Art Basics: Transferring a drawing to canvas.

I enjoy documenting the processes I use in creating some art pieces, so I thought I'd share.  This process of transferring a drawing on paper to a canvas is a very basic process and it could be achieved a few different ways.  I chose to use the charcoal transfer method (like using carbon paper) after I enlarged my drawing in photoshop.  Here are some photos to guide through the process:

Here's the sketch I began in three stages of development.  The concept is a continuation of the Head and Hand series as documented HERE.


So first you complete a sketch you like, and you definitely should like it A LOT or enough to not mind tracing it three times.  I am pretty satisfied with this sketch, I might have repositioned the lower hand to create a more interesting space around the jaw line, but I like  the softness of the expression of that hand enough to see what it could do for the finished painting.  The original sketch should have strong contrast so that you can trace the areas of light and dark as flat shape which makes the painting go much smoother with better results.

Next you make a line drawing from the sketch by using tracing paper and simply tracing the image.


Since I want to go from a small sketch to a large canvas I decided to use photoshop to blow the image up .  You could also use the grid method as shown in a video HERE.  After scanning the image, I laid it out in photoshop on four 8.5"x11" pages so I could print it in four sections.



Once printed, cover the back of each page with charcoal or soft pastel, flip it over and position it on the canvas.  I use a pen black or blue to trace the image on the paper so that my marks are darker than the printout and I don't repeat any lines.  In this case, since I had four separate pages to trace, I went ahead and traced the transfer on the canvas with a pencil immediately after laying it down so that I wouldn't smear it as I worked on tracing the other sheets.



There will likely be some gaps to fill in and some lines that weren't transfered dark enough.  Using pastel leads to a darker transfer than the charcoal.

Next step is to add paint!  I'll post updates throughout the week on that process.  A print will likely be available along with the current ones at www.etsy.com/shop/hybridtribes, sometime in the next two weeks.