2nd Lesson - Owl

I always start with the eyes on an animal or portrait, so that they start to look real immediately.  I used Red Gold and a bit of Cadmium Yellow Deep to brush in the bright orange first.  I then darkened the top so that it looks set in under the feathers.  I added a bit of Ultramarine Blue to the mix to achieve this.  I then highlighted by adding white to the orange mix and stroked outwards from the iris to give it that striated look.  Just around the iris, I greyed the bright orange off a bit by adding a pale purple colour.  For the blacks, I used a black - something I rarely do.  For the beak I also used the black in the darkest areas then highlighted with a nice light purple to suggest the curvature.