I enjoyed drawing the hawk in the earlier post so much, I thought I’d try again. Here’s a 5 x 7 Western Red Tailed Hawk drawn on Mi Tientes paper with Prismacolor pencils. Again I used a minimal palette of Indigo Blue, Dark Umber, Light Umber, Goldenrod, White and a touch of Black. I don’t know the color name of the paper, but it is very dark and cool toned.
In hindsight, I would have done this differently. This color is incredibly hard to see to draw! My initial sketch lines – which are usually very light as is my habit – were nearly invisible. Also, the colors I chose harmonize well with the subject and the paper, but seem to lack sparkle.
There’s some of this paper left and next time, I’ll try a white bird for that lift it seems to need. Either way, I’m still pleased with how the hawk turned out, especially the expression, and it was really fun to do.
I’m still experimenting with watercolor toned grounds, but it looks like an art supply order for more colored paper is in the making!