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Tutorial: Don't Underestimate the Underpainting

By Richard McKinley

Type
Article
Level
Intermediate
Price
Free
Published
2026
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About this lesson

A pastel landscape built over a loose, wet watercolor underpainting. McKinley starts with three thumbnails (a line drawing, a black-marker notan and a gesture study), lays in value and temperature with free watercolor, then builds pastel across the whole surface from dark to light, thin to thick, dull to bright and soft to sharp.