FETTERED - Patreon Exclusive Process Timelapse

Hi peeps, 

Here is your Process Timelapse for October!

I had initially planned to include this painting in a Youtube video, but I feel like moving on from it now, so I figured it would make for a good Patreon Process Timelapse instead. :) 

I wasn't able to record voiceover for this video, but it is a long one (30min), and includes more of my process than just the painting stage, so I thought I would break down what I did in writing instead. 

✦ In the beginning, I was picturing this piece as being a chest tattoo coming to life, so all that would be seen on the page would be the hand and the chest of my character, and the bird tattoo reaching for the hand's finger as it comes alive. 

✦ I started out by sketching out the hand and the bird, to try and visualise the angle the character's chest and the animal would need to be in for that composition to work. I used my own hand as a reference for the hand pose, and a composite of various bird references. 

✦ Once I had settled on a bird pose and a hand pose I liked, I scanned my sketches and brought them into Photoshop to collage them together. Being able to do that means I don't have to worry too much about sketching everything together in the initial stages, and lets me freely explore each element on its own. 

✦ I then super-imposed that hand and bird sketch onto an image of my own torso, to see if the scale and angle worked (This stage is not included in the video). That stage allowed to me see that I didn't in fact like that composition, and I decided I wanted the bird to be tattooed onto the character's face instead.
Since I had the hand and bird ready to a point I was satisfied with, I only sketched out the character's face, which I then scanned and added to my hand and bird rendition. 

✦ This allowed me to print out a completed composition made up of the various elements I had sketched separately and then assembled in Photoshop. 

✦ I then only had to transfer the sketch to my painting paper, which I did using carbon paper, a stage you can see in the video. 

This piece was an experiment with painting with muted tones, and was painted in acrylics, with a watercolour pencil used for the tattoo.
I started out by laying down my base values with washes of payne's grey and black, and added some very light washes of skin tone (usually ochre, red and a little blue) and red hues towards the end. 

This piece was very enjoyable to paint, and tattoos coming to life is a concept I want to explore more on the future, but this exercise also allowed me to see that working only with muted colours does not resonate with me as much as I thought it might.
I enjoy this painting, but it does feel like it slots into my style naturally, similarly to Musings. 

I have to say though, I love how the hand came out and the way highlights really pop against muted colours. Those were both elements of this exercise I would like to replicate in future work. 

That is it for me for now!
I hope you will enjoy this video, once again, this one is a long one, with music in the background.
I am trying to think of different formats I could apply to these timelapses in the future, and was wondering if perhaps setting up a Q&A system could add even more value to these videos for you? I could ask for questions and answer 1 or 2 per video, so that they become a timelapse/podcast type of thing? What do you think?

Anyways, I'll need to have a think, and I would love to hear from you if you have any ideas also :).

As always, do leave me any questions you may have in the comments and I'l do my best to answer them.
In the meantime, take good care of yourself, and I'll see you once I'm back from holiday!
Take care lovely peeps,
All my love, M