How to Paint a Picture of the Old-Time Prospector.

Free how to paint a picture of an old-time prospector, an art lesson, and a printable watercolor worksheet.

The old-time prospector is a project that can help the young artist or a beginner become more confident in basic watercolor art. It is a picture of a person of character, not just a pretty face but a regular guy.  As an artist, you will find yourself doing more portraits of everyday people than the glamorous movie star types.  This project uses only a few colors so it is simple.

Remember to set your printer to color.

A WORD ABOUT PRINTING THE WORKSHEET

If you have problems printing CLICK HERE to visit my how-to-print page for some suggestions or try the updated PDF link below that should print better.

Free how-to-paint a picture of an old-time prospector worksheet.

My printables are free, so print as many as you like. They take a lot of my time.  I often have to create several images before I get the right one for an illustration.  It is a lot of work, but I am glad to have the opportunity to inspire others.

I only ask that you consider making a donation. Your gift of support will enable me to create more worksheets for you. 

Thank you for your support.

CLICK HERE for a PDF file.

SUPPLY LIST

You can use any watercolor paint. I prefer my small Windsor Newton paint set; it has a nice selection of colors. I also use Grumbacher Paints in the tubes.  You can easily find these at any craft store like Lobby Hobby or Michaels. (Look for coupons online.) You can collect lots of paintbrushes, but it is better at the start to keep it simple with a few small, medium, and medium-large brushes and a combination of flats as well as rounded paintbrushes. For these art lessons, I use Strathmore series 300 Watercolor paper. It is economical and available at Michaels and Hobby Lobby and online. 

PRINTABLE ART LESSON NOTES.

BEGINNINGS
Trace the design onto 140-pound watercolor paper. It is a heavy paper that will not buckle. If you have trouble tracing though the paper, try holding it against a window with the light shining behind it, and then you should be able to trace it easily.

I like to take my time when I paint a picture and sometimes I even let one stage dry for a day before I do the next stage. If you do not have the time to wait for it to dry sometimes you can hurry the drying with a hairdryer.

BACKGROUND

Keep the background a little wild, I chose blue and violet but you can use greens, yellows, or any other colors. Keep the color watery and use a zigzaggy stroke to put the color on the paper. Be careful not to get into the figure.  In the same way mix in some watery lavender or another second color that is close to the first- this is to give the background interest and movement. Leave it watery so the colors blend on their own. 

LET IT DRY 

FIRST WASH

Keep the colors light and watery at this stage. Work carefully so colors do not mix. Keep tissue nearby to blot up any that is not doing what you want. Use brownish-yellow for the hat and gloves. Light brown for the face. Light blue for the shirt and violet for the pants. Use a light brown for the coat. The only place that is dark at this stage is the belt, use a purple-brown color. While the coat is still wet add a little watery red or orange and let it blend on it's a little. Add a little watery purple to the pants and let it blend a little too. This makes it look not flat and interesting.  

SECOND WASH

Let the first wash dry. If it is a little damp that is ok. TAKE YOUR TIME ON THIS STEP. Decide where you want the shadows to be. In my example, the light is from the right so the shadows are on the left. Make the same colors you used before darker by adding blues purples violets and browns. You may have to mix these colors yourself. Use a small brush and add darker browns to the face on the shadow side, beside the nose, and under the chin. Use purple-brown for the shadows on the coat. Use violet for the shadows on the shirt. and use purple-blue for the shadows on the pants. 

Save the facial features for the finish.

After the shadows developed then add with the tip of your small brush a LITTLE black- but be careful you do not want much since it will take the brilliance out of your colors.  

NOW TAKE A BREAK AND GET SOME EXERCISE

After you take a break come back and look at it with fresh eyes. Correct or finish anything that needs a little attention.

DETAILS AND FINISHING TOUCHES 

Mix a little black with brown and use the tip of your brush and draw the features of the face: the eyes, eyebrows, and hair.  In the same way use the tip of your brush to add dark edges to the glove, the canteen, and the clothes. Use an almost dry brush to add the green and red to the canteen and the red on the hat. 

Sign your work about an inch up from the bottom that way there is room for the frame.

(c) Adron 3/2/20

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Home School Art Lesson

Spectrum Homeschool Art Lesson.

One of the problems in teaching young people to draw is the skill of looking. We glance at a thing and recognize what it is and then draw the subject but it is not the one we looked at it is that one and the inventory of all the others we have seen stored in our memory. The details of the one that we are drawing are lost because we are not drawing it we are drawing on of it.

In class we remind ourselves to "Look at the thing you are drawing as much as you look at the drawing of the thing."

We use our own non dominate hand as our subject with the emphasis of observing the uniqueness of that hand. In a sense the students have seen that hand every day of their lives but now they are to really look at it, and try to recreate as many details of that one hand as possible.

Before we draw the hand we have a general review of the hand and it's shapes, and form.


(c)Adron Dozat

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Adron

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Homeschool Art Lesson With The Wooden Model

Spectrum home school lesson for drawing.

This week we drew, among other things, the wooden model man that we know as "Woody." These wooden models of the human figure are in most of the arts and craft stores. I bring the wooden model to class at least once a month. The best way to master the human figure is to draw it often in as many ways as you can.

I have the students pose the model so it is interesting and we simply draw it as a warm-up or as one of several projects.

There are several approaches to drawing the model. Today we used the articulated stick figure method. We begin by drawing a stick figure with circles for the elbows, knees, and other joints and straight lines for the length of the arms and legs. (Illustrated as the first drawing on the left in the example below.) The stick figure allows the drawing to all fit on the page since students have a habit of drawing the model larger than the paper they are drawing on.

After we have the figure positioned on the page then we begin to fill out the area of the figure with ovals circles and other shapes. (See the center drawing below).

By going around these shapes we further define the shapes. Lastly, we add shadows to give the roundness and dimension to the figure.  (Drawing on the right)

Tips For Drawing The Wooden Model Man From Art class.

(C) Adron Dozat

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Home School Art Drawing the Human Figure.

Spectrum Home School lesson for May 2

Art 2

We will warm up with a sketch of Woody our wooden model. It will be posed in a common pose and students will be given a six minutes to draw it. (See the finished example of this at the link to my other blog: artistadron.blogspot.com.) This will help free up the young artist and teach them editing and decision making in drawing.

Our main project are inspired by pictures cut out from the local sports section of the newspaper. These often have dramatic postures and actions. The class will begin with a light pencil rendering and go over it in pen.

Below is an illustration of a sketch in marker of an athlete clipped from a paper. It was done during class as an example showing the process of the drawing.

Starting with pencil I drew an articulated stick figure for the frame and then adding the thickness of the figure. This part of the drawing took less than three minutes. Switching to pen and ink I rendered the figure sometimes tracing the pencil lines, and sometimes only using them as a reference. A dark area was in the photo so it was included in the picture to give reference and to help move the runner forward.

Sketch in marker of an athlete running.

The project was challenging to some. Since the photos were from the newspaper they were given to the students who wanted to finish the project during the week at home.

(c)Adron Dozat