Lions at the Melbourne Zoo – Oil Painting Demonstration

I went to the Melbourne Zoo recently and was inspired by the Lions that I saw there for this oil painting.

It’s a work in progress at the moment, and it’s still in the underpainting stage.
I will be updating this painting with more images as I progress.

1. Begin with a blank canvas and sketch out the basic outlines of the lion. Be sure to make the sketch light so you can easily erase it later.
2. Paint a base coat of yellow ochre to cover the entire canvas. Allow this to dry.
3. Mix burnt sienna and yellow ochre in equal amounts to make a mid-tone brown. Use this to block in the areas of the lion that will be darker than the base coat.
4. Then use a mixture of yellow ochre and white to paint the areas of the lion that will be lighter than the base coat.
5. Create shadows using a mixture of burnt sienna and black.
6. Create highlights using a mixture of white and yellow ochre.
7. Add details and texture to the lion using a brush.
8. To finish, use a fine brush and some white paint to add the finishing touches and highlights to the lion.
9. Allow your painting to dry before displaying or framing.

 

 

The photo above is the start of my grisaille underpainting for the Lions.

 

This is basically a grayscale painting that sets the tonal depth of the finished painting, so it is important to spend some time to get it right.

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African big cat Lion painting progress

This is the second and final underpainting, It’s still too wet to continue at this stage.

I’ll leave it for a few days before I start playing with the colour washes.

As you can see from the above photo, I have basically painted a finished grayscale black and white painting.
Once the under painting is finished, you then are ready to start the glazing with the transparent oil paints.

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African Lion painting update

I’ve been pretty busy these last few days, finishing a few paintings here and there.
The lions have their first glaze colour layer added.

A very thin first layer of glaze has been applied to the Lions

As you can see from the image above I have just started applying very thin coats of transparent paint.

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 4th Stage of the Lion oil painting

As you can see, I’ve added another glaze, and worked on the eyes, ears, etc.
There is still one layer of paint to be applied, the muzzle needs to be darkened and whiskers added etc.

I’ll post the update when I’m done.

The glazes are starting to look good, and the oil painting is starting to come to life.

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 Close up showing some brush stroke detail

I thought I’d post a close up, showing some of the detail around one of the lions eyes.

The close up shows just how important the under painting is in achieving that 3D effect in my paintings.

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The nearly completed African Lions oil painting

Here I’m not far from completing the Melbourne Zoo African Lions painting.

I Still a few more layers to do with the African Lions oil painting

I will be increasing the effect of depth by applying even more glazes to get the depth I’m looking for in my painting.

 

• Artwork Name: Lions at the Melbourne Zoo
• Artist: Garry Purcell
• Medium Used: Artist Grade Oil Paint
• Support Type: Gallery Wrap Stretched Canvas (Staples are on the back of the frame.)
• Canvas Size: 24″x36″ or (60.9cmx 90.4 cm)