Improve Your Art Fast | HOW TO BLOCK IN A PAINTING 

I was taught the grid method as a kid as the "proper" way to start a painting, and I blame that for the fact that I never pursued art, lol. I HATE the grid! I decided I wanted to start painting again this year and I'm so thankful for your channel. You're showing me ways to do things that are fun, not just a chore to get past before the "real" painting starts. Thank you!

I am just starting out at the young age of 55. I have always had some ability to draw and create a reasonable copy of what I am looking at. This past year I have rekindled my love of painting so I have been having a go. I just finished a wall at the school I work at which has really built my confidence, mind you the compliments are from the kids😂. I love tigers too and thought I would love to have a go. Unfortunately I just got stuck in. Then I realised I needed some help hence your tutorial’s. I can’t thank you enough for the instruction and I can’t wait to get back off my holiday and try them out. Thanks again.

Thank you for your video lessons. As a child, I really loved drawing animals, especially tigers. Now I am 42 years old, and I want to learn how to draw animals professionally using the hyperrealism technique. Thanks again

I used to be a very successful wildlife artist in oils after working at my art for over 40 years. The chemicals attacked my health and kept me away for 20 years. I finally found non-toxic solvents that let me return to my art. I am back to novice status and struggle to regain the techniques and confidence I had; but I will not give up. Your work is similar to what I did many years ago and I watch and hopefully your videos will help me regain what I love. Thank you for your encouragement and tutorials.

Your paintings are amazing. Thanks so much for sharing your process and tips. I’m learning so much from you. You are excellent at teaching and you always motivate me to do better.

“ if you make a mistake you CAN paint over!!” Thank you!! Best thing I’ve heard !! I’m going to get my courage up and try!! I tend to spend time on you tube but I never feel I’m ready to pick up the brush!! Your channel has given me the kick in the butt I needed! “ practice , practice , practice!! Thank you!!

Thanks for sharing your expertise!

Thank you we appreciate all your tips and I love your work

Thanks for sharing your video! Everything you explained here about mistakes, blocking in your colour and changing things up with reference photos and pretty much the whole video made me feel better about these exact things I was concerned about with my painting. Thanks for the great advice! I’m currently painting my first tiger in acrylics and hope with practice I can achieve even half the realistic look you have with yours. Thank you

Another tip i might suggest is turning your work upside down. And you can simply take a photo using your phone and wha-la! Squinting is also great for informing your values especially when working from life. lastly, i would have liked to see the finished tiger!

Thank you for the tips and tricks

Thank you so much

You are wonderful,I’ve been painting for years but I love your fresh take on things,plus your encouragement,looking forward to watching all of your videos

Just love your techniques!

Hi, My painting skills and interests are more watercolor floral and water mixable oil landscapes. I've had some classes since retiring and discovered waterfalls in my area; my new object for painting. Now animals have peeked at my interests, chipmunks, squirrels, and rabbits. Your tutorials are perfect! I take the challenge to paint fur not as large animals but as smaller ones. Thanks for your narratives and illustrations. I LOOK FORWARD to your tutorials to paint small animals while I continue to keep my own interests.

I started my art journey 6 years ago and for 2022, year of the tiger, I decided to learn to draw tigers once and for all and I totally get with loving drawing and painting them! I just made my first one in watercolor and I hope to get a grasp on painting and color mixing via gouache before I invest in everything needed to begin acrylic but watching videos like this I can just feel that I'll love painting when I get there. There is just something with feeling a brush across the surface.

Thank you for going into such details and walking us through the steps. I have tried doing these things after reading books, but being shown the proper steps to get where I need to go is priceless.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TEACHING!! I’m so thankful I found your channel!!

Surely it is better to draw directly on the canvas with the brush but for example I am 28 years old and I paint and draw by myself 2 it is very difficult to draw directly without a pencil or grid .. in my opinion blocking in and drawing are two completely different things that once they have a certain experience they certainly blend together but not at the beginning .. I prefer to start with a pencil and once the design is established, do the blocking in. You are right but it is already a lot to learn how to color the drawing in a realistic way .. however your videos are wonderful I still think that blocking in is the most important part so maybe if you can it would be nice to see other videos on blocking in maybe on other subjects or other tigers :) you are very helpful and very good Ps your tiger in the video is outstanding... you're very good

I’m just getting into acrylic painting, and I really enjoyed this! I need to practice blocking, thanks for the tips!

