Alright, so I gotta tell you about this Franz von Stuck guy. Saw his stuff online a while back, maybe at the museum website? Those paintings, man, they got this creepy vibe but also kinda beautiful, like dark magic trapped on canvas. Really stuck with me (no pun intended!). Always wondered how he made them glow like that. So, this week, I figured why not try some of his symbolist painter tricks myself? See if I can crack some secrets.
Digging into the Weirdness
First thing, I needed some visual targets. Poked around the web, really looking close at, say, that famous ‘Sin’ painting with the lady and the snake. What jumped out?
- Crazy lighting: Not real-world stuff, man. More like he aimed a spotlights at his figures from below or behind, making everything feel supernatural. Lots of deep dark pools.
- Skin like polished rock or metal: Seriously, the people look carved sometimes, shiny but unreal. Not soft flesh at all.
- Texture wars: Some spots slick as glass, then bang, thick gobs of paint right next door, especially in the dark shadows.
Okay, felt intimidating. But hey, gotta start somewhere. Pulled out my paints – regular oils, nothing fancy. Got some stuff together: usual brushes, a palette knife, and weirdly… a piece of crumpled tinfoil and some old rags. Saw somewhere Stuck might’ve used unconventional tools.
Playing in the Dark
Slapped a basic outline onto my canvas. Wanted a figure emerging from gloom. Started laying in the background, thick and dark. Mixed black with deep blues and purples. No soft blending here. Left it kinda rough, layers showing through.
For the figure, this is where I tried to force that Stuck lighting. Took a pale, cool color and painted highlights only where my pretend light source would hit – like the curve of a shoulder, the cheekbone. Everything else? Left it super dark. Pushed the contrast way harder than felt natural. Felt wrong, like I was messing up, but kept telling myself “symbolist, not reality!”
Tried making that skin look polished. Used way more medium than usual with the lighter paint for a smooth layer. Then, while wet, gently wiped away some color in the shadows with a clean rag dipped slightly in solvent. Sounds counter-intuitive, but it leaves this weirdly smooth, almost luminous transition, kinda like how Stuck’s lit areas seem to emerge from nowhere.
Getting Dirty with Texture
This was the messy part. Took the palette knife loaded with thicker, darker paint and just scraped it onto the canvas background. Left peaks and ridges. Then, grabbed that crumpled tinfoil. Dabbed it right into wet black paint and pressed it onto the dried background near the figure. What a surprise! It left all these complex, broken patterns and deep textures, instantly made it look more… heavy? Atmospheric? Like ancient stone maybe. Could kinda see how he built up those wild textures without spending years.
Final touch? That eerie glow. Took a tiny bit of super pale yellow almost white and mixed it with a drop of oil for transparency. Very lightly touched it over the highest points of the highlight areas. Bam! It didn’t explode with light, but it gave that subtle inner glow Stuck mastered.
What Actually Happened
Honestly, it felt chaotic while I was doing it. Kept thinking “this is too much, this is ugly!” Definitely didn’t paint a masterpiece. Took a step back when I was done though, squinted at it… and you know what? It definitely felt Stuck-ish. Had that theatrical light, the unreal shiny skin bit, the heavy texture in the darkness. Using the tinfoil was a crazy simple hack that worked shockingly well.
Biggest thing I figured out? It isn’t about perfect technique. It’s about pushing things way further than feels comfortable – wild light, unnatural surfaces, gritty textures next to smooth ones. Using tools you wouldn’t normally think of just to get an effect. He wasn’t showing the world as it is; he was trying to show what’s beneath it, or above it, or something. It’s more mood than reality. My little messy experiment sucked compared to his work, obviously, but it gave me a real feel for how his brain must have worked. Heavy on the drama, heavy on the technique tricks.
