The bain of my existance...The Leopard!!!!

[JoeF]

OK,

So here is my first attempt at the leopard. I decided to do it on a 16x20 Canvas using Createx Wicked paints. Everything was going ok until the detail part. OMG!!!!! Man, I really had a problem with dagger strokes. Also, the paint wasnt cooperating much with me and I was getting allot of tip dry. I ended up using a paintbrush to do the fur and whiskers. I was painting this for my girlfriend and wanted to salvage it.

I am still working on shading and layering.

I appreciate any feedback and advise.

 

[Madbrush]

It's not bad at all for your first, I would guess you've leaned something from it and it might be worth doing it again, especially if it's for your girlfriend, she is after all the boss,

Try not to go too dark, you can avoid this by thinning your paint and slowly building up in layers, and you can also put a tiny drop of orange into your white to avoid the blue shift your getting here.

Feel free to post your next one in steps and we will help you through the process.

There is no harm in doing the whiskers with a hairy brush since it's almost impossible to get the white to cover in one pass.

 

[JoeF]

Thanks Madbrush,

after I sprayed the white I noticed the immediate shift to blue. I didnt know that was going to happed and thought it was ruined. I will definately try it again. It was a learning process like all that I have done. I just need to nail the dagger strokes and I ill be much happier. I appreciate the advice!!

 

[Liquid Air]

I think you salvage it pretty good. As Madbrush said thin your paint and build it up slowly. I still have a hard time with that part. Let your pic take shape slowly don't jump to the end before you have really started. I know it's pretty hard to do speaking from experience.

 

[Madbrush]

Thanks Madbrush,

after I sprayed the white I noticed the immediate shift to blue. I didnt know that was going to happed and thought it was ruined. I will definately try it again. It was a learning process like all that I have done. I just need to nail the dagger strokes and I ill be much happier. I appreciate the advice!!

It's an ideal project to practice with because you have all the different stokes in it, Mitch very cleverly designed it that way, the blue shift is indeed ugly and a shock when you see it for the first time, you can also use dark umber or Paynes grey instead of black, it's a nicer colour and no problem with the blue shift, this only happens when working with pure white over straight black.

Also check out Mitch's leopard video which is the intro and help for this piece.

 

[Madbrush]

I forgot to mention, thin your paint and lower your pressure so that you can do the dagger strokes a little slower until you get used to it.

with your shading again thin your black or dark colour and slowly build up your dark or shadowed areas paying attention to where they are on the reference, you can also lighten areas if you need to with some transparent white.

 

[JoeF]

OK I will try that. I'm running 20PSI now and my paint is about 1 to 1