At this point I begin to build the definition and depth of the fur. I use blue that has been reduced to
a two to one ratio. This is because Wicked Colors are semi opaque and need to be thinned down
to making them more transparent. Mist the shadow areas such as under the cheek bones and
under the chin and any area that have shadows. In this case the ears and eyes also contained blue.
You can also pull some dagger strokes to create underlying fur.
Next I have combined two different uses of color. First is brown and second is violet. Again I have
reduced the colors to a two to one ratio. First I mist over areas that contain brown in the photo.
I go very light in this case because this color can easily take over the gray look of the fur. Next I
use violet to tie the brown and blue together with the gray, also violet warms up the browns in the
painting. I tend to avoid painting the violet into the pure white areas.
Next I come back in with my black to put some dark strokes in the fur to bring out definition and
depth. Normally I will not use black for shading but since I am doing primarily gray for the main
color I can get away with it here. Black is extremely strong and can overpower a painting very eas-
ily, so be careful. I also work on the edges of the mouth and around the eyes to give a fur look that
overhangs the eyes and edge of the mouth, this will create a shadow below them. Lastly I bring
some more definition around the spots and deepen the spots so they stand out. I do this by pulling
dagger strokes into the gray to give the illusion that the fur is overlapping the black fur.
Next I begin to work opaque white dagger strokes around the entire face and neck to bring out the
highlights; this part really makes the fur look more realistic. One rule of thumb to remember is you
can’t show light without dark. Painting white dagger strokes on white areas will not show very well;
so the more contrast in color the better the white will stand out. That is why I will put strong blue
on the chin and light fur areas. Still pay attention to the direction and light and shadow areas.
Now at this point you may have noticed a drastic change in the background. I decided to fill in the
background with black. This was done for a more dramatic contrast between the white cheek area
and background, not because of a mistake. The rock face in the background was drawing to much
attention away from the Leopard. I pull black dagger strokes into the white, but I keep them very
fine. I also at this time mist some more around the face to bring a lot more depth into the leopard
and have worked some more white strokes into the body and then misted them with blue. At this
point I really start to work the eyes with brown around the edge and blue lines and mist to bring out
the striations of color in the iris. I also mist around the pupil with black to give the illusion of depth
and I create a shadow from the eyebrow. Next I work in the highlights with white and mist over with
blue and then just a small area of white. Lastly I work on the lids around the eyes.
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