Sketch of Elephants, using ink and wash technique

I have just completed this drawing of Elephants using a  pen and wash technique.

This is a sketch which looks carefully at the texture of the elephant's skin. Here is how I did it.....

Firstly I chose a photo I liked. This is one I took when I was on a safari holiday in Botswana.

I did a rough sketch to get a feel of the picture, and work out the main areas of light and shade. This is a fairly simple sketch without much detail added.

I then drew this out again. I used Indigo and White paint only. I painted in the main areas of light and shade. I then did the background in indigo to make the elephants stand out.I took the photo before I had completed the background!   I used acrylic paint. I only did minimal blending using about 5 levels of shade across the work.

I let the painting dry thoroughly. Next I worked in the detail using 0.3 and 0.1 sized fine liner black pens. I looked carefully at the wrinkles on the elephant's skin. I worked in the main lines first and then filled in gaps with finer and finer detail. 

I added additional paint where it was needed. Shadow areas needed to be darkened, and some lighter areas also became essential for contrast.

I sometimes added very small dabs of white paint on top of the ink work, to highlight areas.

It took a while to complete the work, but eventually I had textured the whole surface. I used a mixture of solid and broken lines, dots and squiggles to make the marks.  I see it as a stylized sketch rather than a totally accurate drawing of an elephant. However, I have captured the rugged wrinkled texture of the animals.

The final picture again.........

This painting is now SOLD .
However, you can buy prints. please contact me for details.