Fantastic video! Thank you for sharing and explaining so well. I really enjoy all the videos you've created so far.

I’ve taught drawing for over 35 years and have done many professional illustrations. In doing so I’ve neglected painting. I do many portraits of people so I’m over the top in accuracy and detail. I now start by tracing or projecting just to save time. I’d like to start painting again using dogs as my subject…..simply because I love my Goldens!!! And I’d like to start painting these portraits and selling them because I need more income. Where to start. You paint like I draw.

Wonderful video! Thank you for sharing your time and talent

Thank you for sharing your painting knowledge much appreciated

I love your videos! Thank you for posting them!!!!

Super helpful! Im starting with acrylics and I'm so glad I found your channel!

Thank you for sharing your painting knowledge very informative for me

Absolutely loved your tips, thanks for sharing

Thank you very much, it's beautiful ! I will try to do like you do

What u said its true bout the drawing without the help of tech or even grid. I have been using grid for these last 2 years, and now im kinda lost my drawing skill without the grid. Have to practice again. Thx u for ur video.

Love the mirror tip! Very helpful advice

Thank you ♥️ you're awesome

To get my drawing exactly perfect, i do use the grid method. I very lightly draw it so it will erase completely. I do want to question what you said about the grid preventing you from growing and learning. I noticed that when i tried to free hand something after doing about 15 drawings using the grid, it was like i could see proportions much much easier. I could see what was really there instead of what my brain said was there. Within each square of a grid, you're constantly trying to see the real shape and proportion. So when i tried to freehand, first a bird, and then later on a cat, i was surprised that i pretty much nailed them both. Much much better than i would've done if o hadn't already been practicing looking at shapes within squares. So i believe the grid method was actually helpful. So i think it might be correct to say it CAN be a teaching tool to help you learn to see shapes. Maybe the grid method can be called a stepping stone. Thank you for this video. You reminded me that i need to practice every day.

So helpful, thank you.

I choose to trace a lot of the time since I put a lot of time into pet portraits for other people. I don't think that really makes me less of an artist, I'm not incapable of drawing, but I'm also not perfect at it. But when I want to get something done perfectly, and done quickly, I'll do the main outlines and proportions by tracing. I should absolutely practice more, there's no doubt, but.... I just haven't put a lot of time into it. I've also been doing a lot of kids and babies for friends and family and I AM terrible at drawing people freehand. If anyone asks me to do those portraits I'm like... yeah trace that shit hahaha. I'm not a huge fan of drawing people, Wildlife and pets have always been my thing. But if I have a good tracing, it turns out pretty good.🤷‍♀

This is so helpful and well explained. Thank you for sharing your expertise. Love your art.

thanks for your videos of animal paintings.. I ve got so many things from your videos.

Wow!!!!!😍

I have been painting a lot of wildlife lately and your videos are very helpful. Thank you so much!.

Red Panda they're really beautiful and survivors. Tiny and durable.

Thanks i am learning gratis things from your video's

All cats are my favorites!!!! Thank you for sharing !

Thanks❤

Thanks for your videos - I can see the teacher in you. I started painting many years ago but put it aside for quite a while and am now trying to get back into it. So thank you for your tips. They are hugely helpful, and your work is amazing. I heard, way back when, that mixing too much water with acrylics can make them lose adhesion over time. I’d very much like to hear your feedback on that and perhaps a bit more on your methods on mixing, media you use, etc. when working your paints. Thanks again!

