Category Archives: Art Tips

How to Draw an Oak Tree Video

Seeing Shape and Form in Drawing an Oak Tree

A tree is recognized by its shape or silhouette. What gives a shape it’s dimension is through the use of light and dark values, which describe the form of the shape. This video will show you how to use an HB, 3B and 6B graphite pencil to compose a convincing tree form. In this instance a personal favorite. The mighty live oak!

Hope you enjoyed this How to Draw an Oak Tree Video!

You might also like this blog post on How to Paint a Tree. If interested in joining my Zoom art class, please contact me.

Here is the Video Transcript on How to Draw an Oak Tree

Note: The transcript sounds a little weird if you don’t watch the video. 🙂

Hello. William Hagerman here, I’m going to share with you a little bit of a tip that I learned many years ago from my own art instructor about drawing trees, some things that helped me be able to compose.

I have laid out here my HB pencil, a 3B and a 6B hard graphite pencil. This represents what will be three different values. The harder the lead, the lighter the stroke appears, the softer the lead, the darker the marks will be. You could use one pencil and just through pressure and make a darker accent. But I thought I would work with these. What I learned here, this is my HB pencil is trying to design, say, an Oak tree with sort of a block, almost circular type form. For example, started doing some things like this.

Hopefully you can be able to see that. I’ll be darkening things up. But what this helps to do is I can kind of visualize areas that will sort of overlap certain areas and help me to try and draw in some sort of a silhouette here, of a larger Oak tree. So starting with, say, source of light coming in from this direction, we have this one sort of rounded, oval type of a form, and it’s going to graduate from light to dark. So I’m starting with the lighter HB pencil, using the side here, got it sharpened up, so you have a little bit of a longer lead there. And I want to come down just a little ways, and then I want to pick up the 3B pencil, which is a little bit darker. And again, it graduates from a light to middle into a dark value. So I’m going to go in here, keeping in mind the direction of where the sunlight is coming from to the side there on the left.

And then a 6B pencil, which has a darker mark, I’m going to indicate areas underneath here that represent more of the deeper parts of the tree, the shadow. And here it meets another form that’s sort of in front of it. Excuse me, just hit the camera. Sorry about that. I’m going to go back to the HB. It’s going to repeat the process again, lights coming from here, and we’re going to have sort of the lighter tone. I could probably erase that little line there but I’m not going to worry about it right now. This is not to be a finished drawing, but something to help you visualize the structure of some trees. Okay, so there’s the light. Pick up next the three B hardness graphite pencil.

And each of these kind of represent some little forms of smaller ones in the big area, kind of light, dark, like dark, and then into the deeper parts of the tree, then oops there goes the lead, pressed a little too hard. That’s okay.

Re-darkening some of this to get a little greater contrast. Now then going back again to the HB to start the process over again. Each of these clumps are going to get the same sort of process of a light, a middle value, and then a dark value.

Do this one as well, if you notice, keeping in mind the direction of the light is coming from here. So it’s catching light. But as it comes down and underneath, some of this might be getting a little darker. Again, some of the deepest part within the shadow.

Okay. So now we have a couple of areas, we can maybe divide this one larger shape, this one kind of overlaps. But I want to take this one here and this one maybe pull it down a little bit. Okay. Repeat the process, get the right pencil here, my lighter one, HB.

Then we’re going to go darker.

Switch to the darkest graphite pencil there.

Now then, this one here is sort of more because I have this one overlapping. It’s sort of sitting more up underneath all of this. So it’s not out to the front, it’s more to the back. And as a result of the lights coming from here, these clumps of foliage are going to cast its own shadow across this. So this is going to be mostly dark. So this is kind of like on the backside of the tree.

There may be a little bit of light catching through, kind of a middle value there, but for the most part, that’s on the back side of that tree. So that’s why it’s a little darker overall. Now, this is going to be another clump. I may change its direction a little bit. I say you can alter it as you go along, but again, you’re going to have the this one is sticking out a little bit in front, so we’ll have some light on it.

This one then go into the darker area. And again, because this is curving back and it’s kind of away from the light, see, it’s going to be darker. And underneath, again, we’re going to have the darker foliage.

