This lesson has three parts:
1. Different ways to paint brick
2. How to paint brick in perspective
3. Preparing to paint from your own reference
Having a strong idea of perspective:
I asked everyone to draw a brick wall with door and windows in 1 point perspective. I wanted to make certain everyone had a grasp of this before moving on to 2-point perspective.
In all landscape/building/cityscape paintings, you start with the horizon line: your eye level. That establishes your point of view and where you put things in your artwork. Then establish your VANISHING POINT. THIS IS ALWAYS STEP 1.
Step 2: Draw lines from the vanishing point to the top of the wall and the bottom of the wall.
Make a wall (mine is on the left) that faces you. This will be a perfect rectangle.
Draw converging lines for the top of the window and door. (green dotted.)
Make perfectly vertical lines for the door and sides of windows.
(In 1 and 2 point perspective, all lines that are vertical in reality are vertical on the page)
Cut off the end of the wall and erase the lines that go to the vanishing point.
Make dots evenly spaced on the corner vertical line. Draw (green dotted lines) from each dot to the vanishing point. This will give you some guidelines for the direction of the siding or bricks that you want to put in. The lines in the left side rectangle are completely horizontal, NOT converging, because they face you.
Practice putting in some brick. If you get the top 2 lines correct, then all you have to do is repeat the pattern down the other rows.
You need to remember 2 things: 1: brick will get smaller and smaller as it goes in the distance.
2. The brick layer in row 2 starts half way past the brick above it...BUT, since it is in perspective, the "halfway" mark is longer as it is closer to you.
If you want a precise measurement of the halfway mark, use the X method. Put an x through the brick.
Where the x crosses is the middle of the brick. It will look more like 3/5 than 1/2.
Once you have 2 rows, just use a ruler and mark every other rows in the pattern.
DIFFERENT WAYS TO MAKE BRICK
I like to use either cold press or rough for textured surfaces.
We started by putting down a layer of mortar color. I tried different combinations: Buff Titanium with a little burnst sienna; raw sienna and violet; raw sienna; and a blue/green gray from my palette dirt. Just make it light. Four squares to try 4 methods. Let them dry. ( Robbie tells me there are about 8000 (?) brick designs and hundreds of mortar colors, so you can't really go wrong.)
In ALL of the brick colors, I used burnt sienna, raw sienna, and a red. You can use some Paynes gray too.
In ALL of the brick colors, I used burnt sienna, raw sienna, and a red. You can use some Paynes gray too.
The colors are mixed on the paper, not the palette.
Square one: Mortar background is buff Titanium with a little burnt sienna. The background is dried and bricks drawn in with space for mortar. Used a 1/2" flat brush to apply the brick colors and let them blend on the paper. With a paper towel, I lift some of the paint off to get a roughed up look.
When it was dry I used WATERCOLOR PENCIL (you can use paint) to darken the bottom and one side to create a shadow on the brick. Also made a few cracks.
Number 2: I think this one was a favorite.
The mortar was raw sienna with a little violet.
WAX (like from a candle or paraffin) was used to color in the mortar between the bricks first.
Then ALL the brick was painted at once, letting the color blend on the paper. You can again lift with a paper towel. I used a dark paint and small brush to create the shadows. I like how you get a rough bit of texture in the crevices and mortar.
These last two I just painted over wet on wet with brick colors, letting them blend on the paper. While wet I let some crickled Saran wrap. then let them dry. (One got more texture than the other.)
These last two I just painted over wet on wet with brick colors, letting them blend on the paper. While wet I let some crickled Saran wrap. then let them dry. (One got more texture than the other.)
On this one I drew in some brick with a purple WC pencil first then washed it all with water to blend it all together. On the bottom part I wanted to show how you can paint the entire wall of a building, then make a few small marks in the right direction (converging) to give the effect of brick without painting every brick.
On this final one, I used all my brick colors wet into wet and Saran wrap. When it dried, I painted long lines over it and painted in the lines only for the bricks. I added some neutral tint (or you can use Paynes Gray) to darken some of the brick.
Notes on your own reference.
1. Find something you really want to paint. (hopefully something with perspective) It can be from your travels or even a reference from a website. But it has to be something that resonates with you.
2. Write a few sentences about what attracts you to this picture. How does it make you feel? Do you have some special connection with this place/picture?
3. What is the most important part of this picture? What do you think is the center of interest? Is there any details that can be moved or eliminated to enhance what you want to say about this picture?
Try to have something in mind by next week so we can go through individually and get ready to do your own composition.
Here are two videos that will help:
9 Min video from Paul Clark
Michelle Weber gives tips on painting brick:
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