The Bullfight

Full size image available HERE

Thanks largely to Hemingway, bullfighting is deemed typically Spanish. For the most part bullfighting has largely disappeared in Spain, with some moves to ban it completely.  It is now largely a tourist attraction more than  it is a Spanish popular sport. Here is the sequence...

1. Marking out the main components. On this occasion I use pinpricks to mark out key golden mean sections on the paper, and then mark them in with water soluble pencil, sometimes referred to as watercolour pencils. I have marked out the location of the bullfighter's head, where the cape is going to be located, and the general components of the bull.

2. The general location and relationship of all the components of the scene are now located on the page. I have also marked in two banderillas (little spears the bullfighter must stick in the bull) to indicate at what stage of the fight this scene would typically be taking place.

3. Putting some "body" into the picture. Essentially the darker areas will be where I work texture into the scene.

4. Beginning to paint in the texture, thinking about shade and shadow at this point, and how to indicate the movement of the figures.

5. Added some highlights and I used a technical drawing pen to mark in some key detail for further development.

6. Specific areas worked over to give depth and texture to the finished work.

I hope you found this post, and the watercolour interesting. I hope to have another post up today, some sketches from around the village of Naredo de Fenar in mainland Spain, a place I spend my summer months in.

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