By Show Me Step by StepPublished
Based on a video by Drawing & Painting - The Virtual Instructor.
Glazing is how painters get colour that seems to glow from inside. Instead of mixing the exact colour and painting it on once, you lay thin, see-through layers of paint over a finished underpainting, one on top of another. Matt Fussell of The Virtual Instructor shows the whole process on a slice of cherry cheesecake, from a grey underpainting to glossy red topping.
This is called indirect painting, and it is the old masters' way of working. The grey stage is called a grisaille. It lets you sort out light and shadow without worrying about colour at the same time. Get the values right and the colour almost takes care of itself, because every glaze lets the light and dark underneath show through.
Grey is not the only choice. A blue underpainting gives the finished piece a cooler feel, and one in browns such as raw umber warms it up.
You do not need glazing medium to glaze. Matt points out that matte medium or even water alone will work. Medium is the safer bet, though. Too much water breaks down the acrylic binder, and the paint can stop sticking to the canvas or lift off in patches. Medium thins the colour while keeping the paint film strong. It also slows drying a little, which gives you more time to brush it out.
Use soft synthetic brushes for glazes. Stiff hog hair brushes leave streaks that show through every layer. A flat or bright brush covers large areas, and a small round handles details like the stem.
Acrylics dry fast, which is good news for glazing. You can stack layers in one sitting. The one rule is to let each glaze dry right through before the next. Brush over a damp glaze and you will pull the pigment back off.
Transparent pigments glaze best. Alizarin crimson, Indian yellow, Phthalo blue and Viridian are all good. Opaque colours like cadmiums can still glaze when thinned well, but they cloud faster. Thin white is useful for knocking back a colour that has gone too strong, as Matt does with the yellow plate.
Glazing builds on a few basics. If you are new to acrylics, start with acrylic painting for beginners, then read how to thin acrylic paint. Glazes are also a gentle way to fake soft transitions, which pairs well with blending acrylic paint and mixing acrylic colours.
10 steps · about 14 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
Begin with a light pencil contour drawing on the canvas. Then mix carbon black and titanium white into a few greys and start painting. This black and white stage is the underpainting. It sits under all the colour, so focus only on value, meaning how light or dark each area is. Squint at your reference if the shapes of light and shadow are hard to see.
Tip
Mix three or four greys before you start so you are not chasing the same tone twice.
Work one section at a time. Cover the whole shape with the base tone that fills most of it. The cherry topping here is mostly dark, so it gets a flat dark grey first. For areas that are mostly dark, start dark and work up to the lights. For areas that are mostly light, do the opposite and add the darks last.
Tip
Do not worry about detail yet. A clean, even base tone makes the next layers easier.
Over the dark base, add lighter and lighter greys to bring out the form and texture. Compare each new value with the ones beside it. A grey can look darker next to white and lighter next to black, so you will often go back and adjust. Aim for a close match to your reference, not a photograph. Your own way of seeing is part of your style.
Tip
Thin a little grey with water and lay it over dry paint to soften hard transitions.
Finish the underpainting with the strong highlights. Shiny surfaces like the cherry and the wet topping catch the light wherever their form changes. Use less water so the white sits thick and bright. Work the stem the same way: a base tone, then darker and lighter values. The light here comes from the right, so the stem is lighter on that side.
Tip
Stop when you have a full range from the darkest dark to the brightest light.
Now for the colour. Mix a small amount of paint with a generous amount of glazing medium and a bit of water. The glaze should be very translucent, so you can see the palette through it. Matt uses cerulean blue with a touch of Viridian for the tablecloth. You are not aiming for full colour in one coat. Each layer adds a little more.
Tip
Test the glaze on a scrap of grey painted card before it goes on the painting.
Glaze the background areas first. Several blue glazes go on the tablecloth, then a yellow glaze of Indian yellow and cadmium yellow light goes over the plate. Brush it out thin with a soft flat brush so no strokes show. The yellow may look too strong now. That is fine, because later layers will quiet it down. A little raw umber warms the shadows.
Tip
Let each glaze dry fully before the next, or you will lift the colour underneath.
Glazing does more than add colour. It can tone a colour down or change its value. Here a thin glaze of titanium white goes over the plate to soften the yellow and lighten it slightly. Use a soft nylon brush so the white goes on evenly. Keep adjusting the plate with glazes until the highlights, shadows and colour feel right to you.
Tip
You can still paint thick, opaque colour over glazes, for example to clean up a cast shadow.
Move on to the cherry. Mix a glaze of cadmium red light with a touch of alizarin crimson. Brush several thin layers over the whole cherry and the stem, letting each one dry first. With every layer the red grows stronger, while the highlights and shadows from the underpainting keep showing through. That is where the glow comes from.
Tip
Use a small round brush for the stem and keep the glaze inside the shape.
The cheesecake itself gets several glazes of Indian yellow, titanium white and a touch of raw umber, with a browner mix on the crust. For the cherry topping, mix alizarin crimson with a little cadmium red light. Layer it on again and again. Each glaze deepens the red and makes the topping look more glossy and see-through.
Tip
Re-darken any shadows that faded once the colour is in place.
The glazes will have dulled your brightest spots. Go back with thick titanium white and a fine brush and put the strong highlights back on the topping and the cherry. This is direct painting, not glazing, so do not thin it much. Those crisp white marks are what make the topping look wet and shiny, and they finish the painting.
Tip
Fewer, sharper highlights read as gloss. Too many make the surface look busy.
Keep going
How to Paint Shadows and Highlights in Acrylics With Color Theory
How to Glaze With Acrylics - Grisaille Underpainting and Color Glazes
Liquitex
Liquitex BASICS Acrylic Paint Set (24 tubes)
Artist-grade pigment at student pricing, buttery enough to blend and thick enough to hold a stroke. The set most acrylic painters start on.
Benicci
Benicci 16-Piece Artist Brush Set
Every shape you actually reach for (round, flat, filbert, liner, fan) in nylon that keeps its point and does not shed. Comes with a palette knife and case.
FIXSMITH
FIXSMITH 8" x 10" Stretched Canvas (12-pack)
Pre-primed cotton canvases in a bulk pack so you can just start painting. The low-stakes surface for practicing before the big piece.
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