Paul Beattie Art

 A Tiger takes a drink on the " Waters Edge "

Paul is using Cotman 140lb, 300 gsm watercolour paper and a B pencil.

Dimensions are 12 inches by 18 inches or 30 cm x 45 cm.

This initial sketch is as important as the painting itself. Its not finished yet as I will no doubt have to move a line here and there. Getting all the proportions right is critical for a realistic painting. This drawing is being done free hand.

I think it is a must, to study your chosen subject. As this work here I have studied the basic bone and skull / jaw structure beneath the fur, the shapes the curves and fur directions.

 Tip : Use three lines in a drawing like this as a reference if needed.

1. Eye line. A line that runs through the centre of each eye and is connected horizontally to each other.

2. Centre of face line. A line that runs from the top centre of the forehead to the centre of the nose.

3. Nose line. A horizontal line to mark the bottom of the nose.

When you measure out and make these three simple lines it enables you to have a base to start the drawing from.

I am fairly happy with the Tigers face and outline now. As you can see by looking at the three drawings the nose line has changed in each one.

It's time to start the water and reflections now just as a guide for the painting. There is so much detail in the water also so I think this is going to be a long time till I am finished but the end result should be worth the time.

The water is very detailed also, from the glinting light to the blues and darks. Not forgetting reflections, plants etc.. I also made slight adjustments to the tigers outline from the right eye to just above the nose.

You can ask me any questions by becoming a member and entering the forums. Memberships are free.

As I have been doing this drawing free hand I have had to change the water ripples from the past posting.

The drawing is almost complete and ready for painting. With good drawing skills, knowledge of colour mixing and application techniques you can achieve a similar painting. I will try my best to show and explain the techniques, the brushes and colours I use to achieve this finished painting. Questions are welcome to all site Members on our Forum.

I am using a number 6 round brush for this stage of the painting. Acrylic paints are ultramarine blue and burnt umber.

I am mixing to a mixture of a mainly greyish colour, roughly 50/50 in equal parts of paint. This is diluted to a watercolour mixture and is applied wet on dry throughout this stage of the painting. I have not fixed my paper to my board as it has a large border all around and I am not working large areas wet in wet. So no need for affixing the artwork.This also give you freedom to easily move the work around for painting different at angles.

I have continued with the water with the same colours, altering the mix from greys to more of a brown mix in the odd place or two. The paint at this stage is very watered down for transparency in the finished painting.

 I have done 2 main things since my last posting.

1. All the white areas of the water have been given a basic transparent wash of varying colour.  Colours used have been Titanium white,Ultramarine blue, paynes grey and a speck of buff titanium. The mixture has been as a watercolour consistency for the main and a little thicker for effect here and there.

2. Secondly I have mixed Ultramarine blue, Burnt umber & Paynes grey to a balanced dark colour, meaning a good equal mix of each paint or the darkest dark with these colours depending on your chosen paints of use. Different quality paints have different colour finishes.

The background water, had a sporadic wash of a  mixture of Raw sienna and Burnt umber in the upper right corner as you can see. I then immediatly layed in my dark wash to mix and blend in the colours.

I used a number 6 brush throughout the last processes. You can achieve a nice fine line if the brush is loaded correctly ( not too much paint in the brush ).

Size 12inches x 18inches or 30cm x 45cm.

Using the number 6 brush and various combinations of all the fore mentioned colours are being used to add reflections and colour to the water. I am also adding in twigs and small branches under the surface of the water.

There is still a lot of detail to be added to the water before I begin with the far bank & the Tiger.

I am working on the water detail with a fine detail brush, Pro-arte 10/0 miniature and will be using the 5/0 later in the painting. I am still using all the same colours except for adding cadmium red light to the mixture foreground twig. There is still a good 15 - 20 hours of painting to finish the water detail.

Working from photograph on such a painting is almost mesmerising looking back n forth hours on end.

If you have any questions join this site for free and use the forums under demonstration. I am happy to help where I can.

The water is finally starting to take shape now, not too long before its finished. The far bank will be quick to paint too. Looking forward to starting the Tiger.

I am generally building up the many colours in the water keeping in mind always the directions of the ripples. After the main right hand area is finished then the pinks of the tongue will be reflected in the white area of the water. I used a size 10/0 detail brush today. 7 hours was spent on the painting today. 12x18 inches or 30x45 cm.

