Thursday, January 27, 2011

Mermaid Progression

I had some requests to see the progression on this one. Luckily I made a few scans as I went.

As usual, I start with a rough. As you can see I changed the hair in the final.



After transferring to the colored paper, the first step I took this time was to "ink" the line work with a brush. The black areas are actual ink, the rest of the lines are acrylic.



Then I built up the shading with acrylic washes.



And lastly I hit it with a transparent later of concentrated watercolor. That stuff can be really bright, I toned it down a lot on this one. I used a little gouache as well for the highlights and white areas.



Simultaneous to all that I like to make a color study, It's basically a guinea pig for the real thing.

29 comments:

Some Guy said...

Interesting to see the step by step: shows how deliberate and how much skill it took to complete. Nice job!

Anand said...

I love your mermaids, so cute.

Thierry Cattant said...

Thank you for your beautifull girls

Tibo3D said...

It's just great!! thanks for the step by step!

Nate Villanueva said...

love seeing this stuff! please teach a class or workshop. something!

Luján said...

awesome!! ^^

Dougmian said...

Beautiful! It's nice to see your painting process!

chromasketch said...

fantastic, hope to see more from you soon

Gabby Zapata said...

Thank you for sharing! These are great :)

Aoife said...

gorgeous stuff! nice to see the step by step also ;)

Gad said...

I once tried to inmate your coloring style, only in a computer
It was pretty close, but I don't think a computer program could actually mimic your water color work
And I don't have your talent, and patience for the little details...to make as good a work as you do

Keep it up
Love every piece of art you make
Even thou I still don’t understand why would a mermaid have feet under her fish tail

Emerson Fialho said...

Espetacular! Parabéns!
Muito legal o passo a passo, amigão!
Sorte e sucesso.

Haylee said...

Beautiful silhouettes and your sense of dimension and perspective on those angel fish are just heavenly.

Cory Lewis said...

Thanks, this was great!!!!

damon said...

wow so good!

Mandy said...

I bow in awe of your beautiful lines and color. Bravo!

Quentin Lebegue said...

Awesome girl once again ! Yay !

Oscar González Loyo said...

Great Art!!!! Greetings from México!

http://sketchbookdeogl.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Amazing! I love the way you use acrylics, so clean and trasparent :D
have a nice day

karmypu

Kevie Metal said...

Fantastic.

Fabian said...

Thank you for posting the process, always a great inspiration. Fantastic piece! :)

Chris George said...

As always, sir... Your work is stunning!

Tony said...

Hi Bill!
Im a great fan of your work! Thanks for this step to step!
I have a simple question:
What kind of paper do you use or recommend?

Thank you so much!

Carlos Merino said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Carlos Merino said...

Thank You for sharing this. This work is one of the most beautiful things I've seen in a long time.

Xavier Yabut said...

Great work! I like your character designs.

GnawBit said...

Now why couldn't she have looked like that in the animated movie.

Aida Sofía Barba Flores said...

oh my, this is great!

Ying-Hsuan Chen said...

really like this colour study!:)