fauxfresh's sketchbook

[fauxfresh]

It's usually better to stay zoomed out for as long as you can, especially in a study, when you zoom in too close too soon, the details become overwhelming and you can get lost in them, noodle for hours on something unimportant, and lose the "bigger picture" in the process. Try to get the big shapes, colours and values down first, even in the detailed foreground areas. Don't forget that this is about analysing and understanding what you see, not about copying the photo down to the last pixel.

Brushes are a personal preference, there's really nothing you "have to use", and you could do it all with just a hard round, but generally, textured brushes like the chalk you're using are a very good choice to start landscapes, as they simplify your workflow by adding quite some "detail" all on their own. For the final details, many people switch back to just a hard round though.

Good job so far, keep it up! :)

Thank you so much for the advice!  I'll definitely try and stay zoomed out more during my studies.

I didn't realize that's what I was doing, but  you are right I was definitely just trying to copy each pixel basically. 

Is it ever appropriate to try and do something like that? When I look at paintings with really high levels of detail in the rendering, how does one get that ability? Does it just come with time or is there a specific practice for that sort of thing?