This is a clump that’s kind of sitting off in the back. And because of all of these, it too is going to be mostly dark. So it’s not going to get the lighter, but it will get a little reflective light from the sky. So I will use the 3B pencil here, kind of represent a little lighter edge up against the sky. But for the most part, it’s all going to be in shadow. This clump here is going to be also perhaps on the back side. So it’s going to also receive some more dark, maybe quite a bit of dark under here because all this other foliage is casting a shadow.

Okay. So here I have the basic structure of tree. We can then go back in and imagine maybe some limbs, the trunk, wrap, some limbs that’s going to come down, fall down. More details, since it’s going up into the dark of the tree, the tree trunks also have to be dark because I say there’s not light, it’s more overhead. So most of the tree trunk is going to be dark because it’s underneath. Indication of some little limbs coming through, and just give a little ground line.

As you see this gives you kind of an idea of light middle, dark. It describes more of the form of the tree. Now as you go if you were painting this then you would mix up three different values of a light, middle and a dark value. So that would help you I think in being able to achieve more realism into your tree getting more shape and form so it doesn’t look flat. So I hope this little tip that helped me in visualizing many years ago from my artist you’re working with these little blocked clumps and having some overlap one another you can more easily visualize what’s in the front, what’s on the backside and it’ll help you understand your light and darks where they would possibly go.

Selecting Art for Your Living Space

Chasing Color and Capturing It

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Chasing color and capturing it has in many ways been elusive for many trying to paint. Further it’s been a course of intense study for a very long time including the artistic and science side to it with many opinions. Recently, I came across an old book published in 1895 or so, that was written for teachers on color study. My how the English language has changed since then! Despite the wordiness, it got me to thinking on the subject of color once again and thought I’d share some insights gained from 41 years of painting.

Color is Personal

Color perception and taste is personal. No two people likely see colors in the same way and artists have their favorite paints and often no two have the same exact palette. Color preference is seen in other areas. As an example, take shopping for a neck tie. Pick any tie and someone will love the colors in it, while another wouldn’t want to be caught dead wearing it. Yes, color is personal. Likely you can harmonize your tastes in clothing and its accessories and even in your home furnishings and decor. So it goes with painting. Artist’s works can often be recognized by their use of color, not just technique or subject matter. Someone may like the color scheme chosen, while others hate it. That’s how it is. What’s important for an artist regardless of preference is simply to learn to mix and duplicate the appearance of colors they see and then put them in the right place in their painting.

We really don’t need to know the science of how we see color. Be happy that you can, even if your vision isn’t the same as others. It brings variety, but you can develop your color sense to a higher degree through practice and careful observation.

Paints to Mix By

First you need a set of colors that will give you a good vivid representation of the 12 hues on a color wheel. For that I list the following as primary colors.

Yellow: Cadmium Yellow Light or Pale
Blue: Phthalo Blue or Winsor Blue
Red: Permanent Rose or Quinacridone Rose

These colors differ from what one normally considers as primary colors because those do not produce a full spectrum. The above colors are similar to the hues of printing inks of yellow, cyan and magenta. Although these produce a fairly vivid color wheel when mixed, we need to remember these are not inks being printed which are made up of little dots and visually combined to see a color. Therefore, I prefer to have tubed colors that approximate the secondary colors.

Orange: Cadmium Orange
Violet: Dioxazine Violet or Winsor Violet
Green: Permanent Green ( This can be found in Winsor Newton Brand )

Using a tubed color instead of mixing a secondary color will give a more intense color and it will also give more intense intermediate colors when mixed with the primary colors. To lower the brightness of a color, instead of using its compliment you can mix a gray of roughly half black and half raw umber. To tint the color add white. For further explanations you may wish to read my other article on how to choose a color palette. Hope these suggestions will help in chasing color and capturing it.

Speaking of Color

Here’s a variety of paintings up for auction on eBay featuring different color schemes.

colorful impressionist landscape oil painting water reflections by artist William Byron Hagerman

Morning Light at the Pond 10×8 oil by Byron

To have a chance at placing a winning bid, first sign into your eBay account and then visit my profile page. You’ll see what other paintings are also available. Auction end dates are variable.

