Friday, August 14, 2015

Zephyr - Acrylic Dragon Painting Progress

Lately I've been experimenting with acrylic and working in simpler palettes, instead of using virtually every color in my collection.  This blue and green dragon contains only the following colors:

Titanium White
Mars Black
Phtalo Green
Colbalt Blue
Ultramarine Blue
Cerulean Blue
Naples Yellow
Raw Umber

Sketch:


Transfer to Matboard:
 The transfer paper I used is actually very light, but I used an 8B pencil to darken the lines before painting. I used a sheet of acid-free greenish matboard as a base.


Value:
With grays mixed with a little Pthalo Green, I began painting in the values.


Completed Values:
With the value painting complete, I'm ready to begin adding colors.  Since I already have basic shadows and highlights, I simply need to add colors in glazes.


Glazing:
 I use very thin layers of paint over the lightest areas, and use thicker paint for the shadows. I don't want black or gray shadows, which is why I pay closer attention to adding more layers of color over shadows.  I also start painting in scale details.


Details:
 Since the glazes add a little value of their own, even if transparent washes, it's necessary to darken shadows and lighten highlights after.


Final Painting: