Trying to paint these baby elephants without making "mud".


Trying to paint these baby elephants without making "mud". The second one is a little better but need some more practice on the body. 

#watercolors  on 200 gsm watercolor paper

Comments

  1. Which one is the second one? (Left or right?)

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  2. The second one is on the right. The head is a little closer to what I was going for but the body is still muddy (though less than the one on the left).

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  3. may I suggest you let one layer of color dry completely and then add another softly, let dry, then another.  that helps with the mud.  Also look at the colors you are using.  are they opaque or more transparent?  that will also help.  hope I'm not stepping on any toes

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  4. personally I think the little cutie on the left is perfect 'elephant' color.  the artist in me is trying to figure out which colors you used

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  5. I used the same mix of colors for both baby elephants :-) I used a stronger mix for the left and a diluted version for the right. 

    I was trying to mix my own neutrals based on Mark Mitchell's color wheel and used crimson + ultramarine blue + a touch of lemon yellow.  

    From my tests, I think all three are transparent but probably the ultramarine blue reacts a little differently compared to the other two. The first layer looks ok but subsequent layers start looking muddy. I should try a different blue to see if that helps.

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  6. I tried finding his color wheel, do you have a link? I love the book, "Making Color Sing" byt Jeanne Dobie. I love trying other people's methods. Of course mine are never like them but it really helps me to stretch. I can figure out how to add a photo here. So I am posting a picture of the book cover on my google+. Thanks for sharing, it is inspiring.

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