Tonight I’ve mostly been working on the Woven Celestial Dragon 6″x6″ Aquabord. These are all the WIP images so far.

Woven Celestial Dragon – WIP2
6″x6″ ink and watercolor on Aquabord
2 Sittings
3 Layers

Between the line art and this image there were a few steps I did not scan.

First I used masking fluid to cover the dragon. This is only the second time I’ve ever used masking fluid, so I didn’t do a perfect job.

Second I saturated the surface with two shades of blue watercolor and a touch of black. I let that dry, creating the mottled, cloudy background. Since I’m doing this on Aquabord I didn’t have to worry about warping paper from oversaturation. Yay!

Third I wanted to sprinkle the background with silver acrylic ink, but I found I did not actually have any silver acrylic ink. Instead, I made a mixture of white ink and some Deviant Silver Stardust I have leftover from a fairy costume some ten years ago. I spattered it onto the piece using a cheap toothbrush and let it dry.

Fourth, I removed the masking fluid, revealing all my goof-ups. I retouched the background where the fluid went over the lines, and lifted the paint where I did not have enough coverage.

Woven Celestial Dragon – WIP3
6″x6″ ink and watercolor on Aquabord
2 Sittings
4 Layers

Oh, watercolors dry so much faster than oils! And they look completely different so I don’t get frustrated like with acrylics!

I added some soft lavender to the hair, horns, and whiskers. After laying down a mostly solid shade I went back and added some more paint in sort-of-random places to give the hair some depth. Full realistic depth is not important to me for this piece.

Soft slightly more blueish lavender to the underbelly scales.

I added another layer of fairly flat lavender to the body.

I experimented with color lifting to give the body more shape and texture. Overall I liked the way it worked, but I think next time it will work better if I lay down more color first.

Project: Woven Celestial Dragon