Another way to find my listings while logged in, is using eBay’s search feature and typing in “Nature landscape oil painting” in parenthesis and it will likely return results for my work.

impressionist landscape oil painting autumn mountain stream by artist William Byron Hagerman

Colorful Creek 8×10 oil by Byron

Landscape oil painting autumn trees by William Byron Hagerman

Color in the Canyon

landscape oil painting Arizona mountain vista by artist William Byron Hagerman

Arizona Vista 8×10 oil by Byron

Thanks for reading!

Plein Air Painting Benefits

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A New Plein Air Painting

I was recently able to experience the plein air painting benefits when coming upon an old red barn in a field full of red clover flowers. It simply could not be passed up. Below you can see my pochade box for plein air (out of doors) painting and my subject matter behind.

plein air painting with red barn and red clover

Plein air painting pochade box and view of scene

Red Barn and field of Red Clover plein air oil painting by William "Byron" Hagerman

Red Barn and Red Clover 8×10 oil by Byron

This painting with its easy title (Red Barn and Red Clover) will also be up for auction on eBay. It’ll end May 7th. You can access the auction from my profile page.

Bidding started at only .99 cents!

Benefits of Plein Air Painting

So what are the benefits of painting out of doors, versus working from a photo? Simply put, photos lie compared to what your own eyes can see. Camera’s are a distortion of reality. Although I find it essential in recording details and the fact it’s not always possible or practical to paint at some locations. However, painting from life increases your understanding of color, light and values more so than anything else. You also become aware of a camera’s limitations and how to work work with those limitations.

But, what if you don’t have the desire or it’s not practical to paint on location? Try taking just your paints, and mixing the colors you see and make notes in a journal. Sort of a color chart. Of course take a photo to remind you of your scene or do a pencil sketch… or both. So get out and give it a try! It’ll lend authenticity to your work.

If you need plein air painting supplies, here’s a link to Judson’s Art Outfitters. I purchased the 9×12 Guerilla Box years ago and it’s still going strong.

Other Recent Byron Signature Paintings

Landscape bluebonnet painting wtih oak tree and old house by William Byron Hagerman

I was feeling a little bit nostalgic for a classic view of one of my favorite flowers to include in my landscape paintings. (Bluebonnets!)

oil painting of white dogwood tree and wisteria by William " Byron" Hagerman

Now living in North East Texas, it’s been enjoyable to see a variety of trees and flowers not previously encountered. In several areas there were flowering Dogwood and wisteria growing up along fences and even up into the trees. Not to mention fields and fields of yellow flowers. So I decided to combine all three. Hope you enjoy these latest 3 Byron paintings!

How to Improve Your Paintings

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Learning how to improve your paintings, often boils down to experience in learning to self critique your work as you work.

Improve your paintings with the right mind-set

To have the right mind-set, think of your painting as a journey in which you want to lead your viewer through your painting without tripping along the path. In other words remove obstacles that could lead in the wrong direction or cause them to stop and stumble.

oil painting demo with a self critique

The following painting demonstration will show you some of my thought processes on how changes were made along the way to remove obstacles. This was a commissioned oil painting for a 24×36 bluebonnet with Indian Paintbrush flowers.

First up is the completed scene of “Interwoven Harmonies,” for reference.

The Journey

The painting’s journey begins as usual with a composition sketch using thinned ultramarine blue paint and a brush. Color is then applied starting with the darker cedar tree for comparison of adjacent areas. My goal before too many details is to cover the canvas as seen in the next photo.

Now that the canvas was covered I began adding details to the distant hills. First adjustment was to remove the dark cedar next to the oak tree as my eye went straight to it and it wasn’t a very important element.

Next more interest was added to the sky. Further analysis: Space division in the distant hills were too similar and uninteresting, so here the hills were modified.

The green grass (paint) has dried and now the pattern of bluebonnets and red Indian Paintbrush can begin.

More flowers are added along with a relocation of the rock patch.

More details and more flowers.

