How to Think When Painting Realism - Artist Advice

In this video I explain how you should think when working on your painting. Watch the video to see what I mean.

For more about the paint that I use visit:

[Thepurpleful]

I had no clue! I was thinking to myself "This student must be a basic beginner!" I thought it looked terrible. Haha! Come to find out it was done by the master himself! Wow. I am humbled. Hahaha!

[kbowler]

I really had decided to give up on painting because I was struggling too much with color and value. I am going to go back and work on it with these lessons and I feel confident I will be able to make some progress and do a nice painting. Thank you for being so generous and teaching.

[CitizenOfTheWorld]

My impression of the “student’s work” was: “I don’t know? The colors look lovely, the brush strokes look fresh and competent... I wish I could paint like that. I wonder what Mark is going to say is so wrong with this effort.” Of course I was not only relieved to find out this was not an amateur effort but was delighted that is was also a master work by Sargent— one of my great favorite painters! Mark, you ol’ trickster! I am really going to take Mark’s advice here deeply to heart; I definitely fall into the trap of getting lost in the detail of texture at the expense of value and impact. I can’t wait to apply this wisdom. I very much appreciate this channel and all of Mark’s valuable instruction.

[YamiHW]

At the beginning I was thinking that the image was too close up for me to tell if it really looked like fabric or not 😂😂😂 you're a great teacher, your explanations are very helpful and understandable 👍

[nettierg]

I know this video is 5 years old, but this will really help me overcome that close up perfection problem. Thanks!

[venetiancat]

Your videos are so incredibly helpful-been painting on and off for over 50 years, and I've made more progress in the last couple of months watching your videos (and also Jason Walcott) than I have in all the years I've been painting. I no longer fight with the medium, and it has become a true JOY! Thank Mark!

[DrJeeps]

Another excellent lesson. Thank you very much! I have consciously tried in recent years to paint more loosely and have learned to stand back from the painting to see its true representation of what I'm trying to paint. I was looking at a Sargent painting a few years ago when I was astounded by how he conveyed so much detail in such broad, loose brush strokes. Up close it looked like abstract art. But, from 10-15 feet

[BashaerB-hc]

I paint in landscapes and personally I enjoy painting tiny details. The reason is, because I like to think if this painting was left in a room with one person to admire it for an hour would they get bored quickly? Painting thick strokes that give the overall message of the painting in an accurate way, is impressive and cuts down in time. It also gives you a chance to produce more paintings.. However if you can process and take in the painting quickly it takes away the fun of zooming in the painting and discovering new details and elements. For example in Albert Bierstadt paintings (landscapes), I could stare at it for over an hour (not exaggerating) and I still will find new places I didn't notice before. For me that is the reason why painting in great detail is worth it even if the majority of the audience won't give it more than 10 seconds to look at. This is why on the internet quick paintings that are pretty and easy to understand are usually more popular and mainstream. Just look at instagram small illustrations of a plant can get thousands of likes when a masterpiece full of depth and details gets a thousand at most. Plus it's harder to admire a masterpiece through a screen that's why simple paintings sell so well on mainstream art communities.

[annacollier]

"Stefan Baumann subscribers also watch this channel"
Thanks YouTube for a brilliant recommendation. I love art teachers who don't show you how to do things but rather tell you how to go about figuring stuff out yourself and just point you in the right direction. Both are helpful but the latter seems much harder to find! I am now subscribed to this channel. Many thanks!

[agentsmith]

Great lesson. I found that my best paintings look wrong when I look at them close but when I step out everything comes in the right place . Thank you very much .

[SebastianTinajero]

I had a feeling that was a Sargent painting by the colors and brush strokes plus he was fantastic at fabric! Great lesson I always aim to paint loosely I try and stop myself whenever I start focusing to much on detail.

[sofiereads]

Im a high schooler and i love that specific painting and the artists other works. I knew immediately it was theirs.

[RealmsOfThePossible]

This is what I love about the techniques of Gainsborough too, look close up and it's a mess but stand back and it's spellbinding :)

[EdgarKohl]

My approach to hyperrealism is not merely reserved to painting from existing photos that has already been captured with a camera, i only resort to using photos as reference when i paint on canvas from Memories and Visual experiences a camera cannot not reach.

[robyn]

I wish you were in Augusta, Ga.!!! The way you explain things makes me feel at ease being a self taught oil painter...Its more of a learning process still, but I am fascinated with it! Teaching myself to oil paint 2 years ago was my way of therapy from abuse. Its saved my life. Thank u for your wonderful video's.💖

[raulrubencolunga]

For some reason it made me laugh loud when you said that the painting was from Sargent, and I laughed because I was shocked not only by that fact (which is awesome), but also by the awesomely clear way you use to illustrate things.

[rodcav]

WOW I learned so much in the first 50 seconds of this video..just by being tricked into believing the cloesup was a begiining students work..then to discover its the work of master painter JS Sargent...taught me me so much about how to, allow your self to be free with your stroke, just capturing the gesture of the drapery with the correct values and

[gladiateur]

I miss your videos when we see you painting. I hope you have one coming our way.

[mazartistry]

It’s so true what you say. I visited the National portrait gallery in London in February and was able to see the Sargent paintings. It’s amazing to see so little detail but when you step back it looks realistic. I took quite a few photos close up for reference.

[BigDaddyZakk]

Hah, I'm glad you were messing around there at the beginning.
My first thought was "well, when you get that close to even a masters painting it just breaks down into a simple series a brush work". That and the fact that it's clearly well done work that was created by someone who knows exactly what they're doing, even from that close up.
The values and hues give it away, so luminous and beautiful.