Members of Fleet Art Society welcomed back Jonathan Newey for another fascinating demonstration of painting animals in watercolour and pen.

 

Jonathan talked about his family's artistic heritage and his background in the commercial art world, before embarking on his current career as a full-time artist.  He explained he was going to demonstrate painting a cheetah, using a photograph he had found on a copyright-free photo site.  He suggested it is respectful to thank the photographer for any image you use.

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He started by sketching the animal lightly in 4B pencil, using basic shapes for an outline and then finding lines within the shapes to locate features such as eyes, nose etc. Next he more deliberately but still lightly, drew in the details of the form.  He rubbed out the guide shapes and lines before using a black waterproof pen to loosely follow the outline.  He said to draw quickly and not follow the pencil line too accurately, to give the image a more lively effect.

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Watercolour was then applied to show the animal's fur - a light wash to start and second and third layers to deepen colour and to show the stripes and facial features.  Jonathan said it is important to get the curves in the stripes right for the body structure - it is like "drawing with a brush".  A few splashes were added to give movement and drama.

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Next he used a black marker pen (he used a Tombo pen) to darken much of the striped areas, but leaving some of the grey watercolour showing beneath.  A final touch was using watercolour pencils, applied in the direction of the fur, to give 'softness'.

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The striking image of Jonathan's roaring tiger can be seen below.

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