that level of simplicity. All we can do is keep practising and learning ourselves and with each attempt, try and take something new to the next effort.

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