I started this project on my laptop, by compositing the rhino against a square flat panel of color, then sketching in a detailed outline using my pressure-sensitive Intuos graphics tablet. Once I had outlines that I liked I printed them out and taped them down to my large format lightbox. I use the lightbox rather than graphite transfer paper or pencil drawings to leave the watercolor paper free of any outlines.

I then taped over a 30” x 22” piece of Arches Rough 100% cotton watercolor paper. I used Van Gogh and Winsor & Newton paints, applying broad background washes first, which I eventually overpainted with acrylics to get a solid flatter and deeper background panel. I then laid in the base body and head textures using a combination of wet-on-wet, dry brush, and wet on dry washes. I used liberal amounts of sea salt to form the pebbled skin patterns then went back with a series of glazes to build up contrast and shadows, finally using a zero-size synthetic sable brush to render the details of the wrinkles, crevices, and dried mud patterns.

You can see the stage-by-stage progress in my CREATIVE PROCESS section.

For a high resolution image and more details, check out my GALLERY section.