wildlife art

It’s hard to believe it’s been a couple years since my last leopard gecko painting! These guys are so charismatic and cute. They have such an unusual texture, too, which is a real challenge to paint. Summer seems like the perfect time to be painting reptiles, and I hope to paint at least a couple more before fall hits.

Learn to paint like this through my Skillshare classes: https://www.skillshare.com/en/user/squidtarts

It’s been a little while since I’ve painted a lizard (almost a year!), so have a crested gecko!

I really struggled with this piece. Painting the crestie went pretty smoothly, but the background was just one problem after another. I used salt in the background textures, which is something I almost never do. I accidentally dumped a ton of salt on the rock in the back, so it really stood out with a ton of texture. I also realized the swoop in the background, the gecko’s back leg, and the back rock were all the same value; which looked terrible. I ended up lifting up most of the back rock, then going over it with very faint layers of white gouache. That helped smooth out the texture and contrast. Then I increased the contrast on the gecko’s back leg to help it stand out a bit. I’m happy with where it ended up, but it was definitely a journey haha!