Your tutorials have been very helpful thank you

wow beautiful work thank you so much for sharing . you are very talented

Thank you so much. This answered a lot of my questions. 🙂🐅

Sound advice thank you Dan and an amazing painting. Frightens me to death to try drawing myself but going to take on board what you said and give it a go 😁

This is an amazing video! I agree with all your tips completely, and the mirror method is a great way to learn to see the flaws in your art and then balance it. It's ridiculous to me you even have to defend using the grid method and tracing because it is a perfectly legitimate way of doing art, especially with how you already can do it without using those tools. Some of the greatest artists have traced and whatnot; also a beginner who traces will not have their art look like yours at all because you can't even get all the details and fur from tracing alone anyways. It's literally just the bare bones skeleton of the art, like 85% of the effort is the rest of the piece

Thankyou so much for this video! They truly are helpful

You are amazing. Love your videos

Hello, we are waiting for a video of your color mixes, thanks for the preparation of the colors on the table showing the mixture related to the glazing technique. we watch with pleasure.

Great tutorial. Try painting a sloth next :)

Your video are amazing keep them coming 💪👍

I really enjoy your channel 👍

Very helpful as always! Would be interesting to see a video on glazing, not sure if it was mentioned in the fur tutorial

Thanks for the video! I adore tigers❤️ I use soft pastel in my drawings, but really want to try out the acrylic. I've already bought the paints... But I’m afraid to try and ruin the work. So I hope your videos will help!❤️

U are so amazing

Really helpful commentary, I'd love any tips you have on using multiple references to get beter lighting. I love painting people's dogs but the reference photos rarely have good contrast, clear details etc. How can I find and use other references to 'borrow' those details? Suspect its just practice and experience but thought I'd ask :) thanks for the videos!

Thank you for the techniques you are teaching us. WHICH APPLICATION DO YOU USE ON YOUR CELL PHONE TO ENLARGE THE IMAGE TO PAINT. I am from Brazil.

Hi. Love your videos but would love to see how you mix your paints while painting,thing I struggle with the most learning, from seeing is the best way. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I would love to learn how to paint a Japanese crane.

Thank you for sharing your tips and knowledge. It greatly helps me as a beginner painter of wildlife. I would have loved to see this gorgeous tiger to completion. Do you always water down your paint? I am going to start my first tiger. Hopefully, it will look half as good as yours

You do very understandable demos. thank you. Do you or could you paint a reddish close up face of a bull please? I find cow portraits can look cartoonish. I would love to do a mean looking bull. The tiger is amazing.

Really work mate. How do you match your colours to the Image? Just experience or do you use greyscale and pick values?

What colours did you use for the tiger?? Excellent video and artwork 👌

How thin/thick are your paint and how much do you load it with paint in the blocking in part?? And how Many colours? You create a lot of tones, but is it with different colour tones in the burning sienna or is it because of the amount of paint?

Are you painting in oil or acrylics? It would be helpful to know. Thanks so much. Your videos are wonderful and extremely helpful.

Is it acrylic paint with water you are using to under paint? I was reading that I shouldn't use more than 50% water with acrylic paints or the binder breaks down.... if you are using water has this been an issue later on?

Super advice. Phew, you are busy….puts me to shame how much you produce, as I don’t do half as much non art based stuff and I procrastinate………I will practice blocking in Sir……but I still like to dive on in to paint asap…….so I may “cheat” now and again. I actually don’t think using what’s available today as “cheating” as I believe even “old masters” used optical projections, got other people to start the painting and they just finished them off and some didn’t even paint them at all, but passed them off…….so…..

Very helpful video, did you ever try to paint an orca? It’s my favorite animal , would love to see if you could paint that to

Your work is incredible! Just wondering if you have ever painted a moose?

What Gesso do you use and is it oil based or acrylic based? Are you painting over an oil painting or acrylic painting?

Hi, I wonder if you could make a tutorial about a African wild dog, aka painted wolf, please I have never tried painting fur it looks very difficult

Where do u get this tiger pic incase I’d like to paint it

what if i have already laid out the background? is it too late to fix? also, i noticed there are parts on the canvas that appear to skip... please help me :/

Do you have a step to step painting lion

pLEASE PAINT A WOLF. yOU ARE GREAT!

I’m having a hard time with whites

aLSO SAY IF ITS OIL OR ACRLIC PAINT.