I have been using grey and blues with the odd touch of burnt umber. The twigs have a dark under painting, I have added Cadmium red deep hue, Dioxine purple and a touch of paynes grey here n there to make the rich dark colour I want.

Here is today's work on this demonstration.

The distant bank has been brought into the painting now. I am keeping it minimal as not to distract from the main subject and water details. This will allow for a strong impact and contrast when I get the tiger painted.

All the colours being used are still the same. I used a number 6 brush on the background bank, with burnt umber, titanium white and paynes grey with a speck of raw sienna in places.

On the water I have been adding various greys, blues, whites and browns to the ripples to add some detail finishes. I still have a good few hours left on the water but hopefully I will start the tiger this weekend all being well.

I have started the tongue reflections in the water. This has been done with a watercolour consistency to the acrylics. I am using Cadmium red light and Titanium white. I will be adding Yellow ochre to the mix. The blocking in process is a lot brighter than the  finished pinks are going to be.

This is a  crucial stage to the water as the tongue reflections have to balance in every way with the surrounding water and with the actual tigers tongue.

12 inches X 18 inches / 30 cm X 45 cm. Acrylics on Cotman 140lb, 300gsm Watercolour paper.

The tongue reflections have been darkened with a few light washes of gray over top.

The white areas to the left of the tongue have been filled with raw umber and Burnt sienna. I then overlay the colours with several Gray washes. More small detail has been added throughout the water and I am quite happy now with its balance.

The far bank has been brought forward ever so slightly by adding grays and blue/greens ( Paynes Gray, Ultramarine blue and a touch of Lemon yellow ). I don't want the far bank to stick out too much as it will take away from the Tigers finished details. I may add a few grasses within the waters edges before I start the Tiger.

I have added grasses to the bank that recede into the darkness. Raw sienna, buff titanium, burnt umber and the greens are Ultramarine blue with lemon yellow. I have also suggested little stones on the shore line. Unfortunately the great British weather did not allow me to get a great photo due to many clouds so this is a bit dark in colour. I used a rigger brush for the grasses.

The branches are painted with a base colour of burnt umber and paynes Gray then when its still wet add some raw umber and specks of white to work lighter values into the wet paint remembering direction of light. Varying the colours adds depth to the branches.

I have started to put the tigers undercoat on paying good attention to the fur directions. This stage helps you build up shape and form on the tiger.

I have used four colours here. Titanium white, paynes grey, burnt umber and burnt sienna. For the darks I used varying shades of burnt umber, burnt sienna and paynes grey.

The colours used for the tongue were titanium white, cadmium red light and a touch of paynes grey was added for the shadow areas.

The nose tip was done with raw sienna, cadmium red light and titanium white.

These are just the base colours for both areas not the finished detail.

Building structure and creating form is done by the building up of subsequent layers of colour starting from the furthest back darkest colour then to the middle colour and then the foreground colour. Leaving the highlight or detail colours later to finish your painting. I have already put three layers of paint in the top left corner.

My own thoughts on layering are that when ever using a layering technique you should always use a minimum of three layers to achieve a good depth to the work. The water in this painting has had upto twelve layers in parts to create an area of water.

For the darks I have used paynes grey with a touch of burnt sienna. I have used raw sienna, burnt sienna and also added a touch of paynes grey for the upper left hair.

Colours used today are Titanium white, paynes grey, cadmium orange hue, raw sienna and burnt sienna. A number 6 brush was used throughout.

I layed in the background darks firstly with a mid tone grey, remembering to follow the fur direction with each application. I then proceeded to add more fur undertones with primarily the orange, raw sienna, touch of burnt sienna and white as needed to lighten the mix colour. Dont forget this is still the base painting being built up. The left hand fur on the tigers head is only the rough back to mid-ground colours.

I have been working on the tigers hair detail starting from the left hand side. I have used the same colours as the previous posting to work on the hair.

I am now building up the detail and directions of the fur using mainly a detail brush with small flicks in the direction of the fur. This is pulling together very quickly and I don't think it will take to long to finish now.

Just continuing on the previous steps blending in around the face with hair detail from dark to light. I also added whiskers, a mix of titanium white and a speck of cadmium orange and of ultramarine blue. 

Highlights have been added on the tigers face in turn this adds depth and form to the fur. The eyes have also been blended in as far as the base coat goes. Raw sienna and white has been used for hair detail.Also adding a bit of cadmium yellow light here and there. The Gray detail in the eyes was done with white and a speck or two of paynes gray.