Horses

After my last piece i found it was had to get the detail i wanted so with this next one i wanted to larger so this one will be A3 size. About the largest cp one i have done.

So i will be attempting some horses. Horses arent really my thing but after a recent visit to a horsestud i was inspired and given that Scone is such a big horse town if i can make a few pics to sell at the in-laws B&B that would be fantastic.

So here is the reference pic i have chosen thanks to rewston at wetcanvas.com. I wasnt happy with the composition of it so i added a bit to the top bottom and side :)

This one will be done on white colorfix paper, i really enjoyed the texture of the paper on the last piece but given that this one is white paper i will need to be adding in some underpainting to make the process faster.
So i have experimented with different materials ie. watercolour pencils, pastel and have decided to go with the pastel. Its fast, doesnt use water, colours can be mixed fairly easily and the pencil goes on fine over the top.

I seem to struggle when i have to do things like grass and sky i think this is mainly connected with not seeing values correctly and getting my colours. So i have done a bit of research with various books (mainly my Ann Kullberg books) and done a few experimental bits of grass and sky.
What i have learnt from this is:
- get my darks in first!
- use the eyedropper / value viewer to get the correct values and colours of what i am drawing not forgetting that cp mixes with the colours underneath and what it is to have a warm / cool shadow etc
- experiment more with different strokes and pressures
- start with a lighter colour to "roadmap" what i am drawing
- not forgetting to "roadmap" with complementary colours for shadows etc and roadmapping as i have learnt in previous pieces.