ADD TEXTURE AND COLOUR
Taking advantage of layers
Because I work somewhat piecemeal on these paintings, the digital medium is ideal. I can try different things and move objects around in seconds. Once I figured out the overall silhouette for this piece, I needed to go back and work out the proportions of the anatomy so I could have the arm coming out of the drapery at the proper point. So I just created a new layer and quickly sketched the anatomy on top of the piece. Because I had the head size already established it was easy to figure out the rest.
Using other painted pieces
I have a folder filled with dozens of random mark-making, colour and textural paintings. I’ll often drop these into a digital piece I’m working on, lower the layer Opacity to 50 per cent and flip through the layer modes to see what kind of exciting effects result. Go through layer modes such as Lighten, Darken, Multiply and Overlay to see what cool and interesting things pop up.
Female hands
Because there are very few visual elements in these pieces, it’s important that they all look right. I found a great stock photo reference for this hand, which I purchased and used to make sure the anatomy was correct. Female hands are difficult to paint. Some people make the mistake of ignoring the bony structure of the hand in order to make it seem feminine, and wind up with a ‘noodly’ look. Like most things in art, you need to find the right balance. In this case, it’s a balance of a delicate hand with the proper anatomical structure.
Textures of the bone headdress
Take a few minutes to go online and find reference for any details you’re painting. I wanted the headdress in this piece to read as a large bone/horn structure, so I searched online for a variety of animal horns, enabling me to render some interesting yet identifiable textures.
Figuring out value, then adding colour
One issue I’ve had trouble with over the years is value. How light or dark a thing should be in relation to everything else in the image can be a difficult thing to wrap your head around. One great trick I learned is to work on areas giving you trouble in black and white to make sure you get the value right, and then add colour on a separate Color layer. By eliminating the element of colour, it can be easier to figure out the proper tones. Working digitally makes this very easy. Here you can see how I utilised this technique while working on Haagenti’s cloak.