STS model painting month: WIP photos and discussion here

The cougar is looking beautiful already too!

The giraffe and cougar look great. As I already mentioned before, it's a great topic for learning about painting. Good idea to mark the giraffe's spots with a pencil first. What is the powder that you use for the cougar, and how do you use it? And what is the "brush" that you use?

George wrote:

Oooh, that's so labour intensive, I'm impressed with your work - not just fiddly but the precision and sheer concentration needed to get the patches just right from a real individual. I always find it ten times harder to translate markings from a flat photo into a 3D shape, than just invent them a roughly logical and likely pattern!

thank you everyone for your lovely comments !

George I am not using photos, this giraffe is on video, so I have been using snapshots as the giraffe has been moving. The snapshots give rough details only as it's from the middle of the African bush, but it is more fluid to work this way than just a set photo. I also used reference snapshots of another giraffe with similar markings and colourings that is on a higher definition video. My pattern markings are not 100% but when I have been watching the giraffes as they go about their activities in their natural environment I have noticed so many small details about them and that has helped me transpose these to this small model. For example they have very noticeable white patches behind their elbows, and at the backs of their ears. And the point at which the black hairs start on their tail just below the fawny section at the end of the tail bone, and then at the bottom of the tail the brown hair colouration comes in again. (each giraffe's tail is unique ofcourse)

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Wow, the giraffe looks better and better! It's fantastic to see the process
The cougar looks awesome too, and seems very close to being finished! Yay!

I've worked on my bison this weekend but it still needs more work. Here are a few photos of the progress.
I've started with a dark brown base color
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I've added a different, more greyish brown on the parts with shorter fur. I've also used dark (almost black) wash (watered down paint) for all places with fur texture.
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And I started dry brushing lighter colors of the fur. I've also painted base color on the horns and hooves.  
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I still want to do shading with pigments, add details on hooves and horns, and paint other details like eyes, etc.
Also, he won't stay so glossy, I'll use matt varnish as the finish layer

Really beautiful giraffe, each patch looks great!

Very nice bison too, the colors are all coming together nicely. Real bison in Yellowstone National Park tend to be extra fluffy and the cape (longer fur around the front) is usually several different lengths in patches as it sheds from winter to summer fur. Your bull looks primed and ready for the August rut!

Oh wow, Ana, he is coming to life!! Gorgeous Bison!!
Couldn't finish my Cougar today but I will have him finished these days. :)

how exciting to see the buffalo come along !

and thank you very much Ana !

I have only got to finish the eye details now and touch up the overpainting on the coat, which the photos make so noticeable. This was so much fun !

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the light coloured hooves
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detail on the tail
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Wow, she looks stunning [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]!!

Such a stunning model! I love her eyes.

What a beautiful Giraffe, I love how you have painted her! All the spots are perfect and so many nice details in the face!
And that Bison is amazing- it's so interesting to read about your techniques- I would love to be able to paint like you, the bison looks alive!

Wow, the giraffe looks amazing!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], thank you, Paige! I like the idea of sculpting shedding fur too but I didn't want to change much in this model. So, yes it's an August bison

05.26.2021
My bison is getting closer to being finished. Here is a photo from this morning, just before one more session of adding details with colored pencils. Tomorrow I'll be adding matt varnish, and gloss the eyes and nostrils to call him officially finished

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Wow, wow, wow!!!

Shanti wrote:

Wow, wow, wow!!!

I completely agree- I would never guess this model was painted, it looks like the real animal!

The cougar, fox, giraffe and bison are stunning!

Thank you, friends, for your kind words!

I love the giraffe and bison both! Smart to sketch the markings out beforehand.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] do you buy brown paints or mix your own? I've been mixing my own, but sometimes I find it a bit tough to get the shades just right.

halichoeres wrote:

I love the giraffe and bison both! Smart to sketch the markings out beforehand.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] do you buy brown paints or mix your own? I've been mixing my own sometimes I find it a bit tough to get the shades just right.

I mix my own colors. But I don't usually use the standard primaries (red, blue, yellow) or even the print primaries (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). Instead, I like using Zorn's palette: yellow ochre, black, titanium white, and pyrrole red (originally Zorn used vermillion but it's a toxic pigment, rarely in use anymore). I sometimes also mix some raw umber or burnt sienna, but I usually wouldn't use them without mixing (straight from the tube.) Colors can look rather boring if they are used straight from the container. I think from Zorn's palette you can mix most of the colors of any mammal coat. Sure, it's good to also have some blue or cyan, or even all primary colors, they can be useful, especially for birds, fish, etc. I also sometimes use blue hues for painting a black animal.
I think using yellow ochre instead of primary yellow is a good idea. It covers very nicely, most of the yellow paints (and pigments) are semi-transparent, yellow ochre is usually opaque.

I didn't know about Zorn's palette, but I just googled it and it is an interesting painting technique! (Not only for painting animal figures). The yellow ochre is the paint that runs out the quickest (apart from the white) of all my paints, so I can see what that is such a useful colour in a painters palette I definitely want to try just using such a palette for painting a figure or a 2D painting now

Interesting, thanks. I wasn't familiar with this palette, but it makes a lot of sense for mammals. My project is a plant, which calls for a bit of blue I think!

I am finally getting back to it tonight but I've lately just been sleeping all day the past two weeks and didn't get anything done, the local parliament just decided to keep an unconstitutional law around that has been in use for 40 years because "there are more important things to deal with during these times" than granting an oppressed group of people some basic human rights.
Sigh...
At least I'm not spiraling further into depression anymore today, maybe the painting helps a bit to calm.
Here is some bit of progress from tonight, maybe I'll finish it in time even.

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I hope this all isn't "too political" for this forum but it's something that affects my wellbeing as a person and my life deeply and in my opinion shouldn't be seen as more political than being behind on paying bills or having to deal with immigration paperwork.

I am finally done, I'll take some better photos for the finished project thread when the sun is up.

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It looks wonderful and so detailed
I am sad to hear that your past few weeks haven't been nice to you. I hope things will turn out better and that in the meantime painting and this forum can make you a bit more happy

What an absolutely beautiful model, you have painted with so many nice details, and colours, whilst still capturing that fluffy effect- amazing!
I'm so sorry to to hear about the last few weeks, and as A-J says, I hope that this forum and painting will help to distract you! These things are always so frustrating, especially when they're out of our control, but I always say that every cloud has a silver lining! You have so much talent for painting and that is definitely something to be happy about!

This May has been a pretty mean month to me but painting the little numbat has helped me calm a bit down last night, so I am very glad this painting event is happening.

Wow, the numbat looks so amazing! I'm so glad you were able to finish it despite all circumstances! Beautiful work

halichoeres wrote:

Interesting, thanks. I wasn't familiar with this palette, but it makes a lot of sense for mammals. My project is a plant, which calls for a bit of blue I think!

Of course, I forgot that you want to paint a plant, oops! In that case, blue or green paint would be recommended for your color mixes