Hello everyone! =D I come to you today with a quick study I did off a famous National Geographic Photograph! I will try my best to guide you through the steps!
Step 1. I ALWAYS start with a rough sketch, no matter what the subject matter its always important to lay down some sort of foundation.
Step 2. Time to dig right in! Just like paint its good to just start throwing down your colors and try to stay true to your reference, this will be messy and it will take time but it will work out in the end.
Step 3. Here is where I usually make an additional layer for the background so I dont end up painting over my main subject, I am starting to find my tones and colors.. starting to pick out details.
Step 4. Here I believe that I have all my main colors down! Now it will be time for adjustments and to start to really get in there with the details! That water will be fun to try and mimic.
Step 5. Here you can see that I had to move the eye up a bit! It was starting to look like a kitten haha! Also getting more stripes down!
Step 6. Here is a phase that I always love.. I could call it a finished study... but I will take it one step further!
Step 7. And there it is! My favorite part of this study is the water whipping off the beasts tail. It was a fun one to do.
AND heres my FAVORITE PART! Bring on the magic GIF XD
If you noticed a lapse in my quality... its because this is about a 2 year old study, But its one of my old favorites and I was very proud of it at the time! Ive never shared my process or the GIF so that of course is a steemit exclusive for you all :).
Again my name is Nycto, I hope you guys have a good one and ill see you all again soon!
-Nycto