WALKTHROUGH: A Star’s Whisper
Hello Moonbeams,
This mini walkthrough is for my piece A Star's Whisper. I was inspired to paint this as a companion piece for a future print release. The original is 4x6 inches.
Surface: 300LB cold press watercolor paper with 1 coat of Daniel Smith Titanium white watercolor ground and 1 topcoat of QoR watercolor ground.
Brushes: Pentel Aquash Waterbrush size small, Hwahong flat brushes in various sizes, Hwahong round brush size 1 and 2, Princeton Velvetouch round brush size 20/0 (my detail brush of choice) and Princeton Velvetouch size 1
Paint: My Shadow Shade mixture of Daniel Smith Prussian Blue, Daniel Smith Burgundy Yellow Ochre, Daniel Smith Carbazole violet, Daniel Smith Opera pink, Daniel Smith Manganese Blue, Daniel Smith Phthalo green, Pearl Ex pigments Aztec Gold and 24K gold leafed foil moon and stars. I also used Koi white watercolor for any small white highlights.
This piece began as a digital sketch on my iPad which I then printed and transferred to my painting surface using graphite transfer paper.
I began the painting by putting down washes of Phthalo green, Manganese blue, violet and my shadow shade, generously adding salt while the paint was still wet so that it would dry with that starry pattern.
I added in more washes of the above-mentioned colours as the piece dried, as well as some Opera pink, gradually increasing the saturation of the colours.
I also put down some Daniel Smith watercolour ground and placed a foil star in it, using the ground as glue. I also gave the star a cratered texture using the watercolour ground as well.
As I began working on Shinji (the dog) I put down washes of my shadow shade, loosely outlining muscles and values. I painted her inner limbs with Phathlo green and Manganese blue
During this early phase, it is important to me that I do not lose all the sketch underneath the paint so I will often outline some of it with watercolour as I go. Sometimes I end up losing a lot of it anyway and have to reference the original drawing so it is nice to keep a copy of the original sketch or at least a photo of it.
I used a lot of my Aztec gold pigment along Shinji's back and gradually added in other colours from the rest of the painting. I love making my characters really reflective of their environment colours!
As I finished her up, I used my size 1 brush to rough in some fur texture, and finished it off with my 20/0 brush, adding some white highlights.
For smaller painted animals like this, I usually keep my fur details a bit more stylized and minimal. I basically just add small details wherever I feel they would fit, but I do not try to overly detail every single area.
For Ivan the fox, I followed the same techniques as I had used on Shinji. Because he was even smaller, he ended up with even less detailed than she did, but I still could not resist making him ultra furry!
I also painted the star with Aztec gold pigment and later added some actual gold leaf to it.
Once the characters were finished, I began to use some clean water on my worn out size 1 Hwahong brush to scrub away some smoky textures in the dried paint.
I mention this a lot but the reason it is so easy for me to scrub highlights into my work and lift the paint is largely due to putting down a coat or two of watercolour ground on all my surfaces. I am so used to how water watercolour ground reacts with paint that I even use it on paper!
I continued lifting paint away as well as adding deeper values around the lifted areas to give them more dimension. I will often use just a bit of clean water on my brush to blend and blur these smoky areas as well.
For some of the finer white lines, I was using a bit of my white watercolour/gouache.
To finish off, I added some gold leaf to the star. The reason I used a combination of gold leaf and gold pigment was really just to fill in any micro cracks in the leaf.
I hope you enjoyed this walkthrough!
~Aria
