12 Ways To Wondrous Wildlife Art
Artists & Illustrators|August 2021
Four leading wildlife artists – Laura Hardie, Natalie Öberg, Maria Popma and Amber Tyldesley – share a dozen expert tricks for improving your work in minutes
12 Ways To Wondrous Wildlife Art

1 USE THE FULL PALETTE

Laura Hardie: “I use Unison Colour soft pastels. They are a medium, buttery-soft pastel that doesn’t crumble when used. I love their silky-smooth application, rich pigments, and vibrant colours.

“Unison’s colour range is great with more than 400 colours to choose from – my favourites, and most used in my work, are the earth colours and subtle greys, but when I need brilliance and vibrance for my flamingos, the reds and oranges never let me down.

“Other than my pastels the only tools I use are the PanPastel Sofft [sic] sponges. These are great for blending the first layers of pastel.”

2 TRY A FIRMER SUPPORT

LH: “It’s so important to have a good support to work on and like many fellow pastel artists I use Clairefontaine Pastelmat Board. I prefer using board to paper as it offers more support and won’t crease, tear or warp. Pastel is a delicate medium until framed behind glass so using sturdier supports like these boards gives me that added comfort of knowing it is less likely to be damaged in transit.”

3 FOCUS ON SHAPES

LH: “When starting a drawing, try to not think of it as a specific bird or animal, and instead focus on shape and colour. I work primarily dark to light and always block in first using soft pastels.

“Once I am happy with the base layers, I work over this with lighter shades and add details with pastel pencils. To keep my pencils sharp, I use a craft knife instead of a sharpener. I found leads continually break when sharpened with a sharpener and the pastel also quickly blunts the blade, so the craft knife is a less expensive option.”

4 DON’T RELY ON PHOTOS

This story is from the August 2021 edition of Artists & Illustrators.

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This story is from the August 2021 edition of Artists & Illustrators.

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