Crawdad Tutorial 03

Crawdad Boy 08 With Crawdad Tutorial 03 it becomes apparent that fortunately, the blades of grass are interesting and are not distracting. Yay! I can continue to paint them in.

You may notice a magazine laying open on the desk, it is my favorite portrait artist’s magazine article showing the mixtures that she uses to paint different skin tones in watercolor. Look up Suzanna Winton to see this talented artist’s work. I apologize that I was unable to find this magazine in the studio so I can’t be sure if it was a copy of the Artists Magazine or the Watercolor Magazine. I subscribed to art magazines from the early 2000s to somewhere in the 2009 era. It was back when we actually looked for and read things on paper when we wanted to learn. Long ago, far away on a distant planet…

Crawdad Boy 09

Now to paint the little boy’s skin and facial expression. In this view, you can see how the skin tones look when they are wet. They may be ultra bright-looking right now but I don’t need to worry because I know it will be a lot less bright after it dries.

Crawdad Boy 10 See how the skin tones appear, they are so much paler after they have a chance to dry. I finished this painting and sent it digitally to the client for approval.

Crawdad Tutorial 02

Crawdad Boy 04 Crawdad Tutorial 02 continues with painting the next phase. The book client had requested a specific watercolor scene. As the areas of color begin to receive their light washes, you can see where the water is meeting the shoreline. There are grasses behind the main character and the horizon line shows through in the background.

Crawdad Boy 05 The brighter warm earth tones and the skin tone on the child are making my main characters come into a 3D feeling. This makes me confident that my plans for painting this scene are going to work out.

Crawdad Boy 06 You can see how I prop the little boy’s faces samples right where I can see them on my desktop as I paint. This kind of visual guide is a common aid I use to maintain consistency. After adding the dull green for the grass blade background, the color scheme seems good.

I begin to paint the brighter individual blades of grass behind him. The remaining tall grass blades are painted into the background immediately behind the little boy and in front of the hat.

Crawdad Tutorial 01

Crawdad Boy 02

This crawdad tutorial 01 begins with the initial sketch setup with the beginnings of the watercolor process. The orange washes on Mr. Crawdad with his hot dog are done in very light pink. Then the beginnings of the little guy’s jean bottoms anchor him to the stream bank.

Crawdad Boy 03

Each addition of paint improves the view. This little fisherman is sitting on the bank of the stream with his straw hat and bucket right beside him. His jean overalls are rendered in light blues. Next, the shore is filled in with some earth tones, consisting mainly of burnt sienna with some azo yellow. The stream bank edge defines the other objects and the arrangement becomes much more visible. It is easy to see the little boy hooking the crawdad on his hot dog bait, as he holds his hand line.