This article is a free excerpt of the tutorial written by Marc Masclans about the painting of the boxart of Liath.
You can find the full 40 pages tutorial here: https://pegasoworld.com/product-category/tutorials-shop/bellerofonte-tutorials/
You can buy the Liath model here: https://pegasoworld.com/product/liath/
The Hair
I begin to define in more detail the hair and the ornamentation of the antlers and the leaves. It is a fairly complex set of elements and you have to think about getting detail without losing the overall light plan. Generally, if I find myself in front of a quantity of information in a specific area, I usually differentiate together. If I do it separately, rather than ordered, I may make the mistake of losing some overview. Thus, it is better to advance a little in parallel all the elements, place colors, see if they fit and from here on define and extract contrast.
The antlers are plucked to generate a certain differentiating texture from the hair and leaves.
These naturally tend to alittle more green, although with orange hues, always starting from the same original mixtures, adding variations with the model air colors or even some ink.
The hair will be brown with blonde or orange trends, so I am going to mix the brown with orange adding the Yellow oxide and a Dark Flesh tip from Model Color. Since I am not looking for uniformity I can add slight variations with the orange or play with more diluted brush strokes in order to offer certain transparency filters.
The brushstroke in the case of the hair is a little longer and goes through the flow it has in the sculpture. The grace is in accompanying the flow by drawing more or less fine hairs on top without ever losing the overall but offering texture and detail. It is quite a laborious job that requires patience and a certain methodology, but I always say that it is one of the things I like to paint the most.
As I go further I define other parts such as the feathers or the ribbon that in this aspect have a much brighter value and a certain green / blue trend. In the end it is difficult with so many browns to find more variety, but in this sense I think the bet is interesting.
Whenever you come across a lot of information you have to prioritize and try not to want everything to stand out equally because then the textures lose meaning. I reinforce the contrast in some materials more than others and I use the brush stroke to give them more personality.
To further differentiate the different elements, I outlined the elements around the hair with a mixture of mahogany, red and a point of black, adding a little magenta ink (aeromodel) around the leaves and also olive green (model air vallejo).
The satin gives me a little more shine and vibration and offers me the possibility of getting more depth. I continue advancing in the general result of the piece, working areas of the staff and parts of shadow that I had not finished profiling or covering correctly. At this point I leave everything well defined in order to appreciate the information that remains on the main plane and how it is framed.
If you liked this chapter and you want to get the full 40 pages tutorial, you can find it here: https://pegasoworld.com/product/liath-tutorial/
Bellerofonte Studio
Bellerofonte Studio is the artistic studio behind Pegaso and Kimera Models. Beyond creating commissioned sculptures and paintings, it aims to create written and video tutorials in collaboration with the various artists that created the products for sale on the site. The goal is to ensure the highest quality materials on which to learn theory and practice in the various different styles of each author.
You can find find the Bellerofonte Studio tutorials here: https://pegasoworld.com/product-category/tutorials-shop/bellerofonte-tutorials/