Painting animals in water colour
Tissa Hewavitarane
Whatever medium is intended for carrying out a painting, it must
start with drawing. After years of experience, an artist may base his
picture on a sketch so apparently slight that it seems almost as if the
drawing is being bypassed.
 For
this to be done successfully, careful study and observation must have
been carried out in the past, over many years, so that the artist’s
stored knowledge of the subject enabled him to sum up very quickly the
essential facts of the model before him, and to add these to what is
already in his memory, to produce a true and completely understood
presentation of what is there.
Until this study has been done, it is as well to spend as much time
as you can on drawing. Even if you have no immediate intention of doing
a painting, no time spent on drawing is wasted, carry a sketch-book with
you, and draw whenever possible.
Observing and drawing
Practice in drawing, on any subject, so that even if the result
appears to be of little significance, it has a beneficial effect on your
general ability.
By filling sketch-books with drawing of many different animals you
are building up your knowledge of their structure and habits, and also a
useful record to refer to for later work. Do not be disheartened at the
apparent impossibility of completing any one drawing even the smallest
sketch can be useful.
Start another drawing if your subject moves, as you may well have a
chance later to go back to the first one. Collect all your drawings and
make written notes about colours, behaviour, and sex of animals, the
age, and anything else that contributes to your knowledge.
Try to draw from different view points, and pay attention to the
structure of eyes, feet and years. These will help you to make a really
well observed and thoroughly worked out painting. The route to drawing
and painting an animals well is through the careful study of its form
leading to the perception of its physical entity.
Groups of animals
 The
whole class of animals can be devided into various groups. The orders
are divided into families, which are themselves subdivided, into sub
families, genera, species and subspecies. Even within these there are
still variations, and the range of difference is extraordinary.
There is a large group comprising much of what we eat - beef, mutton,
pork and buffaloes. It all includes the wild cattle, sheep, pigs, goats
and horses from which our farm animals are derived.
Patterns, patches, stripes and spots
A beautiful and attractive feature of many animals is the striking
pattern of markings and colours on their bodies.
This has led to the appalling abuse of many species by the human
race, who have slaughtered animals in countless thousands for the
adornment of their own less attractive persons. All the spotted and
striped cats have been victims, and when the furred and coloured colobus
monkeys had the misfortune to attract the attention of the fashion trade
are mercilessly exploited.
The dark spots of a several, the white spots and streakes on many
species of deer, and the brown blotches of a giraffe, serve to help
their owners disappear amongst the shadows of the leaves and branches.
The beauty of the patterns is a by-product of utility.
Observe the Zibra I have done. Just as patterns of colour have
evolved through their effectiveness in protecting an animal, enabling it
to reach maturity and reproduce itself, so have anatomical differences
developed.
The serval is protected by its camouflage of stripes and its overall
colour, its extremely long legs and narrow body.
This painting is pretty, graceful and done from a television wildlife
film, with a thorough careful study of the animal. A pale wash of yellow
ochre, mixed with burnt sienna is applied over the entire body.
The colour is then depended and strengthened again with a little
yellow ochre and burnt sienna over lower part of the body. Stronger
black builds up the pattern of stripes, and the details of eyes, ears
and tail-tip. The final addition is the greenery ranging from pale green
to strong yellowish green-just enough to balance the composition.
Using photography and television
It is difficult always to work directly from nature, with wild-life
subjects. I often work from zoo specimens, then the question of the
background still remains, and it is necessary to seek more information
about the details of an animal’s appearance.
Although it is better to draw from life as far as possible,
photographs, television, and video films can be used quite legitimately
as an extra source of information. I draw a great deal from nature
films.
The drawings have a liveliness that comes only from watching the
movement of an animal going about its normal business. Photograph
studies are done from closer quarters of pictures taken on sight.
Video films can be of great help, particularly to slow down movement.
It is important not to work from a still image alone. In Sri Lanka,
Habarana is believed to be a high elephant density being in the centre
of three national parks namely Minneriya, Kawdulla and Hurulu.
The painting, shown here ‘elephant looking for water is taken from a
photograph taken while I was on a elephant safari. Observe the lakeside
scene with the wild elephant figured in the centre.The image is more
striking, as it gives the greatest amount of detail in the foreground
and simplified the background. Our attention is now focused, on the
elephant and the water, which register clear against the dark patches of
olive green and tones used for the background.
The surroundings gives a dramatic impression of the sheer scale and
the grandeur of the natural world. See how the contrast between the
sharp-focus foreground (the elephant) and the hazy background helps to
create the illusion of depth and space in the landscape.
One of the most attractive qualities about watercolour is its ability
to suggest even the most transient effects of light, colour and
atmosphere found in nature.
The appeal of this painting lies in the delicate transition from
strong colour and detail (sharp focus) in the centre of the picture to
pale delicate light tones depicting water.
It also lends a touch of poetry to the painting, and prevents the
objects within it from looking unnaturally hard and brittle.
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