Here you will get to know more about the way i draw and paint, how i decide what kind of paper or what material i use, whats important to know about different colours or materials. 

You will also find a little step by step explanation how i get from a simple sketch in the beginning to a finished portrait in the end.

To get the best results in the smallest details i choose unstructured paper.

In the following pictures you can see the difference between plain and structured paper:

In the following pictures I will show step by step how to get from a sketch with pencil (sepia brown when i use pastel or aquarell) to a finished portrait drawn with charcoal. 

This drawing shows 4 faces (usually i have only one to draw). But the procedur is always the same - draw with charcoal and then smear it with fingers, create shades until the lines look not that hard anymore.

In this drawing i have to do 4 times - draw and smear... so i start in the left upper corner the same way i use to write... - left - right and then under till its done as you can see in the photos below.

Now i do the same step by step with dark black charcoal...just with more attentions to the details.

My hand i put on another paper for more balance without that i could smear by accident the charcoal that got already drawn on paper.

Now it's almost finish.

Just the "lights" need to get placed. The "lights" are all those parts, usually shined on by light. this is it what makes it look three dimensional - for example the sparkle in the eyes or the shine in the hair or lighten places in the face etc.

This i do with an eraser for charcoal... something a bit like plasticine...just that it takes the charcoal off from the paper till it looks alive.

With watercolors the paper thickness is very important so waved paper can be prevented by using more water.

I use always paper stengh of at least 190g/㎠

It makes sense to use cardboard.

Also canvas paper or even stretched canvas offer a good alternative, especially if you want to dispense with a framing.

Lightfast colors ensure that sun rays do not bleach your image. You have more pleasure in bright colors.

Illustrations and cartoons I always draft with pencil.

Often I create several sketches for orientation before I decide on a variant.

Is the pencil drawing complete, I use a gel or ink pen along the pencil lines.

Should the image to be colored, I tend to use crayons, wax crayons or watercolors.

In the latter, I paint along the pencil lines at the very end, in order to avoid mixing ink or gel pen with water colors.

With oel and acrylic I paint on canvas, canvas paper and hardboard.

Compared to oil work I prefer the painting with acrylic.

Oil paintings very often have up to a year to dry till a special final varnish can be applied.

If speed up the process too much, it can cause the color to tears. It can also look splitted if the varnish gets used too soon.

Even without varnish oel needs way longer to dry than acrylic. It is not recommended for "urgent" orders.

Acrylic serves the same purpose and is also health-friendly and more eco-friendly than oel.

The left image below is an acrylic-sepia mix and the right image an oel painting.

I work with acrylic or oil, I first sketch with charcoal or sepia.

Usually I use no more than 5 colors to paint with.