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Medium: Acrylic Category: Animal/Wildlife
This demonstration project is from the book, Painting Realistic Wildlife in Acrylic by William Silvers, published by North Light Books, an imprint of F + W Media, Inc. Reprinted with permission of the publisher. All steps and text included. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS
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STEP BY STEP
LEOPARD
by WILLIAM SILVERS
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In this painting something has caught the attention of this leopard on the prowl. I wanted the painting to be moody, Illustrating how only small shafts of light brake through the upper canopy to make it all the way down to the dark, mysterious forest floor.
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| FIELD NOTES: LEOPARD - The highly adaptable leopard is just as at home in the savannah as it is in the forest. Being relatively small in size, the leopard usually chooses to hide its kill up in trees away from other larger predators such as lions and tigers. Leopards spend most of the day resting and sleeping in the branches of trees and hunt mostly at night. The leopard is an agile and stealthy predator, stalking its prey silently and pouncing on it as the last moment. |
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MATERIALS LIST
4 BRUSHES: Two 1-1/2 inch (38mm) Flats, a 1 inch Flat, and a No. 8 Round Detail Brush
ACRYLIC COLORS:
Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cerulean Blue, Dioxazine Purple, Flame Red, Magenta, Payne's Grey, Permanent Green, Primary Cyan, Pyrrole Red, Red Oxide, Ultramarine Blue, Yellow Ochre,
SURFACE: 24" x 30" (61cm x 76cm) Masonite Panel
WHITE GESSO
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USING THE 1-1/2 INCH (38mm) FLAT
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THIN LINE: PULL WITH THE TIP
Using the very tip of the brush and pulling will give you a nice thin line. |
SHAPES: PULL THE WHOLE EDGE
By pulling along the whole edge, you can create nice irregular shapes with thick and thin sections. |
CHISEL: USE THE BROAD SIDE
Using the broad side of the brush, you can lay down sharp chisel shapes. This is especially useful when painting horizontal planes. |
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1 THE DRAWING
Prime the surface using a mixture of white gesso and Cerulean Blue for a cool neutral base. Using the 1-1/2 inch (38mm) flat, block in the trees using a mixture of Payne's Gray, Dioxazine Purple and Ultramarine Blue. Block in the leopard with a mixture of white gesso, Yellow Ochre, Red Oxide, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Cerulean Blue, Primary Cyan, Magenta, Pyrrole Red, Flame Red, Cadmium Yellow Medium, and Permanent Green. The rough block-in should provide all proportional and lighting informtion void of detail.
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2 LEOPARD'S SPOTS
The leopard's fur is marked with rosettes, lacking the center spots as in the jaguar. Using the 1-1/2 inch (38mm) flat, paint a mixture of Payne's Grey and Burnt Umber spots roughly where they will be in the final painting. Enlarge Leopard
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3 PAINTING THE FOLIAGE
Using the 1-1/2 inch (38mm) flat, paint the more distant tree branches in the blues used in the block-in, getting lighter in value as they recede into the distance. For the foreground tree, use more saturated, deeper values mixed with Payne's Grey, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Dioxazine Purple and Phthalo Turquoise.
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4 PAINTING THE DARK FOREST FLOOR
Using the 1-1/2 inch (38mm) flat, paint the lighter blues into the darker blues and vice versa, mixing wet-into-wet to create the soft look of the forest floor. After the area dries, use the same brush to do small, thinned-down washes with both colors to give it a misty fog effect.
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5 DEVELOP THE BRANCHES, FOLLOW THE LIGHT
The light is breaking through the upper forest canopy in the top left corner of the painting. Where the sky is at its brightest, add a pinkish hue to the branches using a mixture of white gesso and Magenta to give them an overexposed quality.
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6 COMPLETING THE FOLIAGE
A shaft of light is striking the leopard and the branch. With the 1-1/2 inch (38mm) flat, paint the leaves using Cerulean Blue, Flame Red, Permanent Green and Yellow Ochre mixed into the tree palette. As the leaves go back into the distance, add more blues to help them recede into the background. |
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7 PAINTING THE SPOTS
Go over the leopard's fur area with small washes of Yellow Ochre and Red Oxide. Then, repaint the spots using a no. 8 round and Burnt Umber and Payne's Grey.
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8 ADDING THE LEOPARDS DETAILS
Using the no. 8 round, the 1 inch (25mm) flat, and the palette you mixed for the leopard in step 1, add small fur-colored hairs going into the spots, and add dark hairs from the spots going into the fur. Finish off the leoprd with small Payne's Grey washes in the shadow areas using the 1-1/2 inch (38mm) flat. Add the whiskers last using the no. 8 round with white gesso for the light colors and Payne's Grey and Burnt Umber for the darker whiskers. |
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9 PAINTING THE LIGHT RAY
Paint the shaft of light using a thinned wash of white gesso and Ultramarine Blue. Using two 1-1/2 inch (38mm) flats, mix the light shaft color in one brush and a darker shadow color in the other one. Mixing wet-into-wet, paint the shaft with the lighter color, then blend the shadow color into it. Cover the entire painting except for the area around the leopard's head. Wipe it off with a paper towel before it dries. |
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10 FINAL PAINTING
To finish, apply a thin Primary Cyan wash to shift the overall color cooler using the 1-1/2 inch (38mm) flat.
Silent Stalker by William Silvers
24" x 30" (61cm x 76cm)
Acrylic on Masonite
Visit William Silver's Web Site
See the full listing for his book, Painting Realistic Wildlife in Acrylic, on Amazon
This demonstration project is from the book, Painting Realistic Wildlife in Acrylic by William Silvers, published by North Light Books, an imprint of F + W Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission of the publisher. All steps and text included.
Copyright 2012 by William Silvers. All Rights Reserved.
PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS
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