How to Draw Quito Art

What You'll Need

• •A smooth wood panel, basswood or air-dry modeling medium for a relief or small carved form; for a purely drawn study, use heavyweight paper with a warm gray ground.
• •Gesso or acrylic primer, fine sandpaper, and small sculpting or carving tools for establishing a clean, sealed surface.
• •Acrylic, gouache, or oil pigments in umber, ochre, vermilion, muted blue, deep red, ivory, and near-black, plus skin-color mixtures.
• •Imitation gold leaf or metallic gold paint, a fine pointed brush, and a scribing tool for creating gilded estofado patterns.
• •Soft and pointed brushes, a rigger brush for hair and incised ornament, and a sponge or cloth for subtle texture.
• •A pressure-sensitive tablet with layers, a textured brush set, and software such as Krita, Procreate, Photoshop, or Clip Studio Paint.

Step by Step

1. 1

   1. Choose a devotional pose and establish the silhouette

   Begin with a simple, emotionally legible action: an open hand blessing, hands gathered in prayer, a figure holding a small object, or a protective gesture toward the viewer. Make a thumbnail in three values so the head, hands, and major garment mass read before you add detail. Use a slightly frontal or three-quarter pose, with the torso calm and the hands providing the main expressive movement. Keep the silhouette uncluttered, since candlelit figures depend on a strong outer contour.

2. 2

   2. Build the figure with a believable underdrawing or armature

   Mark the centerline of the head, shoulder tilt, rib cage, pelvis, elbows, wrists, and knees before rendering clothing. Use an egg-shaped skull, a wedge for the rib cage, and simple cylinders for limbs, then check that the joints actually support the pose. For a relief or small sculpture, create a shallow armature and preserve extra material around the face, fingers, and folds. For a painting, keep this construction layer visible at low opacity until the proportions and gesture feel stable.

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   3. Model the face and expressive hands

   Place the eyes around the midpoint of the head, then build the brow ridge, nose plane, cheek masses, mouth, and chin as connected forms rather than isolated symbols. Use asymmetry sparingly: one eyelid can lift slightly, or the mouth can rest unevenly, to create a lifelike devotional expression. Treat each finger as a tapered form with a knuckle rhythm, and overlap fingers clearly in prayer or blessing gestures. Reserve the darkest accents for the eyelids, nostrils, finger separations, and corners of the mouth so the face remains gentle rather than harsh.

4. 4

   4. Prepare the surface and separate flesh, wood, and cloth

   Seal and smooth the support with gesso, leaving only enough tooth for paint to grip; lightly sand raised areas while keeping carved or modeled texture in the hair and folds. Block the exposed flesh with a warm middle tone, the garment with a dark local color, and the wood or base with a subdued brown. Do not shade everything with black, because traditional polychrome effects depend on colored shadows such as red-brown, violet-brown, and green-gray. Keep the face, hands, and visible feet slightly smoother than the garment so the tactile hierarchy is clear.

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   5. Paint the encarnación and lifelike volume

   Build flesh in thin layers from a warm ochre-pink foundation through cooler halftones on the temples, jaw, and eye sockets. Add restrained reddish notes to cheeks, lips, knuckles, ears, and the tip of the nose, then soften transitions with a clean, lightly damp brush or a low-opacity digital brush. Place small, carefully controlled highlights on the forehead, nose bridge, cheekbone, and lower lip rather than coating the entire face in white. Finish with fine lines for brows, lashes, and subtle creases, varying their thickness so the result does not look mechanically outlined.

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   6. Create naturalistic drapery and polychrome color

   Start each fold at a physical cause such as a shoulder, elbow, belt, grasping hand, or gathered hem, and let the fold widen or collapse according to the fabric's weight. Paint a middle color first, then place broad shadow channels inside valleys and narrow highlights along turning ridges; repeat the pattern with variation instead of making parallel stripes. Use deep crimson, blue, green, cream, or brown as related garment families, keeping one dominant color and one supporting color. Add small wear marks and uneven pigment edges near hems and raised areas to suggest a handmade painted surface.

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   7. Add gilding and scratched estofado ornament

   Apply gold leaf or metallic gold paint over selected garment zones, borders, halos, or accessories rather than covering every surface. Once the gold layer is stable, place a thin translucent color glaze over it and gently scratch or scribe lines through the color to reveal the gold beneath. Create repeating leaf, vine, geometric, or floral motifs that follow the direction of the fabric, changing scale around folds so the design feels integrated rather than stamped on. In digital work, place gold on a separate layer, add a warm reflected glow, then use a textured eraser or mask to uncover irregular lines.

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   8. Finish hair, tactile details, and candlelit theatricality

   Design hair as grouped locks first, then add individual strands only around the hairline, curls, beard edges, and a few illuminated clumps. Introduce small tactile signals such as carved tool marks, raised trim, chipped pigment, tiny beads, lace-like edges, or a matte-versus-gloss contrast between skin and metal. Light the figure from one low, warm candle source placed to the side or below eye level, with amber highlights and deep brown-violet shadows. Add a subdued background, reflected light on the shadow side, and a soft halo of warm haze so the final image feels intimate, theatrical, and devotional rather than brightly studio-lit.

Going Digital

Work in layers named construction, flesh, garment base, shadows, highlights, gold, ornament, hair, and atmosphere. Begin with a textured warm-gray or umber ground, use a hard brush for facial planes and hands, and use a chalk, bristle, or dry-paint brush for gesso, wood, and cloth texture. For gold, combine a mustard base with pale yellow highlights, orange-brown occlusion, and a few sharp near-white reflections; do not rely on a flat yellow fill. Use a soft Multiply layer for candlelit shadows, an Overlay or Color layer for warm reflected light, and a mask with a scratchy brush to imitate estofado reveal marks. Flip the canvas frequently and zoom out often to ensure the face, hands, and silhouette remain readable.

Common Mistakes

FAQ