Painting the rest of the Great Osprey

Here is the last set of images I shot of the painting process for the Osprey.  Once all the lightest colors had been established, I began doing some glazes and washes in a very controlled fashion to get all the wing textures.

This image shows some washes on the back of the wings:


You can see that all the the dark markings have been done on the interiors of the wings:


This view lets you see the palette, and some of the various wash and glaze colors.  I like to mix mine, creating just the right shade that I need.



I also did a lot of different glazes on the face.  After those were done, I could start doing things like the eyes, etc.



Here are a few views of the rider:


This was done the usual way for me.  Working rapidly with a bigger brush, using glaze medium so that I could do some wet into wet blending.



Once the middle and light tones are set, I started to shade the dark areas.  I wanted to be sure that my shade colors were a much cooler green, so I mixed mostly blue into them.



For the golds  I tried to make the highlights cooler, and the shadows warmer in order to reflect the browns of the feathers on the bird.  I made sure that the highest contrast areas would be on the angled surfaces of the armor.



I did a similar thing to the blade of the spear, and made sure I had my lightest colors done so that I could make some freehad designs on the iside of the cloak.



Here is a view of the design...


So, all that's left is to show you the pictures of the finished piece!  There was some additional freehand on the outside of the cloak, and the light markings added to the back of the wings.

Bedtime Story

Here's a mini-diorama I did a few years ago for Newbold World.  It was a charity auction piece.  I sculpted the floor, bed, and toy chest, mostly from sculpey.

Painting your Great Osprey: The early stages...

Here is the promised stage by stage post on painting the Great Osprey!

For this piece, I primed it white:


Here are some reference pictures that I was working from:





I tried to keep my palette in the pictures, to give you a decent idea of what color I was using.  I started out by working the back of the bird, establishing the warm browns...



Even at this point, I was trying to get some gradations, where the feathers would be a lighter, more yellowish color, moving towards cooler, darker wing tips...


Continuing to fill out the back of the wings, working it darker and darker, with browns and a bit of blue mixed together.



You can also see that I was setting up the alternating light and dark patterns on the tail feathers.



Time to work on the front feathers! 



I was using some tan and purple/grey color to get things started:


Once I had everything covered, I started to lighten some areas, using a yellow white n some places, but a cooler blue/white in others.



I established some more highlights, and began to set up the darker markings on the face and wing edges.



Not to forget the base!  I started with a dark grey with a bit of brown, but used a bright turquoise to lighten it.  The idea is to get some contrast from the warmer colors being used on the bird itself.



These next few images really show the markings develop:




Once all the making and highlights are set up, I will be able to start doing a few glazes and washes to darken it.



I did a little bit of dark lining around the edges of the feathers on the wing interiors, using a few different shades of dark brown.  Some were cooler, and others were more reddish.



OK, stay tuned for the next set of images, where we finish off the bird, and paint the rider!