Postcard 4: The Air-Wolf
This picture was inspired by a friend commenting on the previous postcard, about a creature who could defeat such a mighty fortress. A fire-breathing chimera of wolf and bat – an Air-Wolf! Of course, I groaned, and decided I had been set the task of bringing this awful pun to life.
I used a much broader pallette than on my previous postcards, going outside the usual black, white & theme colour process, but still only using five colours. It took a lot of patience to get all the lighting right, considering numerous angles and aspects.
As well as the intense lighting, I corrected a number of anatomical issues, especially around the monster’s chest & shoulders. Note the lighting around the mouth: in pencil work, the more detail an area has, the darker it is, simply because more lead is required to shape the features. One of the tricky parts of painting is balancing the bright and silhouetted areas. I should study painters who’ve used chiaroscuro methods to achieve better results than I have managed here. I’m quite chuffed with the fire-breath, but there’s always room for improvement.
Painting fire isn’t easy, y’all.
Acrylic on greyboard, 237 x 161mm
Daler Rowney FW inks: Black, Flame Red
W&N Galeria paints: Yellow Ochre, Naples Yellow, Buff Titanium
Keira James Art 