Sketching onto canvas

[KidApe]

When you are drawing onto the canvas what media do you use? I did the sketch with charcoal but of course when I started to paint the charcoal mixed with the acrylic and darkened it. Do you spray a fixative over the sketch before you begin the painting, or some kind of glaze to keep the charcoal,pencil in place?

[AdamDillabo]

a light graphite sketch wont give you any problems. with my experience with spray fixing is, its water prof and wont accept the paint very well. im not sure if its the type i used, they have a workable fix and im not sure if thats better or what.

[Ilaekae]

I never paint directly onto a charcoaled canvas with any paint. Either smear a layer of matte medium carefully over it (yes, it will smear...so?), or use a liner or longish soft round and some WATERPROOF India ink to do a rough thin ink-in, then wipe the canvas with a rag to get most of the pastel/charcoal dust off.

As far as Wolf or graphite (NO WAX or CHINA) pencils are concerned...unless you're heavy-handed and anal as hell, painting over it with acrylics isn't a problem. If you're still worried, just use the matte medium again.

Do NOT (...repeat...) NOT use spray fixes before painting with acrylics. You're setting yourself up for some real problems, the least of which is silicon contamination--which is a real disaster in the making.

[DavePalumbo]

you can also give an extremely watered down transparent (to the point of near-invisibility) coat of acrylic over pencil to seal it. That's how I always seal my pencil drawings before I go to oils.

[KidApe]

Great, thanks for all the tips. I will try to seal it with an acrylic glaze and see how that goes. Yea the graphite seemed to work pretty good.

[Cryptorchild]

The acrylic glaze sounds like a good plan. I myself don't have any issue with painting over graphite. Seems to me that it is a short lived guide that really just sets the stage. When painting from life my experience has been that there are so many minute changes day to day that the sketch that goes onto the canvas is less important than any sketching done elsewhere. Keep in mind my experience is minimal to date, but that seems like an adequate assessment to me.

[MrJackson]

I tend to do it like the old guys and draw full-scale cartoons on cheap paper and transfer those to the canvas. Any editing that needs to be done in-process I use vine charcoal (because it goes away with one swipe of a kneaded eraser).

[the_allejo05]

Kid ape..usually for painting just use outline..no shadows or smudging ..clean outline , done with pen is great, chalks/vine are a great use, they dont smear much, you can also used waterdown paint transparent,but again only outline,
you are supposed to have made tons of skechtes of your idea, a drawing where you already know your forms, have experimented with the desing, have chosen its color composition, all the problems work out, even modelled the forms in your cheap paper, all is in the head , completed and try out, then and only then you Paint and finish your product. It will be a breeze and minor adjustments can be made. Mr. Leighton can help you out..study his approach to painting, look at how much preparation went under a painting, you get my point.
http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/LHCollections/Drawings/default.asp
some examples
http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lordleightonsdrawings/images/medium/lhod0472.jpg
http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lordleightonsdrawings/images/medium/lhod0471.jpg
http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lordleightonsdrawings/images/medium/lhod0465.jpg
http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lordleightonsdrawings/images/medium/lhod0473.jpg
http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lordleightonsdrawings/images/medium/lhod0468.jpg
http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lordleightonsdrawings/images/medium/lhod0470.jpg
http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lordleightonsdrawings/images/medium/lhod0839.jpg
http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lordleightonsdrawings/images/medium/lhod0467.jpg
http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lordleightonsdrawings/images/medium/lhod0466.jpg
http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lordleightonsdrawings/images/medium/lhod0469.jpg
http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lordleightonsdrawings/images/medium/Ormond80.jpg

[KidApe]

Thanks again for all the comments, the_allejo05 I see what you mean about all the studies and even rendered drawings required to make a successful painting. I will start doing that when I get a better grasp on painting. I appreciate you posting all the studies=D