Our cat Hachi, the day before this photo jumped onto my palette and got ultramarine blue and umber on his paws. I told him if he wanted to paint to make himself useful and add in some more bluebonnets for me. I think he’s got some talent. He removed the patchy dirt and took out the yucca type plants on the right. Then he added a patch of dirt around the other cluster of yucca on the left. That was a good idea. However, at this point he told me he no longer wanted to be an artist. Painting bluebonnets was just too much work.

Despite Hachi’s talent he still didn’t address other weak areas. So here I’ve highlighted those stumbling blocks to a viewers journey in the painting.

Here you will see how some of the issues above were handled. Then I encountered another strange visual of an unintended tangent line that was noticeable from a distance in the bluebonnet patch.

Once again here’s the final painting for comparison. You’ll notice that another cloud was added to break the visual line of clouds as well as fixing the tangent line in the bluebonnet patch. Other tweaks were added here and there.

In Conclusion

Painting is about making choices. The end result is you want your viewer to go on the journey through your painting as you intend without tripping them up. Remember, that even if something is there in a reference, you don’t have to put it in. You can add and subtract elements, redesign them to enhance the visual impact of your work. I hope my “self critique” has illustrated that little improvements can make for a bigger visual impact and pleasant journey for your viewers.

Paris France Oil Painting Demo

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With this final segment of my Paris France oil painting demo, work is brought to completion. In the previous stage, refinements were made to the focal area.

The next step was to work on the building in the upper right which was still unfinished. Since this building is situated at a different angle to the light, it is kept cooler. Brush work is also minimized with sharper detail towards my clients wife in the window. The sharpness of contrast leads your eye to that area.

Moving On

Now that the primary buildings are mostly done, it’s time to move on to the building on the left. The goal for this section is to keep it more painterly and less detailed. This building brings balance to the heaviness of the composition on the right side, however it should not compete. Therefore, detail was minimized for the same reason as the upper section of the building on the right. Also, the building is in shadow, so all colors are kept to the cool side and kept to a darker value.

After this the next major element to be painted was the Eifel Tower. Enough detail was added to mimic the “texture” of the tower without rendering tight detail which kept it in the distance. Colors are kept subdued and within the overall color scheme. Keeping in mind, the tower although an important element is not the primary subject, but my client’s wife in the window.

Painting the Sky

After letting the painting dry, it’s time to go and finish the sky. More intensity of color is added and is applied with thicker paint and bolder brush work. More details and brush work are now added into the distance trees. The lone figure in the distance is painted in as well as the two gentlemen on the left engaged in conversation. A perspective bobble on a vertical line is corrected on the left building. I have so much valued the T-square in this painting!

The street is now repainted to represent the darker brick pavement. To make the street recede colors are kept cooler in the distance and warmer in the front. The basic mix was ultramarine blue and cadmium red medium towards the front with more cooler and lighter violet tones in the distance.

THE LAST STAGE of the Paris France Oil Painting Demo

Finally the last of the main elements being the Citroen car and the male figure on the sidewalk are painted in. More detail (subtle highlights) to mimic the texture of the brick street is also added.

A final refinement is bringing a veil of color onto the lower half of the middle building and some added highlights in a few spots. The darkening veil represents a long shadow from the trees in relation to the angle of light. And the few subtle highlights sets up an implied diagonal line from the light source pointing in a downward angle towards the primary subject of my client’s wife the star of the painting!

Here are a few details. Click the image for a larger view.

I hope you’ve enjoyed following along with this Paris France Oil Painting Demo and commissioned painting. If you would like to learn more about commissioned work, please see the following page. COMMISSIONS

A happy customer!

How to Choose a Color Palette

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When it comes to painting, no two artists seem to agree on how to choose a color palette. After all, painting is subjective as it reflects the temperament of the artist and his or her own color sense. A student or newcomer to painting is often left scratching their head as to what colors are best. It’s then compounded by so many choices as to brands of paint. This post hopefully will adequately address both issues.

COLOR SELECTION

When choosing a palette it should be capable of producing vivid mixtures of all 12 hues on the color wheel.
Basic color theory states that the 3 primaries of yellow, red and blue when intermixed will produce all other colors. Then along with white and black to produce tints and shades of those color is all that’s needed. In reality that’s not the case. What we often think of as being a primary yellow, red and blue from our childhood school days will not produce all the hues on a color wheel to their full spectrum of intensity.

