In the last two posts I showed you my watercolor underpainting, first on the background, then on the figure of Odie. The underpainting does a lot of the work of making the solid brown areas of Odie — so I don’t have to spend as much time and energy coloring really solid over the light paper to get deep rich browns and rusts for Odie’s figure.
The underpainting was allowed to dry really well. And the Canson paper which was buckled from all the watercolor (it’s a pastel paper, not made to be wet) was flattened under weights so I have a nice flat surface to work on…not hills and valleys!
Today I started on the left ear with colored pencil. Here are two close-ups, before and after…
Pic 1 - the watercolor underpainting.
Pic 2 - with colored pencil over the watercolor.
The underpainting gives basic structure….the colored pencil brings it to life.
