Reindeer & Elf Painting

I have an obsession with kitchy plastic reindeers. I have a collection of them that I display during Christmas. So this year, I wanted to share my obsession and paint one for my card. Because of the short time frame I had to complete this, I first decided to do this in Gouache. Gouache is an unforgiving medium to me, blending is extremely difficult. To minimize the guesswork of color selection, I did a digital color study.





But when I was ready to do the final piece, I just didn't feel Gouache-y. (Honestly, I made a mess and got fed up.) So I decided to experiment with acrylics and try a different technique all together.

First I put a layer of the background color on Claybord, and penciled the drawing. After, I sprayed the fixative, which fixed the pencils beautifully on the sage background.


Then I applied thin coats of color, while having the pencils come through slightly.


I started working on the details, punching up the highlights and shadows.


Final:


Closeup:


Here's the comparison of digital printout and the actual painting:


What lessons did I learn... I learned a different technique that I like to explore further. And that I have to practice more with Gouache (Hey, it's been over 10 years since I used it. Give a girl a break!).

My reindeer collection: