Peony

This is the next phase of a peony that I outlined a few weeks back.  It was a decide on the spot kind of decision that we drew on and got outlined the first time out.

When we were talking about color, she kept mentioning that she wanted it very rich.  Colorful, but not bright.  So the goal was to really get it deep and velvety without having it just look too dark or dirty.

I've really been digging the effect of doing grey shading first, letting it heal all the way, and then layering the color right on top of it.  It looks pretty dark at first with all the deep greys, but the color really melts right over it and creates a cool look that I feel can only really be achieved by this two step approach.

Here's a rose I did a while ago on our studio manager Darci that utilized the same technique...

The darker tones come out a bit more once it's healed, but you get the idea...