LIFE NTERTWINED

I admit this piece was one the most difficult tasks I have come up with in quite a long time. I tried to make the subjects pop on the page rather than be flat and unappealing. This is my first attempt to a mystical oil sketch. It created quite a challenge for me. I hope to experience it again but with more aptitude. Blending posed the biggest challenge. Try blending, watching tv, talking on the phone, and eating at the same time. Aaargh! What I did on this last run was mix greens, yellows, siennas, sepias, and blacks to create a background. I didn't want to make the background too eye-catching. I didn't want to take a chance and distract away from the dragon. I created a stream near the base of the mountain, some rocks behind the soldier, and some gravel under their feet. With the appearance of different pinks, purples, and blues in the skyline and darkness behind the dragon, I wanted to give the look that the sun was setting and the night was approaching. ...

Working as hard as I can. Trying to get some kind of visual. All in all it's fun. I tried blending pinks, purples, and blues along with sun yellows in the sky. I also started forming the mountains in the background. I wanted to bring them to life with different shadows and burnt siennas. This is a work in progress. The dragon took shape with a green outline in the wing sections and firey orange and yellows for the fire. I started basic skin tones on my soldier and the maiden. To make the dragon pop, I incorporated some black behind him to produce a deep shadow. I traced him with a black sharpie. I used a flesh toned sharpie to the snout section and the knee portion of the dragon. Mind you, a fine sharpie created the scales on the legs. I used a sepia oil pastel crayon to darken the snout and the scales on the knees. When I think of mystical creatures, the colors green and blue come to mind. They seem to bring a subject to life. So, I delved as much gree...