Crystal Brush 2016 Preview

Crystal Brush 2015 was my first painting competition, and I loved it so much that before the entries were even judged and the winners announced, I was already planing for 2016. I currently have four definite entries, a few maybes and some ideas for others.

Today I'll show you my entry for the large scale category. This was actually supposed to be my entry for 2015, but I kept putting it off so I could improve my skills and do the model justice. Eventually I ran out of time and had to enter something else. Well I'm starting this one now to make sure I finish it in time.

First I'd like to show some reference pictures I'm using. The model itself is a mounted one. And the mount is an elk. So I searched online for some good pictures of how their fur looks. In my mind I knew what an elk looked like. It was brownish. Mostly one shade, and of course you'd use a darker and lighter shade for shadows and highlights. The box art and the only other picture of the model I've seen online are done in a relatively uniform brown. But what I found was quite interesting.

 So it has a light body with darker legs, belly and neck/head. And where the two different colors meet it's more reddish. So this is what I have to convey in painting.

Here is the first step that I've done. It's just putting on some base coats getting ready to blend them together. I know it's not actually showing much just yet, but it's the first steps in a very long journey.