A Mandrill in Watercolor!

Mandrills are wonderful subjects to explore how to layer color in watercolor. They have beautiful coloring that range from soft and gray, to pronounced, saturated reds, yellows and even touches of purple and turquoise. In this 40 minute recording I draw out and paint a mandrill using layered color washes. This demonstration was originally in my ten part online recorded course: “Animals in Watercolor and Ink.”

In this video you will find:

• an approach to blocking in the initial drawing and "enveloping” the shape of the subject

• a color palette consisting of:

  • Burnt Umber

  • Ultramarine Blue

  • Winsor Blue (or Cerulean Blue)

  • Cadmium Red

  • Alizarin Crimson

  • Lemon Yellow

  • Yellow Ochre

  • Quinacridone Purple

  • Viridian Green

• the use of variegated washes to establish an underpainting

• a study of color temperature, especially in the grays of the fur

• the importance of varying edges especially in the depictions of furry textures

• the method of painting “pull strokes” to gradate the color from dark to light

• a way to preserve the brightness of the colors by saving patches of white paper, surrounded by neutrals

• the play of complimentary colors to amplify each color