Techniques of Master Famous Artists; William Blake

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Paintings Techniques of William Blake

It is important to note that William Blake chose NOT to work in oils during a time when this was the most acceptable medium. Blake worked in a technique, which he, inaccurately, described as 'fresco'. It is a water-based medium more properly known as Tempera or Distemper. Unlike Egg Tempera where the egg is the medium, gouache or watercolour gum is used as the medium. For more on mediums, please see Mediums. Blake used rabbit-skin or carpenter's glue. The glue was very diluted and warmed.

In Blake's formative years the artist's palette was still limited. Although he tried to produce the maximum brilliance and purity of color, many times he failed. Only later in life was he able to experiment more with colors.

William's painting style was much like that of egg tempera and closely related to his engravings. He relied heavily on line drawing, developing a method allowing the underdrawing to show through. He also avoided heavy, opaque forms popular with his contemporaries. Because of the brittleness of the glue medium when dry, the final paint film was thin. The lightness of the ground formed the highlights and this was crucial to Blake's technique.

Blake Painting Detail

William Blake made many mistakes resulting in the deterioration of most of his works. Movement of the support, aging of the varnish and drying out of the glue have led to fine surface cracks and many losses of paint. Nevertheless, over the years, William Blake did evolve a method allowing him to preserve the drawings and achieve the effects he desired.

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Bibliography:
Blake in the Nineties, David Worrall, 1999
Techniques of the Great Masters of Art, Waldemar Januszczak, 1996

Also see
The Biography and Nude Paintings of William Blake
The Erotic Drawings of William Blake

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