1:20 Indochinese leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri) Black form

Melanistic leopards are commonly called black panthers, a term that also applies to melanistic jaguars. Melanism is inherited as a Mendelian, single gene recessive trait relative to the spotted form.

Black leopards are common in the equatorial rainforest of Malaya as the melanistic form of the Indochinese leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri). Leopards population south of Kra Isthmus is predominantly black. It is believed that black leopards have a selective advantage for ambush in the dense tropical forest habitat.

So, to continue with Phase II of the Felidae Family Project , I have selected this subspecies of leopard to make the black panther model, which is going to be substantially smaller than the African and Persian forms as you can see in the following picture.

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So, this is the model just to be painted:

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Gosh ! I didn't know that there were so many different sub-species of leopard around the world

The Indochinese one is an interesting and beautyful one to choose to tohw the black leopard, - and the model is wonderful

Woww, it is absolutely wonderful model !
Love it !!!
The posture is great :)
And I`m so big fan of black panthers.... so I can`t wait to see it painted :)

I'm really looking forward to seeing how you paint this one! I've wondered for a long time how exactly to paint the dark fur with dark markings in a way that would look good. Would you mind showing us some in-progress pictures of the painting? (Once you start, of course - I don't mean to hurry you.)

Thanks Susanne, Kosta and Bjarki12

Bjarki12, as you request this is the first step, a light layer of black color, made with blue, black, brown and yellow...

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With that first layer it looks naturally strange. But the sculpt is just spectacular! I really love it and I even inversed colors on your first pictures to have an idea how it will look like. Great subspecies choice also.
By the way, do you know if there is a larger version of that leopard subspecies diagram you're showing? I'd love to check it better.

Roger wrote:

By the way, do you know if there is a larger version of that leopard subspecies diagram you're showing? I'd love to check it better.

Yeah, me too

costicuba wrote:

Roger wrote:

By the way, do you know if there is a larger version of that leopard subspecies diagram you're showing? I'd love to check it better.

Yeah, me too

Rogério, Kosta, this is a plate from the book Handbook of the Mammals of the World - Volume 1. I do not have a larger version although you can visit the author portfolio where you can find that one and other beautiful ones a little bit larger...

STEP 2:

Some yellow and orange to sketck out the eyes and some dark grey to highlight the muscles of the face:

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STEP 3:

and dark black to mark some spots on the face :

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Wonderful seeing your black panther come to life

Oh this is wonderful! Blue, brown, black, and yellow, eh? More colors than my eyes would have noticed, but it look fantastic, as do the grey highlights. The black spots stand out really nicely in that last picture. Thanks so much for including the working pictures!

Absolutely fantastic

Nice model :)

I love this model, - had to come back

Is there a step 4 , - the eyes ?

And all the left steps!!!!....

Baguera is here!!!!

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Oh, I love this Bagheera!

Wonderful black panther!!

I have to show this to my BF, he loves black leopards/jaguars! And this is a stunning feline <3

I think a very nice figure with the movement very well managed

Tremendous! Thanks for link too!

Thankyou very much Kosta, Karin, Miguel and Rogerio...I am happy you like!

Wonderful sculpt and beautiful paint work! What a gem!

Your final product here is really great! Thanks very much for the tutorial, too!