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Character & Prop Designs
Copyright © Mario Donk,
Artwork, concept and intellectual content are the property of the Author Mario Donk

Here is a painting in progress again using under-painting to advantage to show just how fast it is not to mention richness in layers and texture.

This is just a rough idea and is approximately used on the canvas, I say approximate as it needs to work on the canvas, not the drawing paper.



A canvas that has been sealed with rabbit skin glue, very thin, its meant to size it not paint on it, next a chalk and zinc and rabbit skin glue gesso is so applied very thinly to only the hollows of the canvas thread or it will crack.

Once dry I paint my underpainting in brown using egg tempera, Go to my home page for details of egg tempera.
http://www.artbymariodonk.com/pics/sun_oil.htm
About half way down that page.

This gives me a lean paint that dries as quick as you look at it, virtually no waiting time and lets me worry about the drawing in shades without needing to think color.


Next I work with white zinc oxide and egg tempera to do more modelling of shape and start to make depth.


I add color with oil paint. But first give the entire painting a coat of damar, thin enough to not sit on top but just seal the tempera and ground, certainly not a shiny coat, so thin that you don't see it is the way to go. Reason being that the tempera painting will behave itself on a chalk ground and not suck out or show linseed oil as dull grey patches which stay dull forever by the way, nothing can undo it, if oil spreads in the ground, its stuffed and belongs in the bin.

So the sizing prevents the oil from the oil paint sucking into the white ground making it forever grey which no painter wants, so that's what its for.

So now the sky is worked in very freely, allowing where it seems correct that the underpainting can modify the tone to give an added color effect or mystery to the top tone., I add zinc oxide to the white oil paint as I want a textured interesting white not a boring dead white as today's colors tend to be being totally over ground. The texture is not unlike lead oxide (flake white) but without the health hazard.
More coming later.


This is the work completed, just needed some more connection with the atmosphere so the tree sat in it. Also some damar on the left trees (note that part is mostly under painting, adding damar makes the color deeper an to that was added some blue, brown , well you can see.

All up this work in painting time from begining to end is under 2 hours.
Its not a race, I take as long as I need too, much more time was spent looking at it and even greater time letting the various oil layers set, I say set, not dry as that takes month, but touch dry in 2 days, the whites maybe a week as its slow.

By getting it done it retains that lively look, some of it illusion as it takes considerable more care and thought then it looks as one gets the impression it was painted in one go which is technically not possible, but you do want it to look as if it was. One should never get tired by looking at a work, its supposed to look easy, even if it took much skill and effort, don't let them see you sweat, Lol