Underpainting:
Basic values in gray, with a greenish gray background. At this point I am to find the light and shadow.
Basic Details:
Details, still in grays. I start to tighten the detail on the feathers and face.
Color:
Here I start putting in glazes of color, going thicker where I want more vibrant color. Since I already have my shadows established, I can simply concentrate on color. I also deepen the shadows that went dull with the glazes with more color, for example adding a bit of green and black with the burnt sienna to make a deep, rich shadow for the feathers. I'm only using a few colors at this point - burnt sienna and green gold for the feathers, with black and white.
Final Details:
I add a bit of green and raw umber to the background to really make the reds of the gryphon pop. To make the palette even more interesting, I add just a touch of permanent rose and dioxazine purple to the rearmost feathers. All in all the colors I used were:
Burnt Sienna
Hooker's Green
Green Gold
Burnt Ochre
Permanent Rose
Dioxazine Purple
Raw Umber
Mars Black
Titanium White
Unbleached Titanium (for some areas where I wanted a less stark white)
Phthalocyanine Green (for the jewel details)
Colbalt Blue (just a touch for the cool gray of the beak)
Your work is Beautiful!! You render the detail of feathers most skillfully. I always loved the Gryphon, and you paint them very true to life from their raptor origins.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I try to make my gryphons as anatomically accurate to their bird and feline bases :)
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