ACRYLIC TUTORIAL "FAERY QUEEN" , PAGE 2

STEP TWO: PAINT MIDDLE-VALUE BASE COLORS

My next step is to block in all of the main shapes with their base colors. All base colors are in a middle value range; they will have shadows, highlights, and details added later. I thin the colors with a bit of water or acrylic glaze medium to make them fluid and easy to work with. Since I intend the wings to be transparent, they will still show the background through them; I simply paint with a lighter version (add more white to it) of the background object's original color where the wings overlap with the background. Where wings overlap with eachother, I also put in a stronger lavender to create the illusion of transparency. I like to keep my color schemes fairly simple, that way it is easy to match colors to eachother. This painting mainly uses a lot of muted browns and purples in it.

COLORS USED (M. Graham, Golden, and Daler-Rowney paint brands):
Titanium white
Cadmium red
Cadmium orange
Azo yellow
Raw umber
Dioxazine purple
Process magenta
Quinacridone magenta
Burnt sienna
Green gold

SKIN: From my large batch of light skin tone I keep mixed in a baby food jar; cadmium red + cadmium orange + azo yellow + titanium white.

HAIR/EYES: Light skin tone mix + raw umber + titanium white.

DRESS/SKY/FLOWERS/WING TRANSPARENCY: Dioxazine purple + process magenta + titanium white.

ARCHES/FLOWER MIDDLES/JEWELRY/OWL EYES: Azo yellow + cadmium orange + titanium white.

TREES/THRONE/WING TRANSPARENCY: Light skin tone mix + burnt sienna + titanium white.

LEAVES/THRONE CLOTH/WING TRANSPARENCY: Green gold + tree mix + titanium white.

GROUND/HOLLOW/FLUTE: Burnt sienna + process magenta.

OWL: Burnt sienna + titanium white.

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