Kim Gall

<-----Obligatory Semi-Nice Picture of Myself

I have been exploring all different forms of art since I was teeny tiny, and have finally settled upon watercolors as "my" media. I love the translucency and vibrancy, as well as the commitment in creation. When you paint a stroke, there's no going back, no covering it up, no second guessing, what's done is done!

I've also had and loved a wide variety of pets and critters throughout my life, including - but not limited to! - rabbits, rats, cats, dogs, lizards, tree frogs, even a praying mantis named Herman. I know we all love our creatures, big or small, cute or "so ugly it's cute", and will do my very best to capture what makes your pet who they are.

Member of the Texas Watercolor Society and the North Austin Women's Network

The Process

I start with your picture. The larger and more detailed the better, but in this case, the source image wasn't much bigger than the one to the left. I think we still got a very good result!
Basic cartoony outline with some areas of value blocked in. The "box" is in place. This is the sketch that I will email for your approval before continuing with the painting. Obviously it takes a bit of imagination to see it, but the idea is to convey layout more than anything else.
Barely visible lines transferred to the watercolor paper. We want as little of the pencil sketch as possible to be visible in the final painting. The blue tape demarcates the outside of the box to keep the lines clean and crisp.
Starting to rough in the value. Watercolors are transparent, so the shading will show through the color that is added in the next step. Theoretically, I could take a color image of your pet and create a black and white painting by continuing to deepen the values on this step.
Color has been laid over the value painting, and the dark values have been brought to their final level (Nose, eyes, lip, etc are darkened as a final step to prevent bleeding).

 

 

 

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