Painting is drawing. As I already commented in my post "Four tips to start painting in oil", you have to look and observe a lot, each shape, each shadow, each expression, to put it on paper.

Yair Shoshani indicates that a good drawing is the basis of a good painting. Of course you will say that if it is to be an abstract painting it is not necessary to know how to draw but I believe that drawing is key to any artistic style. Picasso was a very good draftsman, even though he later chose cubism, his figures were the way they were because he chose to make them that way and not because he did not know how to do them otherwise.

Let's see an example when painting a portrait.

Step 1: the initial drawing

You choose a pencil or a pastel of a light color (I like sepia but when I paint in oils I usually take a yellow chalk). If it is black, when adding color it is very easy to get dirty. With charcoal you can "clean" the excess dust but for my taste there is always something left and it ends up mixing with the paint and making it dirty. Shoshani points out that with a yellow chalk type pastel it is not noticeable. Well, with this pencil we draw the portrait of the person in question. Also mark shadows although without all the detail that you will already complete when you add the color.

Step 2: color

Once you have your drawing, you can start with the color. You will NOT have to do this when you are painting an oil painting, it is only an example. In this example, as it is on paper, it is painted with colored pencils, the kind you take to school for a lifetime. In this example the colors are still soft but shadows and highlights are better identified. Still, the drawing is still key.

Step 3: painting

Normally we will not use pencils and then another type of paint, but in this example I have also added watercolor to give more color. When using a brush, you don't have the possibility to get to as much detail as when you use pencils (sorry, I don't like brushes with three miserable hairs) but you change the detail for richness in colors and in painting by areas. Still, it is a matter of style.

According to Yair Shoshani, in this portrait there is a lot of pigment (and little water) and that is why the watercolor looks so dark. If you are interested in watercolors, take a look at: how to start painting with watercolors.

In any of the steps the drawing is not lost, neither the expression nor the gesture. Then you can use some colors or others, a technique or a style, but every minute spent making a good drawing will improve the final result.