WALKTHROUGH: THE FOG GOER
EDITING ARIA FROM 2025: I apologize for how small the images in this walkthrough are. When it was first created on my old Patreon, you could right-click to view them larger but that was no longer the case when I retrieved them for this re-upload. I hope it’s still helpful for some despite the issue! <3
Hello Moonbeams,
Here is a quick little process of one of my mini painting for the Gallery Nucleus SALUT! 5 show. This one is called The Fog Goer
Like all my paintings, I start by coating my surface with Daniel Smith watercolor ground, and a topcoat of QOR watercolor ground. These allow me to turn any surface into a watercolour surface! I put my first layer down and made it rather swirly and brush stroked, and the second layer is made to be really bumpy. All the little craters form places for the paint to settle as it granulates.
After the watercolor grounds were dry, I brushed clean water over my entire surface and began to add in a mixture of Daniel Smith Phthalo Green and Grumbacher Thalo Blue as well as a bit of Daniel Smith Carmine and Indian Yellow for those orang'y pink spots. The darker edges were where I added my "Shadow Shade" a mixture of Daniel Smith Ochre Yellow, Carbazole Violet, and Pthalo Green that come together to form a deep, rich blackish colour. Once I was set on colour, I splashed some clean water droplets into the still wet paint to make it spread, and added a healthy dose of white table salt. You can see the difference between the wet image on the left, and the dried image on the right. Colours and textures tend to change quite a bit during the drying process so I try not to be too overly controlling when making my bases and remain open for the surprises that come.
I decided to sketch in my dark unicorn that I paint quite a bit and did the sketching directly with paint as pencil would not have shown up very much on such a dark, textural surface. I used some basic reference to get an idea for the pose and changed it as I saw fit. With these small, fun paintings, I try to be more free and less controlled.
I decided that I wanted the to have a veil over their face. I love incorporating fabrics into my anthropomorphic, and non anthropomorphic animals. For the veil, I scrubbed away some of the paint around their face and further lightened the area with a bit of Daniel Smith Titanium White watercolor ground (the same as I use to prep my surface) I prefer using this ground over the QOR when it comes to making an area whiter as it is more opaque. I then used Daniel Smith Carmine and Indian Yellow for the cover over the veil, and a very watered down bit of my Shadow Shade mixture to create the silhouette of her face. For her body, I also mainly used my Shadow Shade mixture, adding in hints of the Pthalo Green and Thalo blue that I used in the background.
The next step was to give a tiny bit of atmosphere to the piece. I sketched in a few rocks and painted thmn with my Shadow Shade mixture. I obviously used that shadow mix a lot in this piece as I wanted to keep things fairly monochrome. I also used some more Daniel Smith Titanium White Watercolour Ground around the unicorn's legs to create that misty fog.
Once everything was dry, I used a little bit of Zinc White by Daniel Smith to highlight the rocks and I added a bit of detail to the tiny shrines in the piece. I also added in some little spirits once more using the Daniel Smith ground and coloured them with a mixture of Carmine and Indian yellow. I also decided to draw some flowers into the unicorn's veil and add a glowing eye peeking through.
And that is about it! This was my favourite of the series to do. I enjoyed the subtle surrealism of making the veil blow in the opposite direction of where it logically would if the creature was running. It reminds me that this creature is not of this world and exists in that place between life and death where things float like smoke and the rules of our reality do not apply <3