A BETTER CHOICE ON HOW TO CHOOSE A COLOR PALETTE

In printing, inks used to reproduce a color image are yellow, cyan and magenta. Just like your printer at home. Paints closely matching this would be Cadmium Yellow Light or Pale, Permanent Rose or Quinacridone Rose and Phthalo Blue. The intensity of the secondary colors when mixing any two of these primary colors is much improved.

So are these 3 colors enough to produce a full spectrum range? Not really. It can further be improved by adding a purchased premixed color corresponding to one of the secondary colors in the green, violet and orange range. Which ones? The colors of choice are: Cadmium Orange (for Orange), Winsor Newton Permanent Green (for Green) and Dioxazine Purple. (for Violet) Adding Titanium White and either Ivory or Oxide black and you have a basic set of 6 colors plus white and black.

To get the most intensity, mix your primary with one of these tubed colors to get your remaining intermediate colors which are often referred to as tertiary colors. In the tests that I have done in mixing I found this set up to give a very intense range of spectrum hues. To lower the intensities of these bright colors, you can add its compliment or add a gray from a mixture of approximately half Ivory Black and half Raw Umber. This gray can be added to lower the intensities for most colors except for yellow and yellow orange. Why? The resulting mixture has a green cast. To over come this I mix one other gray for those colors. I use the Black/Umber mix and then add Permanent Rose until it takes on a hue of a dark violet. This will dull the yellow and yellow orange without it shifting green thus keeping it in the right color family.

The List of Basics

Cadmium Yellow Light or Pale (yellow)
Permanent Rose or Quinacridone Rose (red)
Phthalo Blue (Blue)
Cadmium Orange (Orange)
Dioxazine Purple (Violet)
Winsor & Newton Permanent Green (Green)
Titanium White
Ivory or Oxide Black
Raw Umber or Burnt Umber (if you plan to use it with black to make a gray to modify color intensities)

Likely you will not be painting with such vivid colors. To dull the intensity you mix their compliments. In theory those colors are opposite on the color wheel. Sometimes when working with these pigments a compliment that is not directly across may produce a more pleasing result. This is where actually taking your paint and mixing colors is beneficial. If you were a hair stylist you couldn’t call yourself one if you never cut hair. You can’t rely on the work of others. You have to do the work yourself. Mix your own colors. Learn how they interact as you mix. Stop relying on all those printed color wheels and charts. Make your own.

In time, you can add other colors to this basic set. I like having a variety such as the various earth tones in the dull orange and brown ranges such as Burnt Sienna or Transparent Oxide Red and Burnt Umber. Some colors have unique pigments and the way they behave in a mixture can’t be duplicated with this basic set. So having some optional colors expands your color range. In time you will find which colors fit your own aesthetics.

Brands of Paint

Just as deciding on which colors to buy, choosing within what brands can also be daunting from the amount of choices. In my opinion, buy the best you can afford. Price is a pretty good indicator as to quality. Good paints produce better color mixtures. I enjoy some colors in one brand as opposed to the same in another.

In the following link a rather extensive review is given regarding many of the popular brands of paint with pros and cons. I agree (for the most part) with statements on this site. Again it boils down to a personal choice. I hope this will give you a good starting point when it comes to choosing your palette of colors and the available brands of paint that are out there. Happy color mixing!

Benefits of Painting a Still Life

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You’re the Conductor!

What are the benefits of painting a still life? This question came back to mind while preparing paintings for my exhibit at the Winnsboro Art & Wine Festival. The show wouldn’t be complete without having a painting or two featuring the fruit of the vine (grapes) which I show here done by my alter ego Byron. A nice departure from my landscapes. There are several benefits of painting a still life and right off the bat you get to be the conductor of your painting!

Unlike landscapes you get to have total control over the lighting, color harmony and the subject matter. For landscapes you’re at the mercy of the weather. Many times I’ve wished for sunlight but instead overcast skies with no sign of them leaving anytime soon. Or hoping for brilliant fall foliage only to get dull shades of burnt orange or worse, no leaves on the trees! That brings us to another benefit: Timing!

