Exclusive Excerpt from Patterns & Color Guides

Exclusive Excerpt from Patterns & Color Guides by Jean Minaudier

American Avocet (40% Life-size)

Base coat the entire bird with a light gray mix of gesso, burnt umber, and ultramarine blue.

BLACK AREAS (SCAPUALARS, WING COVERTS, PRIMARIES)
Build washes of carbon black mised with burnt umber and ultramarine blue, making it darkest at the feather bases. Mix more black in to darken the quills and splits. Add some white highlights on the wing coverts and primaries, then wash those areas with burnt umber mixed with ultramarine blue.

TERTIALS
Use a couple thin washes of burnt umber and ultramarine blue, making it darker at the bases. Highlight feather edges with white. Wash the tertials with raw umber.

WHITE AREAS
Highlight feather edges with titanium white, then wash the area with white. Darken feather splits with a darker mix of the base-coat color.

HEAD AND NECK
Create feather flow with small streaks and splits of burnt umber/ultramarine blue. Wash the whole area with the same mix, then add depth with some white highlights. Use white to complete the white mask on the face.

HIGHLIGHTS AND SHADOWS
You can add warm highlights to the white areas with extremely thin washes of yellow oxide mixed with a touch of burnt umber. Use this in strategic areas only—not too much! Cool shadows are a mix of ultramarine blue and dioxazine purple. Notice the use of shadowing, especially on the head/neck area and tertials.

LEGS
Mix white, phthalo blue, and a touch of burnt umber. Darken the mix with more blue and burnt umber to add some detail to the scales and tendons.