FOUR-Letters -- Gray Painting

STEP ONE -- Inspiration
Watch the video on Robert Indiana.

 

Step Two--Sketch An Idea

1. Get an 8.5"x 11" white print paper.
2. Draw a 6-inch square in the middle of the paper.
3. Sub-divide the square into 4 equal squares (3-inch squares).
4. Think of a four-letter word (cannot be slang). 
5. Design a letter in each square (think Robert Indiana here ... how would he do it?). Letters should appear like shapes, not linear in quality.
6. Each letter should touch at least 2 sides of that square that contains it. See example below -- click to enlarge. 
7. Get tracing paper and trace the square and letters. Save the tracing paper as it will be used for two painting projects.

Step Three: Shading For A Grade

1. Using your different pencils, begin carefully and accurately shading each letter with a different value. 
2. Each value should be distinctly different; show good contrast between each one.
3. After you shade your letters, shade the shapes around the letters. 

Step Four: Trace and Transfer

Using your traced imaged (before shading), transfer two times to a 12 x 6-inch railroad board. (See my example.)

Step Five: Painting

Coloring Scheme Directions: Achromatic (no color -- grays only, including black and white) and Complementary Colors with its Tones

1. Paint one of your words using only black, white and grays.
   
2. Try to match the same values as the "value study" that was done in pencil.
3. For Word #2 -- Choose a Complementary Color Scheme ... A complementary color scheme uses two colors that are directly opposite of each other on the color wheel. For example: Red and Green, or Yellow and Violet, or Blue and Orange. Even Tertiary colors like red-violet and yellow-green could work, as well as others.