Bald Eagle - Process.

The entire piece is A5 size (149x210mm) Whole process took under 2.5 hours. This piece was done with reference off a photo taken by Michael Melford from National Geographic site on Bald Eagles. >>Link here<<.


30 mins. Started out directly with watercolors. I've not use pencils for some years now because I'm lazy. Over the years I've sketched directly with pen so to some extent it took away any fear of ruining a perfectly white piece of paper.


60 mins. I've already nailed down most of what I want by the hour mark. The rest is just filling in detailing.


Quick comparison to the reference I have on screen.


90 mins. Used another brand of watercolors (Schmincke's) to darken up the background and added details. Started to work in some of the feathers on the body.


120 mins. Added a light hue to the beak. Detailing on the body feathers and lost some definition in the white areas I have left white from the start.


140 mins. Done. Worked on the beak a bit more with some wet on wet to blend the orange into the yellow. Also gave the eye a shadow. Nothing more I add at this point will alter anything significantly so I decided to stop and call it a day. After all this is a practice piece and I've hit the things I want to do in this exercise.

Say No to Moleskine

Overrated. For its price, the Moleskine sketchbook paper isn't versatile enough. Its smooth surface isn't bad for inks, but when you try to apply a light watercolor wash it just doesn't take water. I'm just trying to finish it up never use another one again.

Happy Darwin Day!!

I thought I'd go back to some Natural Science on Darwin's special day. Tried to figure out what really represented the science he stood for. Finally settled on his Finches from the Galapagos.....which ironically weren't very high on his list of things to figure out :D though they were one of those findings that supported his idea of "transmutation" when he started thinking about it in South America.


Reference from JellyBean's Big World. Very entertaining blog.

Also started using my new batch of Schmincke watercolors. Its VERY GOOD. Then again its probably one of the more expensive pigments around so it better be good.

Kalkitos Action Transfers Historical Series. Stalingrad.

Its been a while since this post.


Now its finally ready for launch. Starting tomorrow 2nd Feb 2012, on the 69th anniversary of the official end to the Battle of Stalingrad, Kalkitos SG will release this....


(Image copyright of Kalkitos SG 2012.)

I'm actually pretty stoked to finally see it released. If there are any regrets with regards the composition of this piece, it would be explosions....there should be more explosions.

More details can be found >HERE<

It can be argued that the Nazi Army might've overran the city had it not been for the harsh Russian winters. Its not exactly that simple. The Nazi Tank Divisions had resupply issues all through the Eastern Front Campaign. Their Blitzkrieg strategy worked in the early war but once the Soviets regrouped they were able to poke holes at the Nazi resupply, which was the heart and weakest link of the Blitzkrieg doctrine. Attributing the difficulty of the Nazi campaign mainly to the harsh Russian winter is also a slight on the Russian soldier. Without their tenacity (minus the retarded orders from Stalin himself) the war would've gone very badly for the Soviets.

I hope kids and history buffs alike enjoy this series.