Latest Watercolors

[citrakayah]

As always, feedback and critique are welcome.
These were another attempt at reducing a landscape to geometry. Think the one on the right turned out better.

That's supposed to be mist against a background of trees.

And this is my first time trying to draw a vertebrate. Not enough shadows, but the body form turned out okay, and I think I got the texture down okay. Head turned out a little weird though.

And here are some landscapes. I'm most proud of the auroras, of all the work I've done so far.
 

Comments

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>These were another attempt at reducing a landscape to geometry. Think the one on the right turned out better.<<

I like the one with the triangles on the ground.

>>And this is my first time trying to draw a vertebrate. Not enough shadows, but the body form turned out okay, and I think I got the texture down okay. Head turned out a little weird though.<<

It is quite recognizably a fox.

Some artists find that studying animal anatomy helps. Others prefer gesture sketching. With watercolor, you can't force it, so the flowing lines of gesture sketching may be more useful.

I quite like the mountains, and the green aurora.

Re: Thoughts

[citrakayah]

Thanks. I think what I'm doing is similar to gesture sketching? Though I haven't done it before, so I'm judging off the description I got when Googling. I'm getting the main lines and shapes in, then adding the details.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yes, gesture sketching is about quickly capturing the main line of action, and if you have time, the core shapes. There are various approaches, and lots of resources online if it's something you'd like to explore further. I like what you're doing so far.

[the_broken_tower]

I'm a fan of the first ones with the trees. They give off different vibes - one looks barren, and the other like autumn.

Is the fox a grey fox?

- Pink Rose (she/her)

[citrakayah]

Hmm. I've had one other person say the one on the left looked boggy. Barrenness fits with that. Thanks.

No, they're a kit fox. Specifically, a San Joaquin kit fox. I had the population on the mind, and they're awfully cute.

[injunjane]

The very first and three last images are the ones I like the most. There is beautiful movement momentum, both due to the colours and dark/light spots, I believe in painting it is called "dynamics"

The second image is kind of not saying anything...for the similar reason :( the dynamics are virtually absent and the river (is it?) seems to be still because vertical or nearly vertical lines are usually perseived motionless...also there are no dark/light spots in the middle, everything is uniform, and no foreground :(

Tito, The Little Coyote, is charming :)

[injunjane]

PS I know it cannot be a fox, foxes have dark legs and bright tail tip. Coyotes do have dark tail tip

[citrakayah]

I drew them from a reference photo of a kit fox. They're a fox.

[injunjane]

Oh. That's a North American species about which existence I was not even aware. They indeed have fair yellowish legs. Thank you :)

[dinogrrl]

I do like the geometric forest one with the 'leaf litter'. Instantly recognized that environment!

And fox faces are very weird in general if you're not used to drawing them (jackals too, for that matter). A lot of people make them far too dog- or wolf-like. I could tell this one was a fox though, no doubt :}

[citrakayah]

Excellent. It's good that it stayed evocative when rendered down to simple shapes.

[cosmicjellyfish]

Ooh, I like the fox! Lots of character. I’m not very familiar with that particular species, but the fox-ness was instantly recognisable.

Really striking colours on the sunset and auroras (especially the red one). The geometric forest floor is great, too.

[citrakayah]

Thank you!