"Bilbies with Bite" step-by-step process

"Bilbies with Bite" is a large (71 x 51.5 cm/ 28" x 20") acrylic artwork; the following series of photos show my painting process in some detail. I used professional paints, acid-free matboard, and sable brushes in sizes ranging from 000 (round) to 10 (flat). Colours used include ("Matisse" brand acrylics) napthol scarlet (red light), yellow mid (azo), Payne's grey, burnt umber, skin tone deep, skin tone mid, Australian olive green, cerulean blue, unbleached titanium and titanium white.

Step 1: Background wash and establishing light direction
I kicked things off with a thin wash of colour. Next, I roughly and quickly established the light direction, by painting some shadows with a brown wash. I wanted an early afternoon atmosphere, so the shadows would be quite crisp and the light intensity strong.
If you look closely, you may see that the bilby holding on to the fox's tail was originally in a different position. I moved it down a bit, changed its angle relative to the fox, curved the fox's tail more tightly, and cut four inches from the top of the board. This was done to improve the composition of the piece.

Step 2: The sky
The sky is usually the first thing I work on. Painting some blue in helped to establish roughly where the clouds were to be placed. The sweeping curve of the clouds helps the viewer's eye move around the image, and adds to the overall perspective.

Step 3: Clouds
On the left is my first unsuccessful try at painting the clouds. Not only do they look ugly and way too fuzzy, but it appears as though a storm is approaching! Not really the weather I had in mind. The right-hand image is much better! The storm has been appeased, and the light is closer to midday (the stormy clouds before made the picture look a bit too late-afternoon for my liking).

Step 4: Background and bilby eggs
Some mountain ranges were added in the far distance. The desert oaks, eucalypts and ground plants were painted in, while the foreground was suggested with orange-brown.
The baby bilby (at front) is to be the star of the piece, so I made its egg blue, which is the contrasting colour to orange on the colour wheel. Making it blue will help it pop out and be more visible to the viewer. The front-most egg was therefore changed, from blue to a reddish-purple. The egg in the middle was made gold, so it won't distract too much from the blue egg, when viewed against an orange background. The three eggs in the background are all cooler colours, to maintain a sense of distance when viewing them. The gradually diminishing size of the Sturt's desert pea flowers also help with perspective and scale.

Step 5: Foreground eucalypt
Because the foreground is so colourful and the sky comparatively bland, the overhanging eucalypt needs to balance the top and bottom of the work. I intended to paint a "ghost gum" (a species with white bark). Now, it'll be a generic, colourful species. It's normal to hit a snag occasionally- in the left-hand photo, the tree looked terrible, and I wasn't sure how to fix it. As always, I kept messing about in the hope that things sort themselves out. Should you hit a snag, just keep plugging away, or work on another area for a while and revisit the problem area later.
Persistence paid off; while I'm not completely satisfied with the tree below right (it's darker than I would have liked, and the trunk's a bit flat), it looks better. I've captured the character of a eucalypt and the dappled light filtering through the foliage. Most importantly, however, my technique has improved greatly since the last time I painted eucalypts. Though my paintings fall short of what I envision, I'm happy so long as I'm improving!
Another issue was that the flowers were very garish. The species also comes in white, so I considered changing some of them to white. However, I decided that white flowers would distract from the white baby bilby; also, red Sturt's desert pea are far more iconic than white.

Step 6: Gulp! It's Vulpes vulpes!
If you're getting bored, or part of an artwork is frustrating you, try switching to another area and work on that for a while. I was tired with painting foliage, trees and the like, so decided to work on the fox. I generally start with the eyes and face first, and this time was no exception. As long as you ensure colour, tone and lighting is harmonised over the entire animal, and the animal fits with its surroundings, it's perfectly ok to concentrate on a particular part. I find also that by restricting my colour palette, it's easier to mix up the same colour later (crucial to ensure colour unity).

Remember, don't hold back from correcting things, even if they bother you only slightly or entail a lot of work to fix. I changed the shape and positioning of the fox's ear, the profile of its muzzle, the length of the hindfoot, the paws and paw pads. For example, in the left image, I was happy with the fox's right front paw. However, I should have paid attention to the overall image- the angle and perspective of the fox's body dictates that the paw couldn't be placed on the ground like that. While there are really no rules in art, if you're working in a realistic style, anatomy and perspective must be accurate for a convincing result. Therefore, I painted over a couple of toes and part of the foot. It was hard painting over a bit I liked, but if you don't step out of your comfort zone, your work will certainly become stagnant!

Step 7: Many brushstrokes later....
While the fox isn't quite finished (more red and blue will be added to the shadows, to enhance its 3-D quality and give relief to the large areas of brown), I took a break from fur at this point.
If you compare this image to that of step 5, the background is considerably paler. The dark shapes of the desert oaks confused the eye when juxtaposed with the equally dark, raised forepaw of the fox, so I applied some pale blue glaze, making them recede from the viewer.

Step 8: Chocolate and flowers
I'd never painted chocolate before, and the bilbies presented quite a challenge, but if you're going to tackle something difficult, try to make the most of it! I took many reference photos of chocolate under outdoor lighting, to see how it reflected light, and I was surprised that it wasn't as shiny as I'd assumed. At the end, I didn't want to waste the chocolate after unwrapping it (this is where making the most of the situation comes in).
After nearly completing the large bilby (bottom right), I discovered several anatomical errors, which were only noticeable when I viewed the artwork in a mirror. I decided to take a break from the bilbies, to concentrate on the flowers. You may also notice that the clump of grass behind the aforementioned bilby has been painted out- I wasn’t pleased with it and felt the composition needed something less dominating, like a few birds and trees.

Step 9: More work on the foreground
The foreground and eggs presented another challenge. I eliminated several flowers, because I felt the unbroken line of flowers isolated the furthest bilby from the others. However, I retained enough flowers to preserve perspective and scale, and the diagonal line which draws the eye into the artwork. Like the flowers, the ground was difficult, and I repainted it a couple of times. Since chocolate bilbies dig burrows, the ground must be soft enough to excavate. Therefore, I showed the eggs slightly buried to suggest the texture of the soil.
The crinkled foil of the baby bilby's egg has a lot of contrast created by juxtaposing highlights with shadows, which attracts the eye to the focal point.

Step 10: A second helping of chocolate
Even at this late stage, holding the artwork up to the mirror revealed more anatomical errors in the bilbies. The closest bilby's neck and shoulder were redone, as were the arms of the other adult bilbies and the baby's jaw. The topmost bilby was given a colourful belly of lollies (candy), to add extra colour to the top of the painting, though the seated bilbies were deliberately kept plain.
After applying some finishing touches here and there, the work was complete; click on the image below to view it at a larger size. Due to the complexity of this piece, it was hard knowing when to finish. This is a common problem for many artists, and it's tempting to fiddle around for perpetuity, potentially spoiling a perfectly good work. If you're unsure that you've finished, put the artwork away for a few days without looking at it, then take it out again. Anything that needs finalising should be immediately apparent.

All content copyright Donna Quinn.