Majestic Monster
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I have finally finished all of the paintings that have been somewhat within my comfort zone. I started painting my skinwalker. This was an interesting painting and instead of drawing up an outline, I ended up free-handing the whole design on the canvas. I wanted this painting to be very dark and mysterious and I think I got a pretty successful outcome.
As usual, I started with the background. I often do a wash before I start painting and with this painting, I really loved how the wash looked. I painted most of the background black and dark brown, leaving everything very dark. For the area where the trees were, I used a dark green for the wash. I was very happy with how the wash for the trees looked so I only added a bit of light and dark green paint on top to add more depth but otherwise keep the look. I don’t often let much of the wash show through so this painting was interesting with the lighter spots showing through. I was really nervous when I started painting the skinwalker because it was a very dark painting but I had to make sure it was light enough that the details showed through. I painted the body very dark with some highlights and let the bottom slowly darken into the background. I liked the way the shadows worked and was glad I could use highlights to pull the subject from the background. I personally think the head ended up way too light but I was so happy with the shading and blending of the paint that I didn't want to do too much to change it. Despite it being too light for the lighting of the painting it really helped get across the point that the head was an animal skull. I also really liked the floating glowing eyes which made it creepier. After I finished the main subject, I added some bushes around the skinwalker to make it seem more like it was hiding or watching. I added some white and yellow highlights in the background with teeth to make it seem like there were more watching more hidden. This definitely wasn’t my favorite painting, but I’m still very happy with the outcome. It was outside my comfort zone and it was a challenge. But this is why I wanted to do this painting series. To push my limits and try new things.
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This is by far my favorite painting! For as long as I can remember I have always loved mermaids and sirens. They are so cool and the designs people have come up with are absolutely amazing. I did a bit of research for this painting and took a few different reference photos when coming up with my design. Part of why I love this painting is because shortly before I created my design I was doing a bunch of sketches and found a very different style that I now love to use when drawing human or human shaped creatures.
I as usual started out with drawing up my design and copying it onto my canvas. I decided to be a bit more creative and slightly outside my comfort zone with this one and tried to create a mermaid/Siren hybrid. So some of the more human features were more pointed and elegant. This will come back into play when I start talking about the color choice. I was hesitant with the background because I don't really have any experience with making water in any medium. So I started with a base color that was a greenish blue. It was a darker color because I wanted the mermaid herself to stand out. I didn’t want to make the same mistake I made in my last painting. I added a few bubbles and strands of seaweed in the background as well as a single fish.. I decided to add some brighter highlights coming down from the top of the canvas almost like a spotlight on her. I thought it would add a bit of character and help lead the eye through the painting. The rock she was sitting on was fairly simple to paint although I wish I'd added some blue to it to help with the illusion that it's underwater. Besides that I think it turned out very well. Lastly! My favorite part! I chose three colors for the body hair and tail. Red, Green and purple. I started with the tail and painted it a solid purple. I painted a green outline for the fins and used watered down green pink and white to add a transparent look to it. Once I shaded the tail I felt something was missing and added some lighted watered down lines through her tail instead of scales to add subtle texture. I then moved onto the body which I painted green. I wanted the bright color instead of skintones to add more to the idea of her alson being part siren. (See I told you i would bring up the mermaid/siren hybrid later;) ) I used a more mint green for the overall color than used different hues and shades to add detail and depth. When I first started the hair I used a very bright red intending to darken it and leave some lighter highlights. I ended up really liking the bright red and decided to keep it bright. I did add darker and lighter parts to add texture but still left it much brighter. Once I finished all the fine details I went back and touched up some spots I wasn't as happy with and decided to finish it off with some white highlights. This painting was so calming to do and made me very quite happy especially with all the trouble I went through with my Alicorn painting. |
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January 2022
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