Running Zebras - Preview

It is extremely rare that a photo makes a good painting exactly as it is; especially when there are animals, birds or people involved! The chances are, that in order to create a successful painting, we will have to move things around to create a good composition.

This editing and simplification of our subject is at the heart of this particular tutorial. I talk in some detail about compositional considerations in relation to what you wish to convey and create with your own paintings and further explain my own particular choices.

This tutorial was also a good opportunity to touch on a bit of basic proportion and anatomy around animals, and how a few little tricks and tips can really help improve the character and movement. Along with this are some extra tips on tackling markings, in this case, stripes. Whilst seemingly complicated they can actually be used extremely effectively to accentuate light, and also the form of the animals. Anatomy and markings are topics we will revisit as time goes on.

Very finally, we look at answering the very common question, “What do I do with the background?”. This was an interesting one as I chose to make the background more literal, but even so it required simplification with various considerations to support the zebra, along with the overall composition.

A slow and steady one, but with a really enjoyable end result! I look forward to seeing your interpretations in the forum!