[Art] WIP - Black Wolf and Pines - colouring process

[moonvoice]

About just under halfway through the colouring process, applying the first layer of colour - the water colour pencils.

I've decided to show more WIP shots for the colour process than I ever have for any other picture. So have at it, and enjoy!



Original Sketch



WIP 01 - Linework of the wolf and energy lines in the piece.



WIP 02 - More delicate linework of the pinecones in the right-hand side of the piece, beginning of the landscape.



WIP 03 - Completion of the trees and basic linework in the landscape, blacking out of the darker lines in the piece.



WIP 04 - As you can see in this one, I've started fleshing out one of the pinecones on the bottom right. The fur has been done, and I've worked a little bit more on the landscape.



WIP 05 - There probably should've been another WIP picture here, but meh. More detail is added to the energy lines. Outlines are given to all the pinecones, and dots are used to create more depth and shading in the pinecones themselves. Spirals with a 0.1 fineliner are used in the background behind the trees, and pinecones. The rocks get some cross-hatching to add texture, and dots with a 0.5 fineliner are used underneath the trees themselves to create a greater illusion of density. And then of course there's texture in some of the pine trees themselves. This baby is ready for colouring now. :)



WIP 06 - Here you can see the very beginning of the application of watercolour pencils. Watercolour pencils are tricky, because how they look being applied (i.e. the lighter colours near the wolf's muzzle) are very different to how they look once you've added water (i.e. the more saturated colours everywhere else). Those colours near the wolf's muzzle are identical to the ones that have already had water applied. So using watercolour pencils is like its own alchemy, making them an awesome medium.



WIP 07 - Here I've applied the watercolour pencils to the rocks, a small section of sky, and all the grasses. I've also applied a thin layer of wash / pencils to the water.



WIP 08 - Wolf goes gothic! Here I've started applying the shadows to the wolf. The background spirals and the pinecones have been coloured. I've blocked in (but not watered in) watercolour pencils into the rest of the sky.



WIP 09 - I've darkened the water again, and blocked in the wolf's coat. This is the first layer of colour. It's predominantly greys, blues, greens and browns with almost no black.



WIP - 10 - The rest of the sky is watered in, and the trees are started. A lighter wash goes here, and then later darker greens will be added in regular pencil, which creates a greater sense of texture. The trees get a deliberately messy 'wash' with the brushes, again for texture. The pine needles around the pinecones have also been painted in.

Comments

[starla80.livejournal.com]

You are a master with those watercolour pencils! Excellent work!

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

Your art continually astonishes me.

[ariestess]

Wow! I like seeing the progression of events, particularly with the colors. This is turning out very nicely!

[lupabitch.livejournal.com]

That is some awesome texturing. Absolutely stunning!

[aleia-kali.livejournal.com]

wow this is amazing, thank you for sharing the process.

[silverjackal.livejournal.com]

I really like the ground beneath the trees. I also had no idea you used watercolour pencil for this as opposed to brushes.

[nightlove.livejournal.com]

I loved watercolour pencils the first time I was ever introduced to them. :) It is truly wonderful to see what you are able to do with them.

[zuki-san.livejournal.com]

Oh god oh god oh wow.

And I thought the lineart was lovely.

Gorgeous. Going to be so.

Ooh, Sthparkly!

[perzephone.livejournal.com]

It's really cool to see this picture come to life. Thanks for sharing.

[halfapersona.livejournal.com]

I am loving seeing this piece develop, and to get a sense of the massive amount of detail/effort that goes into creating such beautiful artwork.

^_^

[earthguardian.livejournal.com]

This is incredibly beautiful!!!

:D

[skyfiery.livejournal.com]

Your talent is astounding.

[bodhifox.livejournal.com]

I'm jealous of your talent.

[cloversix.livejournal.com]

Oh jeez, dude. Those colors are *amazing*. The inks were really pretty, but *damn*. Adding the colors in just makes it take on a whole different life.

You are a very skilled arteest. o_o

[toeknuckles.livejournal.com]

Those colours are REALLY bringing this to life! I can't wait to see it finished!

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Aw cheers, watercolour pencils are pretty cool. Though I wouldn't have said this at all when I first started working with them. Lol.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Hoorah! :D

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm liking it too, which is always a good sign. I typically hate the picture through this period.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

:D

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Glad you're enjoying it. :)

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

I also had no idea you used watercolour pencil for this as opposed to brushes.

Yeah, these are technically classed as drawings, because the watercolour pencil, and tiny amounts of metallic paint, are the only things I use brushes for. Everything else is pencils and inks.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Watercolour pencils are the bomb. :)

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D

Re: Ooh, Sthparkly!

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're enjoying watching the process. :)

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Aw thank you. :)

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you think so. :)

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Aw don't be! It makes me the sum total of 'almost no money.'

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm glad you like it. :)

[elinox.livejournal.com]

I'm really loving this! *hopes for a blue-eyed wolf*

[bluedolfyn.livejournal.com]

Getting to see all these stages has been very good. At this point, I'm only starting to doodle, but it takes away some of the "omg this is impossible" feeling and let's me know, really, that it's completely unlike writing. Preliminary sketching, and then polishing, and everything is better after polishing.

Love the wolf, but my eyes keep getting pulled to the pine cones, of all things.

[anrui-ichido.livejournal.com]

Oh, I just know I'm going to LOVE this when it's done, because I already can't stop looking at it. It probably helps I am a huge fan of: wolves, green, and your art in particular.

<3!

[countessaleska.livejournal.com]

You got a great talent, and the attitude is awesome too. I hope you make lots of money and find more art fans who have a good income :)

The old joke is

"What does the art student say to the engineering student?"

"You want fries with that?"

[silere.livejournal.com]

This is amazing. thank you for sharing the process. the notes are very helpful.. i've tried a few feeble attempts at using watercolor pencils, and i always make an utter mess with them. I think i'm applying too much pencil and then when i add water it destroys everything. I'm not terribly patient with coloring, but maybe i'll try them again after looking at this.. :)

<3

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

I used to loathe watercolour pencils. And they're still a very temperamental and fickle medium. But they're good for washes of colour, and once dried, you can always overlay coloured pencil to even out any problem areas, or even create new shades. For example, white and cream pencils on a 'too dark' area of watercolour pencil looks awesome. A technique I found out via mistake-making. :)

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

It's sort of greeny-turquoise coloured.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Yeah, drawing is just a variety of stages. It's hard, sometimes, halfway through; because they don't always look anything like the finished product, but that's part of the alchemy.

And yeah, nothing like writing.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Hee, yay! :D

[bluedolfyn.livejournal.com]

Oops! *lol* I actually meant to say, it's *not* unlike writing -- at least for how I write, in that I write the piece, it looks nothing at all like it'll end up looking, and then I polish, and suddenly, wow.

[shimmerhawk.livejournal.com]

It's so fun to watch this coming along. :D Beautiful! This image reminds me of home.

I've never tried watercolor pencils before. They look wonderful.