Fireflies Acrylic on paper mounted to board

In a previous post I mentioned how I would like to bring an element of traditional painting back into my illustration work. This painting is great example of that approach. The painting started as a sketchbook entry. I liked the idea and wanted to develop the piece in color, but rather than scan the drawing into my computer and rendering digitally, I decided to paint with acrylics.

Because the pencil was created on paper too thin to paint on, I glued the drawing to a piece of board using matte medium. I let this dry overnight. With the drawing on a suitable substrate, I coated the front side of the paper with a tinted matte medium mix. The entire piece was built up with multiple glazes of color which I manipulated to add textural interest. The depth produced by working this way surpasses that of painting in opaque darks of the same value.

Once I had the basic darks down, I worked up the light areas. The glow of the fireflies was created by painting in a white glow and then glazing over that with cadmium yellow. I finished the piece by adding one last overall coat of matte medium to even out the sheen across the surface.

Of course anything is possible with a painting like this once it is finished and scanned in to the computer. I could smooth out the texture in places, add a softer glow to the fireflies, etc. But rather than slick the art up, I decided that I would show it this way, with all of its handcrafted look untouched.