Planning Out a Painting in Miniature
Use thumbnail sketching to develop strong compositional ideas quickly and efficiently.
In a thumbnail sketch, we quickly work through broad-scale compositional challenges and begin to establish the main, underlying structure of a future painting. This means making decisions about how specific shapes will be sized, located, and shaded within the picture plane. Thumbnail sketches, in the early stages of picture planning, are not for resolving details.
How to create thumbnail sketches
To create a useful thumbnail sketch you must consider the broadest, most general tonal relationships in your sketch. Global, macro-, big picture information is what we’re focusing on. Details, tunnel vision, micro-, small-thinking is not what we’re focusing on.
In the image at the top of this post, I began by making a series of small frames; I drew digitally in an area roughly the size of an ordinary drawing pad. Then using black, white, and two versions of gray (light and dark), I experimented by placing shapes of varying sizes and tonal values within each frame. I kept loose and adjusted quickly until I had something I liked, then attempted to make a contrasting composition inside the next frame. For example, if there was a large, dark object in the lower right, maybe I’d make the upper third dark in the following sketch. I wasn’t paying too much attention on making a “realistic” picture, just an interesting one.
It is important to make many, small, quick sketches, not just one or two. Be fast, but don’t be sloppy; use each thumbnail sketch to investigate an idea, and then move on. Toss the ones that aren’t working, or return later to correct them.
Later I added color, keeping the composition roughly the same—the same shapes of the same tonal values and sizes in the same locations. Almost any color will work if the tonal structure is good.
How to use thumbnail sketches
You will identify certain compositions that you like and want to explore further (this is why it’s important to make many small sketches). Take the ones you like and begin to enlarge and develop them on another sheet of paper. You may realize that some research is necessary, for example if you’d like to add a farm wagon to your image but don’t know how to draw one, you’d look that up at this point. Also, separate thumbnail sketches of wagons, wagon parts, or how shadows fall across wagons, might be relevant.
As you become more familiar with your own composition, and remain true to the initial arrangement of light and dark shapes, your finished painting will emerge and feel just as strong and interesting as that first sketch did.
Conclusion
Thumbnailing is an essential tool for developing strong compositions. You can practice by copying well-known paintings in miniature, or by inventing compositions as described in this article. Use an opaque medium like gouache or acrylic, and correct and clarify your shapes and tonal contrast until each miniature painting is solid, before developing it as a series of larger sketches—and finally—a finished work of art.
Change to subscriber benefits
In an effort to give greater value to paying subscribers while still making plenty of useful information available to free subscribers, the most recent three weeks of free articles will now be available to all readers. After that they will become archived and available to paying subscribers (previously I had been offering the most recent three months’ worth of writing for free).
Nice timing! I was starting into a larger drawing with indian ink and brushes today, but once I got the pencil done I realised I didn’t really know what marks I would make that would suit the fur(baby bison) so I picked up a smaller piece of paper and just did a quick run down to experiment lines and stuff. Very useful to help visualise ideas
Really enjoyed this article. Had my surgery and can’t wait to get home and start putting this article to use. I had thumbnail print painting in one of your classes and this makes it so much clearer.
Thank you,