Underpaintings: Pros and Cons
April 1, 2022 – Written by Bethany Fields
I think underpainting is probably the #1 technique that people are curious about and want to learn. I often get questions on why I choose certain types and wanted to give you a short pro/con list of the different methods.
Dawn in the Canyon, 15×16″ pastel on paper
Alcohol (91% Isopropyl):
Alcohol is probably the number one wet method I use!
The above piece was done with alcohol and hard pastel. I use this method a lot in my video tutorials here and here.
Pro:
- Inexpensive
- Dries Quickly
- Safe
- Creates beautiful drip effects as it dries and mingles on your paper
Con:
- Has a strong odor
- Can remove grit from certain types of paper (I use Uart and it handles the alcohol well).
Autumn’s Flourish, 11×14″ pastel on sanded paper
Odorless Mineral Spirits:
This piece was done on OMS toned Uart. Using a hard golden pastel, I scumbled an even layer across the paper. Then, I used odorless mineral spirits to wash this pastel into the paper.
OMS is widely used in oil painting and readily available.
Pro:
- Readily Available
- Creates beautiful “blooms” and fun effects
- Relatively inexpensive
- Can be used to create an oil stain with diluted oil paint
Con:
- Has a strong odor
- Can be unsafe in an enclosed area
- Hard to dispose
- Can remove grit from papers
- Takes much longer to dry
Advertisement
Canyon Floral – 8×10″ pastel on paper
Watercolor:
I used watercolor for this painting combined with a bit of hard pastel.
When using water I either switch away from unmounted Uart (see Con below) or use their wonderful premium boards. LuxArchival is also a paper that handles watercolor beautifully and is the paper I used for Canyon Floral (above).
Pro:
- Harmless
- Has no odor
- Easy to dispose
- Very inexpensive and readily available
- Can be used with watercolor and acrylic ink
Con:
- Buckles papers (especially unmounted Uart)
- Not as many effects as it dries
- Dries slowly and saturates papers more thoroughly (thus the buckling)
- Can remove some grits
Blue Memory – 6×6″ pastel on paper
Acrylic Ink:
I used acrylic ink in this piece on Pastelmat paper.
Pro:
- saturated vibrant colors
- readily available at art supply stores (I like this color and this color and this color!)
- don’t have to mix the paint color (or worry about blobs of acrylic on your paper)
- no odor
- can use neat application methods to achieve fun results
Con:
- very opaque and “dark”
- to achieve nuance, you must thin with water which can lead to buckling depending on your paper
- can stain your hands and clothing
- can drip down your painting if you’re not careful
Save this Post to Pinterest
I hope this helps you when you go about choosing your underpainting methods.
I’ll be sharing other ways to underpaint soon!
xoxo,
Bethany
Find me here and there:
