Study: building a figure from shadow shapes alone
The most transferable thing about Sargent's watercolours is not the brushwork. It is the fact that he could construct a completely readable figure out of four or five flat shadow shapes, with no drawing underneath and no modelling on top. That is a value-structure skill, and it can be practised deliberately.
Violet — The daylight shadow family.
| Pigment | Parts | Hex |
|---|---|---|
| Cobalt Violet | 3 : 7 (43%) | #7B5C8E |
| Burnt Sienna | 2 : 7 (29%) | #9A5A32 |
| French Ultramarine | 1 : 7 (14%) | #2E4A7D |
| Cadmium Red Light | 1 : 7 (14%) | #D9553F |
- Ask a sitter to stand in a doorway with a single light source to one side, or use a photograph with an unambiguous single light.
- Draw nothing. Start by painting the largest shadow shape as a single flat wash. It should be one shape, not a graduated form.
- When it is dry, paint the second-largest shadow shape, overlapping the first by a sliver.
- Continue until every shadow shape is laid. Do not paint any light shapes at all during this stage.
- Judge the result: if the drawing reads correctly with shadow shapes only, the structure is right.
- Now add the light shapes, at higher chroma and one full value step up, keeping each as a single flat shape.
- Add reflected light only where a shadow shape meets a light shape, using the shadow mix diluted four to one.
No drawing underneath
Working without a pencil drawing is not bravado; it is a constraint that forces the shadow shapes to carry the structure. If you draw first, the shapes can be approximate and the drawing will still read, which means you never learn where the shape boundaries actually need to be.
The first three shadow shapes decide the whole study. If the largest one is wrong in value, no amount of subsequent accuracy will fix it, so it is worth mixing that one colour three times before committing.
Why the shadows are violet
Cobalt violet at three parts to two parts burnt sienna and one part ultramarine gives a shadow that is cool and slightly granular but not blue. Warm skin in shadow is a desaturated violet, not a darker skin tone — the single most common colour error in figure painting.
The cadmium red is not for the shadows. It goes in the light shapes at one part in five, where it keeps the lit areas from looking grey against the violet.
Judging the study in a mirror
A half-finished study judged directly is almost always over-judged: you see the shapes you intended rather than the shapes you made. A mirror reverses the image and defeats that intention, and a value error that was invisible becomes obvious in under a second.
Do this at the shadow-only stage, not at the end. If the shadow-only version reads correctly in a mirror, the finished study will work.
What matters
- No pencil drawing: the constraint forces shadow shapes to carry the structure.
- Mix the largest shadow colour three times before committing — it decides the whole study.
- Warm skin in shadow is a desaturated violet, not a darker skin tone.
- Judge the shadow-only stage in a mirror; if it reads there, the finished study will work.
Handling note — Technique notes only. This is an original technical exercise inspired by a historical approach, not a reproduction of any specific artwork.