Female figure painting in high contrast.

Figure study painting with light and form high contrast or Chiaroscuro study. Here another quick painting sketch figure or female anatomy study. I did the previous study Figure Study female form step by step about a week or two ago. This one is a bit different because it didn’t focus on the form as much. It’s more of creating a form according to the light source or painting from light study. If you notice the higher contrast (Chiaroscuro = light VS dark) within the form, the more interesting the painting become. High contrast lighting set up can create very high visual impact on the figure because your eyes are trying to figure out pieces of puzzle together.
Chiaroscuro itself is Italian, and roughly means, “light and dark.” It was first used to describe a type of drawing on medium-dark paper where the artist created both darker areas with ink and lighter areas with white paint.

Since I didn’t record this session, you might be interested in Video tutorial on the more basic female figure tutorial study approach in Draw and sketch woman step by step and How to draw woman body basic.

Below are female figure study in Chiaroscuro.

figure study chiaroscuro painting

Premium TUTORIALS: Over 2 hours of video with in depth drawing instruction.

Face Constructed: How to paint portraits

-Draw and Paint Women Body Tutorial I Female Figure I
-Draw and Paint Women Body Tutorial II: Female Figure II

Below are step by step how to paint figure in high contrast. Step one, I draw a really rough female figure as a base to paint over. Step two, I only use black and white to establish basic figure and form. Step three, I then simplify the shape and make the painting more solid in value range. Step four, I add more light by painting over the part that expose to light more than the rest. Step five, at this stage I can slowly introduce color onto the monochromatic image. Step six, I then paint the skin tone and cloth color to the rest of the painting without altering any existing value.