No Timing Constraints; More Benefits of Painting a Still Life

Another advantage of painting a still life is that there are no time constraints. Unless of course you’re on a deadline to complete a painting or if you’re painting flowers and they’ve started to wilt or the fruit is starting to rot then that’s yucky. In which case you might be painting a little too slow. But, aside from those an artist can orchestrate a simple or complex composition as he or she wishes and study the scene at leisure with all it’s intricacies of color, light and shadow as it describes the various forms.

Since the scene is set and unmovable an artist will have ample time to work on drawing from life, which is an invaluable skill as opposed to seeing a flat image (photo) and drawing from it.

Still life paintings are also beneficial in that the objects form is more readily discernible. These forms are often oval, rectangular, cylindrical, cone shaped or combinations. These same geometric forms underlie objects in the landscape. If you learn to properly shade these forms in a still life with a single source of light, you will better understand how to shade other objects whose structure incorporates these various forms in the landscape.

Communicating a Theme

Another benefit of painting a still life, is being able to communicate a story. But, does that mean that all the objects have to relate to one another? If you wish for a rustic theme, does it mean you have to leave out something elegant or vice versa? No! As long as the theme visually harmonizes and creates interest. As an example here is a frame style combination that is both rustic and elegant. So they can work together, just as in a still life!

frame corner style of rustic and elegance

Rustic and Elegant frame style

The benefits of painting a still life are valuable both to the newbie artist and a good reminder to someone like me who hasn’t tried their hand at a still life in sometime. I have to say it was a lot of fun! Plus, I was able to render each of these still life paintings in one alla prima painting session. (All at once) Perhaps one day I will do a William Hagerman signature still life painting!

Would love to hear your thoughts about my still life work? As the Winnsboro show approaches I’ll be posting more of the art to be in the exhibit. Thanks for reading!

One last reminder before I go, is my latest eBay auction work going on now until 6PM Pacific Time on Tuesday October 18th. Fall is in the air in this mountain setting. Inspired by a trip near Trinidad, Colorado.

The Call of Autumn 9x12 oil by Byron for eBay auction

The Call of Autumn 9×12 oil by Byron for eBay auction

You can access the auction from my eBay profile page.

Critiquing Artwork

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Critiquing Artwork

In this post I will share some points on critiquing your artwork. A discussion with an art student brought this subject to mind.

At the time, we were talking about observable colors in some clouds. The student elicited the comment of “I wish I could see through your eyes.” Much of the work involved in painting whether it’s mixing color or arranging the composition involves a process of analysis and observations. Asking a series of questions designed to identify and solve problems is called….

The Artist’s Self Critique

Follow along as some self critique’s are applied in bringing the painting “Lunch Companions” to a completion.

The Reference Photo

Inspiration for “Lunch Companions” appeared while driving down a local street where an old building surrounded with cactus caught my attention. It will become the stage for the main characters which will include a donkey and two feathered lunch companions. However, color was lacking in the scene and the impact of the building’s hard geometric shape needed to be softened. To that end, a wisteria vine was added which will overlap the left of the building and extend onto the fence.

Composition Sketch
Thinned paint (ultramarine blue) and a brush is used for the sketch.

Blocking in the Initial Colors

After the initial blocking in of color, the cactus in the foreground demanded way too much attention. It had to go.

Bye, Bye Cactus

Since the paint wasn’t completely dry, odorless thinner was added to paper toweling and the cactus were wiped away. What remained was simply over painted. I liked the cactus in the original photo, so maybe just a few small ones on the left could remain.

The Final Analysis

However, in the final self critique, they too had to go. When looking at the painting compared with the final one, notice that your eye simply drops down to the cactus no matter where else you look. The foreground cactus offers no supportive role and become the uninvited guests and party crashers of the scene.

Once gone, peace returns to the composition. The focal area of the donkey, wisteria vine and chickens remains the focal area. Now the stars of the painting can finish their lunch time grazing in peace. If interested in purchasing this piece please contact me.