Up: [[Art Fundamentals]] Created: 2023-03-06 Updated: 2024-09-12 Titian is credited with inventing the underpainting technique in the 16th century. Some of the artists who used underpainting were Leonardo da Vinci, Johannes Vermeer and Rembrandt van Rijn. ## Two Kinds of Underpainting - Tonal grounds — a single wash of colour covering the canvas; used today sometimes by people who can’t handle working on a blank white canvas and need to get something down first. - Tonal — also usually just one colour, but the artist uses different tones of that colour to map out the light and dark areas of the painting. ## Other Names for Underpainting It's called **imprimatura** meaning *first paint layer* if you use browns. Or **grisaille** if you’re using black and white. The old masters usually used a warm earth tone like raw umber, but not Titian. He did multicolour underpainting ## Advantages to Underpainting - Break resistance to a blank canvas - Set the mood of the painting - Create the illusion of light if you contrast the top layer against a complementary under layer. For this to work, you need to use layers of glaze because they allow light to bounce off the paint layers. That also give more luminous colour. - Show the artist where things need to be corrected because that’s easier to see with a single colour and easier to fix ## Mediums that Use Underpainting Underpainting is used most often with oils. However, there are a number of articles online urging acrylic artists to use underpainting because it helps you plan out tones and where the various colours will go, and all of that makes the painting more cohesive. It's also possible to underpaint soft pastels. I found that it adds a nice depth to the colours and it makes colours easier to blend. See [[Underpainting a Soft Pastel Water Lily]]