Starting to refine the painting

Here’s another photo showing some more detail added to the tiger plus some grasses in the mid ground. The photo is terrible as I had to take it in completely artificial light, but I’ll try to get a good photo tomorrow. This one gives you the idea of what I have done though.

Back to the Tiger

OK, so that was the under-painting done. So I left it for a few days to have a think about it.

Questions going through my mind were “how can I make it better” basically. I knew the details were to come but I wasn’t happy. Tigers use their colours as camouflage and the difference between the background and the cats colour looked to great to me, it makes him stand out – yes – but is that what I really wanted?

I decided to rework the background. Then, satisfied with that, I started to add more details to the fur and bring things to life, you can see more fur details around the head and neck..

Next I will do some more to the near background and finish off the cat.

Hope you like it so far, still a way to go yet

More work done on the rock with this image.

More work done on the rock with this image. lots more contrast and sharp edges.

Now the whole canvas is covered to just about the same stage it kind of looks finished, but this is really only the underpainting, and there will be a lot of refinement and detailing to come, especially on the big tiger.

Making the rock look hard

I want the rock to look hard / sharp. Well rock like I guess ha……… So, thick paint, hard crisp edges are the order of the day. You can see this type of knifework applied to the left side of the rock already.

 

Starting to paint the rock

With the tiger and background blocked in it’s now time to start the underpainting on the rock.

Tiger Painting – Painting the stripes and fur

Here I have continued to work on the tiger painting. I have only used 2 or 3 different brushes on the painting so far, there really is only the suggestion of detail so far. By painting in the black stripes 1st I won’t lose them later during the blocking in stages.

More colour blocking in

Here I have worked on a suggestion of the background.

Adding the initial paint layers

Just basic colours added to get some representation of the tigers form – no details, just somewhere to start.

Huge Tiger Oil Painting – WIP (tutorial)

My latest commission is for a huge tiger – oil on canvas. At 32 x 24in it will certainly make a real impact in any home or office!

Painting large carries many problems and I will address those as I go through the step. Hope you are coming along for the ride

Here’s the initial drawing -